What is Your Volunteer Brand?
Submitted by Beth Steinhorn on Tue, 2010-07-27 00:00
JFFixler Group clearly has branding on our mind, as we launch our new brand this week. In light of that, we are pleased to present a guest blog by our colleague Stacy Lewis, a partner in Sector Brands, a Denver-based social purpose branding firm that helps non-profit, for profit and government organizations leverage the power of branding and marketing communications to become dynamic forces for social good. In addition to assisting non-profits, Stacy also sits on the Board of Directors for Metro Volunteers, Denver's leading source for volunteer engagement, training and advocacy.
Branding is all the rave in our consumer-based, emotionally-driven society. From cars to computers, clothing to food, everything in our society-- and in life for that matter-- has a ‘brand'. You have a brand. Your organization has a brand. So what is a brand and why is it so important in enhancing your volunteer program? In this post, we'll take a look at what branding is and how it can enhance your volunteer efforts ten-fold.
While branding used to be relegated to purely a ‘marketing strategy', branding is now being leveraged by organizations as a critical strategic tool to build relationships with key customers or supporters, to strengthen organizational focus and internal culture, and ultimately to attract the resources and relationships needed to achieve organizational goals. For organizations who are volunteer dependent or who want to grow or retain their volunteer base, branding can be an invaluable way to help position your organization for success.
Before we continue, take a moment to ask yourself an important question: Why would anyone want to volunteer for your organization? As you formulate your answer, list three tangible and compelling benefits that someone will personally receive from volunteering for your specific organization. Now ask, What makes the volunteer experience at my organization different from another organization's? If it is taking you a long time to answer these questions, chances are your organization could use a little branding. If you were able to quickly and compellingly list the reasons and benefits, chances are your organization has gone through a branding process.
What Is a Brand?
Your organization's brand image is essentially how others think, feel and perceive your organization. If you ask people what words come to mind when they think of your organization, those initial impressions comprise your current ‘brand image. For example, when you think of the Disney brand, you most likely think of ‘family fun'. When you think of Habitat for Humanity, you think of ‘building houses for those in need'. In addition to reinforcing ‘what' an organization does, brands demonstrate important emotional values such as trust, credibility, hope, freedom and empowerment. Similar to your mission or vision, a brand is proactively created, and serves to quickly and efficiently help key supporters understand what you do and why it matters. A brand is not a logo mark, advertisement, brochure, website, or slogan. Eventually all of these things serve to reflect and reinforce your brand. An organizational brand is a succinct concept or ‘reference' about your organization that quickly reinforces three key things:
1) What your organization does
2) What makes it unique and different from other organizations
3) Your key value proposition - that is, what ‘valuable need' or valuable ‘benefit' you meet for those who engage with your organization or use your products or services.
Use Branding to Build ‘Share of Heart'
A brand can support your volunteer efforts in two key ways: One, it can serve to differentiate your organization from the multitude of others that exist in the community. Secondly, and most importantly, it can build an authentic emotional connection with current and potential volunteers so that they quickly see the benefits of volunteering for your organization and ‘cause'. The need for efficient and compelling communication is becoming critical in today's volunteer environment as organizations face the challenge of cutting through the clutter to engage and retain volunteers. Branding supports your efforts to efficiently move potential volunteers from having no awareness of you to gaining enough understanding and interest to support you.
Building Your Volunteer Brand
On the surface, crafting a brand involves a collective organizational assessment of what you do that differs from other organizations. But at a deeper level, brand crafting involves getting to the ‘essence' of why your organization exists and what genuine purpose it serves in meeting critical needs in society. The process of crafting your brand involves collectively assessing everything from your mission, history and culture, to your service offerings and impact. All of this information is evaluated and synthesized into what becomes your organization's unique brand promise i.e., the compelling benefits associated with your organization.
Once you have discovered this ‘essence', it becomes the golden key around which you can craft authentic, compelling messages that engage volunteers to support your mission and that convince them that their volunteer efforts are critical to achieving that mission. Your brand platform becomes the foundation of everything you do, from how you talk about your organization and how you hire employees, to how you present yourself through graphics, pictures and words. But most importantly, as it relates to attracting and retaining volunteers, it becomes the cornerstone around which you position your unique volunteer experience to the world at-large.
TIPS:
Whether your organization is embarking on a major, organization-wide branding process or simply taking time to assess and refine the branding that you have already built (intentionally or not!), reflecting on your current brand is a valuable and important process - and it can be done simply. Engage a Task Force of staff and volunteers to explore these topics as presented by Stacy Lewis. In just 2 or 3 meetings, this group can explore the following questions:
1. Current Organizational Brand: What is your organization's current brand? What does it communicate about:
1) What your organization does
2) What makes it unique and different from other organizations
3) Your key value proposition - that is, what ‘valuable need' or valuable ‘benefit' you meet for those who engage with your organization or use your products or services.
2. Volunteer Brand:
a. Why would anyone want to volunteer for your organization? List three tangible and compelling benefits that someone will personally receive from volunteering for your organization.
b. What makes the volunteer experience at my organization different from another organization's?
3. Messaging:
a. Review the messages about volunteering that are part of your current collateral material (including websites). Do they effectively reflect and reinforce the brand that you wish to communicate about volunteering with your organization? If not, how can you improve them?
b. Develop a plan to clarify your brand and share it widely through key messages with your staff, volunteers, board, and other constituents.
