Four Principles to Ensure Your Brand and Culture Align
How can a nonprofit ensure that its brand is supported by — and in turn supports — its culture? Four principles can ensure this synergy.
A powerful brand that showcases the work of an organization in a meaningful way can achieve such connections while also magnifying the impact of the organization’s work. Foundation and not-for-profit brands must deliver compelling, unique value propositions while also conveying authenticity; any whiff of hype or empty promises will backfire badly. Identifying and communicating this value proposition involves many of the same elements used in developing a commercial brand, beginning with research to understand the specific needs and expectations of all key audiences, and deploying message mapping to express the brand to individual audiences.
How can a nonprofit ensure that its brand is supported by — and in turn supports — its culture? Four principles can ensure this synergy.
The need for powerful storytelling has become a common refrain among nonprofit marketers as they think about how to better connect with audiences. With increasing opportunities for organizations and audiences to interact digitally, marketers know they need to find ways to cut through the noise and engage with audiences at a deeper level – and film is an increasingly important tool for doing just that.
You might expect that crowdsourcing — seeking ideas, input or decisions from a large group of people — is an ideal way to involve customers and/or employees. But crowdsourcing can often backfire. To be sure crowdsourcing gives a positive result, establish “guide rails” to keep it in line with branding expectations.