Category: communications

Why your brand isn’t working for you

I feel like I’ve been seeing the word “brand” more and more recently, and yet I still find that many organizations aren’t developing brands in a way that really serves their goals.

The traditional idea of a brand is in a marketing context: a type or set of products that a company sells. You know: Crest, Adidas, Johnson & Johnson, Whole Foods. Just from their name you know what these companies sell and what their products are about.

The common interpretation of brand that persists today is the visual brand – the logo, the typeface, even the tagline. These can definitely be powerful elements that convey a brand. Think of the Nike swoosh or “Just Do It.” You don’t even need the name to know what company they represent and what products that company sells. The same goes for the Starbucks mermaid, the Apple apple, and the Twitter bird. Simple images that tell you the company name and its products.

A lot of organizations think a brand is just the visual part. They think branding is a marketing tool and they focus on creating a logo to improve visibility and recognition. They are so worried about the look of their logo that they forget the image is just a shorthand representation of their organization. The image only works because it stands for something else. The Starbucks mermaid doesn’t just stand for lattes and frappuccinos. It also stands for the cafe environment – a warm, cozy place to hang out or meet up or do some work – and the experience of drinking your coffee there. The Apple logo doesn’t just stand for iPhones and MacBooks. It stands for cool, beauty, quality, and value, and the prestige of being an Apple product user. The Twitter bird doesn’t just stand for a messaging service. It stands for a trendy, quick, easy way of staying in touch and staying informed, and the status that goes with having a lot of followers.

And that is what a brand is about: the experience you create. For your constituents, for your donors, for your volunteers, and even for your employees and Board members. Because the experience you create is reflective of who you are. Not just the work you do, but your personality, your values, and the unique value you offer to others.

At the end of the day, your brand stems from who you are as an organization. When an organization that doesn’t have a concrete mission, an inspiring vision, a clear strategy, a cohesive staff, or articulate messaging doesn’t have a strong brand, they shouldn’t be surprised. It doesn’t matter what cool image you put in front of someone. If it isn’t clear what it stands for, why would anyone remember it, let alone care about it? The logo is just an image. The meaning behind that image is made up of so much more.

If you want to create a strong external brand for your organization, you have to look inward. What is the essence of your organization? Who are you as an institution? What are your values and personality? What experience do you create for those you encounter? And what unique value do you offer others?

A brand can be a powerful way to garner support and advance your mission, but to create such a brand you have to go beyond appearances.

 

February 17, 2016 1 Comment

Your communications team is bigger than you think

Most organizations hire a communications person (or team) to handle their external communications and marketing. You know, things like the website, social media, email newsletters, the annual report, and maybe some press releases. Communications is often seen as a separate function dedicated to these traditional communication channels.

The thing is that everyone who works for your organization is a communicator – whether they like it or not. Is your Executive Director giving a speech? That’s communications. Is one of your program staff meeting with a partner? That’s communications too. Is a board member talking to a friend about his involvement in your organization? Yep, that’s also communications. When anyone associated with your organization speaks to someone about the organization, they are doing communications work for your organization.

Because they are all communicating on behalf of the organization, all employees, board members, and even followers should be prepared and empowered to do so. This will help them be more articulate, focused, and compelling in their communications. If they aren’t prepared, then you run the risk of muddling your messages, misrepresenting your organization, and missing opportunities to garner support for your organizations.

So what can you do to empower your colleagues to be effective messengers? You can make sure they:

  • Are comfortable talking about your organization.
  • Understand the organization’s goals and needs.
  • Have the tools they need to communicate successfully.
  • Know where to go for help with communications activities.

This will ensure they are all on message, communicating clearly, and proactive when they have questions or need assistance. 

July 2, 2015 1 Comment

Want to communicate effectively? Cut the crap.

It’s important to understand your target audience when trying to communicate with them effectively. Equally important is speaking their language.

I’ve spent much of my career in the environmental conservation world, where there is no shortage of complex language, jargon, and acronyms. Not surprising, since it’s a field grounded in the natural sciences, with lots of incredibly smart people who received higher degrees from impressive education institutions. It’s a culture of intelligent individuals trained by academia to study and solve complicated and difficult problems. The problem is that the people whose support they want may not be like them.

Sure, their audiences care about the environment, but they may have different backgrounds, different educational training, and different professions. They may not be comfortable with complicated language that’s difficult to decipher, let alone terminology and acronyms they’ve never seen before. Just as you need to understand the interests and values of your target audience, you also need to understand how to communicate with them. So if you want to communicate to them effectively, you need to cut the crap.

That’s right: cut the crap.

What does that mean? It means exactly what you think it does: be clear, be concise, and cut to the chase. Get to the heart of the matter and use simple language so your audience doesn’t have to decode your message. (Simple language doesn’t mean you have to dumb things down – just that you should use common words and syntax to talk about complicated things.) Don’t make it difficult for your audience to understand you, and don’t distract them away from your primary message.

Scientists are notorious for being poor communicators because they’re too smart for their own good – they know a lot and they have their own culture where certain language and terminology is accepted, even expected. But it’s not just scientists with this problem: every organization has its own culture where certain concepts, terms, and acronyms become commonplace. The problem is that when we speak with “outsiders” we tend to still use the same language we use with our colleagues – the language that we are comfortable with, even if our audience is not. But communications isn’t about us. It’s about them.

So what is an organization to do? The first would be to keep internal language in check. Yes, it’s convenient to use short-hand and acronyms for more efficient communication, but again, the more you use that language, the more you’re training yourselves to speak that way with those outside your organization. The second thing is to cut the crap. Review your written communications and make sure you’re communicating simply, clearly, and concisely. Prepare yourself for verbal communications, whether it’s with a funder, a partner, a donor, or anyone else. Keep things simple and to the point.

It may be difficult for you to do at first, but it won’t be difficult for your audience. And that’s the whole point.

January 3, 2014 5 Comments