JFFixler Group clearly has branding on our mind, as we launch our new brand this week. In light of that, we are pleased to present a guest blog by our colleague Stacy Lewis, a partner in Sector Brands, a Denver-based social purpose branding firm that helps non-profit, for profit and government organizations leverage the power of branding and marketing communications to become dynamic forces for social good. In addition to assisting non-profits, Stacy also sits on the Board of Directors for Metro Volunteers, Denver's leading source for volunteer engagement, training and advocacy.
Branding is all the rave in our consumer-based, emotionally-driven society. From cars to computers, clothing to food, everything in our society-- and in life for that matter-- has a ‘brand'. You have a brand. Your organization has a brand. So what is a brand and why is it so important in enhancing your volunteer program? In this post, we'll take a look at what branding is and how it can enhance your volunteer efforts ten-fold.
While branding used to be relegated to purely a ‘marketing strategy', branding is now being leveraged by organizations as a critical strategic tool to build relationships with key customers or supporters, to strengthen organizational focus and internal culture, and ultimately to attract the resources and relationships needed to achieve organizational goals. For organizations who are volunteer dependent or who want to grow or retain their volunteer base, branding can be an invaluable way to help position your organization for success.
Before we continue, take a moment to ask yourself an important question: Why would anyone want to volunteer for your organization? As you formulate your answer, list three tangible and compelling benefits that someone will personally receive from volunteering for your specific organization. Now ask, What makes the volunteer experience at my organization different from another organization's? If it is taking you a long time to answer these questions, chances are your organization could use a little branding. If you were able to quickly and compellingly list the reasons and benefits, chances are your organization has gone through a branding process.
What Is a Brand?
Your organization's brand image is essentially how others think, feel and perceive your organization. If you ask people what words come to mind when they think of your organization, those initial impressions comprise your current ‘brand image. For example, when you think of the Disney brand, you most likely think of ‘family fun'. When you think of Habitat for Humanity, you think of ‘building houses for those in need'. In addition to reinforcing ‘what' an organization does, brands demonstrate important emotional values such as trust, credibility, hope, freedom and empowerment. Similar to your mission or vision, a brand is proactively created, and serves to quickly and efficiently help key supporters understand what you do and why it matters. A brand is not a logo mark, advertisement, brochure, website, or slogan. Eventually all of these things serve to reflect and reinforce your brand. An organizational brand is a succinct concept or ‘reference' about your organization that quickly reinforces three key things:
1) What your organization does
2) What makes it unique and different from other organizations
3) Your key value proposition - that is, what ‘valuable need' or valuable ‘benefit' you meet for those who engage with your organization or use your products or services.
Use Branding to Build ‘Share of Heart'
A brand can support your volunteer efforts in two key ways: One, it can serve to differentiate your organization from the multitude of others that exist in the community. Secondly, and most importantly, it can build an authentic emotional connection with current and potential volunteers so that they quickly see the benefits of volunteering for your organization and ‘cause'. The need for efficient and compelling communication is becoming critical in today's volunteer environment as organizations face the challenge of cutting through the clutter to engage and retain volunteers. Branding supports your efforts to efficiently move potential volunteers from having no awareness of you to gaining enough understanding and interest to support you.
Building Your Volunteer Brand
On the surface, crafting a brand involves a collective organizational assessment of what you do that differs from other organizations. But at a deeper level, brand crafting involves getting to the ‘essence' of why your organization exists and what genuine purpose it serves in meeting critical needs in society. The process of crafting your brand involves collectively assessing everything from your mission, history and culture, to your service offerings and impact. All of this information is evaluated and synthesized into what becomes your organization's unique brand promise i.e., the compelling benefits associated with your organization.
Once you have discovered this ‘essence', it becomes the golden key around which you can craft authentic, compelling messages that engage volunteers to support your mission and that convince them that their volunteer efforts are critical to achieving that mission. Your brand platform becomes the foundation of everything you do, from how you talk about your organization and how you hire employees, to how you present yourself through graphics, pictures and words. But most importantly, as it relates to attracting and retaining volunteers, it becomes the cornerstone around which you position your unique volunteer experience to the world at-large.
TIPS:
Whether your organization is embarking on a major, organization-wide branding process or simply taking time to assess and refine the branding that you have already built (intentionally or not!), reflecting on your current brand is a valuable and important process - and it can be done simply. Engage a Task Force of staff and volunteers to explore these topics as presented by Stacy Lewis. In just 2 or 3 meetings, this group can explore the following questions:
1. Current Organizational Brand: What is your organization's current brand? What does it communicate about:
1) What your organization does
2) What makes it unique and different from other organizations
3) Your key value proposition - that is, what ‘valuable need' or valuable ‘benefit' you meet for those who engage with your organization or use your products or services.
2. Volunteer Brand:
a. Why would anyone want to volunteer for your organization? List three tangible and compelling benefits that someone will personally receive from volunteering for your organization.
b. What makes the volunteer experience at my organization different from another organization's?
3. Messaging:
a. Review the messages about volunteering that are part of your current collateral material (including websites). Do they effectively reflect and reinforce the brand that you wish to communicate about volunteering with your organization? If not, how can you improve them?
b. Develop a plan to clarify your brand and share it widely through key messages with your staff, volunteers, board, and other constituents.
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