A brand begins internally. Having a strong and consistent brand is just as important to fundraising as having a clear strategy. Often we mistakenly see creative and strategic objectives as pulling in two different directions. However, a strong interplay between the two is essential for effective fundraising! The strategy should be supporting the brand, and the brand should be casting vision for the strategy– it’s cord to two strands pulling together to communicate value. These should not be two different departments within an organization these two components should work together.
DIGITAL MARKETING IS FUNDRAISING.
Having an updated branding guide available to all staff and board members helps build your brand and vision from the inside out. External communications are an overflow of an organization’s internal communication’s—the emails, powerpoints, meeting agendas, etc. that you share among your team daily.
Having a consistent and standardized look and feel in your everyday communications is the basis of a strong brand. You want to be sure that your brand is telling one consistent story. There are some resources ConfidantCo. Can help you create that will narrow your story down to crystal clear specificity:
Value Proposition. Your value proposition is a one-pager that communicates what your vision is and many tenants of your company that accomplish this vision. The value proposition should make logical, ethical, and emotional appeals bolstering your value.
Mission Statement. From your value proposition, you can narrow down a mission statement. This is one sentence that communicates what you are providing and why. It should be an action-driven phrase.
Elevator Pitch. An elevator pitch is a concise, informative answer to the question. “So what to you do?” You have the opportunity to establish goodwill everyone you meet, because you never know which people may be motivated to give based on your personal statement!
Business tools. Your employee’s business tools should be branded!-(hyperlink brand guide blog) Every email being sent internally and externally should be using the same fonts, and the email signatures should use the same format. When you walk into a chain store or restaurant, you expect the look and feel to be the same regardless of where in the country you’re visiting. The experience should be the same for anyone contacting representatives of your company– they should expect the uniformity of your brand. You can further realize this uniformity by sharing watermarked document templates, desktop backgrounds, templates for slide decks, and example social media posts.
The brand begins with you!
One underlying incentive for people to give money is brand recognition. People see a logo or ad and can immediately recognize what sets apart the product or service from other competitors. Your brand should elicit trust! Any sponsor should understand what you stand for, how you are set apart from your cause, and why your organization holds a unique solution.
Your brand goes beyond your website, your building and your products. You are the face of your brand! Stick with us, and we’ll help you prepare for face-to-face donor meetings that are on brand!
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