How Your Nonprofit Can Win at Branding

in Marketing / Nonprofits / Website Design

Nonprofits can often make the mistake of thinking a branding strategy only applies to for-profit businesses. However, awesome branding can elevate your organization to new levels of success and recognition you’ve never dreamed possible.

Branding is the creation of a unique name, image, and brand voice that aims to resonate in the minds of your audience. Aspects of branding can encompass your logo, content creation, and how your organization interacts/contributes to the community. It has the power to turn the masses into loyal, lifelong advocates of your organization and its mission.

Traits of a Great Nonprofit Brand

Developing a strong brand for your nonprofit can allow your organization to have a larger social impact and also reach a larger audience with your message. So, what are some traits that should be present in your nonprofit branding?

  • Strategy: Nothing about your brand should be half thought out. Every little detail, from your logo to the colors on your website to your slogan to the social media channels you use and more, should be critically and strategically thought out. Your brand will evolve over time but always have a plan in place for why you are doing something. Just because you see a similar organization has success with something doesn’t mean that it is appropriate or viable for your organization’s goals.
  • Pride in Your Organization: If you aren’t proud of what your organization is accomplishing, why should the public be? Don’t be afraid to shout your successes from the mountaintop. Your brand should take pride in what you’ve accomplished and the people you’ve impacted, pride in what your organization values, and pride in your partnerships, big and small.
  • Emotional Appeal: It’s simply human nature to remember things that make an emotional impact on us, so make sure that your branding will tug at the heartstrings when it needs to. To this day, we can’t hear Sara McLachlan’s song “Angel” without immediately feeling the need to rush out and adopt every animal at the local humane society.

5 Non-Profits That Rock Their Branding

Lots of non-profits, big and small, are recognizing the value of strategic branding. Some of our favorite examples are:

World Wildlife Foundation: The World Wildlife Foundation (WWF) has managed to turn a cute little black and white panda into a symbol for all endangered animals. WWF has strategically tied its logo to one of the most endangered species in the world. This has served a dual purpose in helping to elevate the panda bear into a popular and easily recognizable animal with a publicized plight the public can sympathize with, but it has also associated it closely with the WWF. One is almost synonymous with the other at this point.

Doctors Without Borders: Doctors Without Borders is a great example of a nonprofit that has risen to international prominence. Its name alone is brilliant in that right out of the gate. You know what type of mission it is focused on. They have set themselves apart as a thought leader on health issues across the world. The content they share on their website and social media channels is both informative and aimed at creating an emotional reaction to the medical plights of those both near and far.

American Red Cross: The American Red Cross has established itself as the expert on blood donations and blood supplies in the United States. It has strategically created a presence in cities, both large and small, throughout the entire country. Though its logo is simple, a single red cross (get it?), it is instantly recognizable.

Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation: The odds are good that if you’ve seen a random person wearing a pink ribbon, you know without even thinking about it that it’s associated with breast cancer. Can you say the same if you pass a person on the street wearing a purple ribbon? Or a yellow ribbon? Probably not. This non-profit has strategically positioned itself over the years so that people, both those who have been affected by breast cancer and those who haven’t, instantly recognize their symbol. This little pink ribbon is present on all of their communications and content and has now become the worldwide symbol of the fight against breast cancer.

Best Friends Animal Society: Not only does the bright, cheery, simplistic logo for this animal rescue make you think of a pet’s face, but their logo, “Save them all,” manages to hit you right in the feels. Their most genius strategy, however, has to be in popularizing the term “purrito”. Aiming to draw attention to kitten season, they shared adorable photos on their website and social media of their shelter kittens all wrapped up like little furry burritos…or purrito in this instance. It tugged at the heartstrings and enabled them to grow their social impact significantly.

What Can You Do to Improve Your Non-Profit’s Branding?

So now that you know the value branding can provide non-profits, how can you get started or improve upon your strategy?

  • Create Engaging Content: Create engaging content on your website and social media channels that will attract and engage people online. Appeal to their emotional side and share what your organization has been doing to further its goals. People want to see what you’re doing. You’d be surprised at how quickly content can go viral online. Why not yours?
  • Highlight What Makes You Unique: What makes your organization so special and distinguishes you from the others in your niche? Once you can answer this question, you’ll be well on your way to standing out from the crowd instead of fading in the background.
  • Establish Your Organization as a Thought Leader: When an issue arises in the news related to your mission or field, you want to be known as the source that people should turn to for answers. Rather than using your manpower to try and get the media and public to pay attention to you, they’ll come to you for answers once you’ve established yourself as a thought leader.
  • Know Your Target Audience: This should be a no-brainer, but we’ll say it regardless. You can’t truly begin to build your brand until you have a firm understanding of who it is that you’re trying to serve through your nonprofit and what they will need and expect from you as an organization.

Try A Communications Audit

If you are still running into roadblocks and can’t seem to nail down successful branding for your organization, it may be time to consider performing a communications audit. A communication audit is an intensive evaluation of your organization’s communications practices that will allow you to determine how the public perceives your organization. When performing a communications audit, you’ll want to ask yourself the following questions:

  1. What are your current communications goals and objectives?
  2. How well is this current communication plan working?
  3. What has been effective and what has been ineffective with your communications?
  4. What does your audience think of your current messaging?

These are just a few of the questions you will want to answer during a communications audit. When you know the answers, you will have a more strategic understanding of how your communications plan can aid in your branding.

Contact Us

How has your organization successfully implemented branding? Let us know in the comments section! Have questions or need help with your branding? Contact us today to set up your free 30-minute consultation.

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alizah_staffAlizah Epstein
Founder and Chief Creative Officer
Epstein Creative Group | Branding and marketing design studio
www.epsteincreative.com