There are sometimes misconceptions about the enormous power and relevance of charity branding. In reality, the charitable and non-profit sector is as competitive, if not more, than any commercial trading space, and the strength of your charity brand strategy can be a definitive factor in your success and ongoing growth.
Part of this is due to the extent to which charities depend on the trust of their donors, supporters and partners, but also because defining a social purpose and communicating those values and missions to prospective new supporters can be complex.
Here we look at an overview of the process of generating high-impact, persuasive and credible strategies, either to refresh the branding of existing charities or enable new non-profit organisations to establish themselves within the third sector space.
Vital Steps in Creating a Durable Charity Branding Strategy
While every charity and non-profit may have different objectives, ambitions, focuses, and intentions, a similar process applies when looking at the principles and methodologies underpinning each organisation, and extracting meaningful insights to develop a solid brand identity that target audiences will relate to.
1. Defining the Essence and Values of the Charity
Step one is to conduct in-depth research to pin down the specific aspects of the charity that define its branding. This involves looking at varied areas such as internal and external perceptions, differentiating factors from other charities, personality and tone, and core deliverables—all of which contribute to charity brand positioning.
It is impossible to activate a charity brand or design a visual identity without first establishing all the specifics that come together to form the organisation’s essence and mission statement.
This requires both quantitative research into the subsector or niche, and qualitative research to clarify how the charity can inject positive energy and urgency into its brand strategy.
The contrast between charity branding and corporate strategy development is that, rather than looking at opportunities to refine branding to gain a competitive advantage, charities are often built on passion, personal experiences and shared drive – which can mean charities face greater resistance to change than we often see in commercial brands.
Therefore, an essential part of this initial background work is consulting with staff, supporters, volunteers, management, and other stakeholders to create a precise, clear, and cohesive sense of the charity’s purpose and a statement of intention that everybody can invest in and engage with.
2. Articulating the Charity’s Mission
Our next area is to look at ways to explain and expand on what the charity stands for, as one of the fundamentals of a brand strategy which clarifies:
- Why the charity exists
- The value it brings to target groups
- Deliverables it promises to meet
- The charity’s personality and marketing communications style
These elements feed into the brand strategy since they influence the way a charity presents itself, with a unique and recognisable tone of voice consistent with the expectations of key audience segments.
At this stage, the background and story behind the charity are key, since the emotions, histories and experiences that shaped the charity’s formation are pivotal to how charitable organisations clarify their role in delivering solutions to problems.
The ‘why’ often provides a steer on how to express the reasons a charity is well-positioned to provide a resolution.
Emotional connections tap into human psychology and empathy, and countless data points show that consumers and prospective partners are far more likely to be proactive in offering support when they feel sympathetic and emotionally inspired by the stories a charity shares via its marketing channels.
3. Extracting a Clear and Consistent Visual Brand Identity
Once the initial work is complete, or underway, we’ll start thinking about how a charity presents itself visually, and although branding goes far beyond a simple logo, graphics are integral to a brand strategy that viewers recognise, feel familiar with, and choose to support.
Creative design extends to all brand assets that form any part of the charity’s presence, from web pages to social media channels, fundraising literature to public events, covering:
- Photography and colours
- Logos and straplines
- Illustrations and graphics
- Iconography and lettering
Charities can then build on their visual assets when designing their guidelines and approach to fundraising, acknowledging where income streams originate, the revenue sources they are more reliant on, and how their marketing communications will incentivise target supporter groups to engage.
For example, they might concentrate on regular donations and small individual contributions, fundraising through grants and partnership work, or bidding for tenders to provide non-profit services through local governmental contracts.
Whatever the focus, the charity’s brand story, graphics, and communications need to be cohesive and effectively communicate the organisation’s style, reputation, and personality to ensure it meets the expectations of its target supporters or partners.
4. Activating a Strong Charity Brand
Brand strategy and identity come together during the activation phase when charities launch their new or refreshed branding and begin working on developing greater awareness and ensuring they are visible and recognisable.
Charitable marketing can be complex, with a very different remit from that of a corporate business model, but it is equally essential to ensure marketing spend is heavily targeted to avoid wastage, driven towards audiences and market segments with similar goals or values.
Many charities use ‘flagship’ brand stories and experiences as part of their brand activation, publishing exceptional quality media and hero pieces that stand out, create a lasting impression, and communicate clearly what they are all about.
While it might seem that charity organisers and board members can sit back and relax following a brand launch, this is only the start.
From here on, charities and non-profits need to remain agile and responsive, tracking their impact, tracing the success of campaigns and fundraising initiatives, and being flexible enough to make adjustments as and where needed.
For more information about charity brand development or any of the tasks and projects we’ve touched on here, you are welcome to contact the Flintlock Marketing team to discuss your branding objectives or obstacles and how we can help.
