Branding’s Connection to Fund Development: Align Your Brand and Mission for Maximum Fundraising Although branding is a critical component to fundraising sustainability and the building of meaningful and long-lasting donor relationships, it is often either overlooked or confused with marketing, says Taylor Shanklin, CEO and founder of Barlele (Sugar Mountain, NC). “Branding is not your logos, colors and fonts,” she says. “When you think about your brand and how it impacts your mission, you need to think about it as an experience,” she says. “What is the experience you’re creating for your donors, advocates and volunteers? How do they perceive your organization in every single way they interact with it? Their experience will have a direct impact on how they interact with you, how or if or why they give to you, how or if or why they sign your petition, how or if or why they volunteer or become involved and engaged.” That brand experience also needs to be consistent, says Shanklin, meaning if they show up to an event they should be consistently getting the same experience they would have when they visit your website, choose to donate or read your newsletter. Whether you are building a new brand, conducting a rebrand or rethinking your brand, she says, it’s important to follow the steps to create a: • Brand essence—your organization’s brand vibe, or the feeling that people get when your brand walks into their lives. It involves helping people understand and get a feel for your organization, purpose, mission, vision and values. • Brand message—your tagline and core messaging, tone of voice and copywriting that connects and aligns with your brand essence. • Brand identity—your organization’s look and feel; its colors, fonts and imagery that align with your brand essence and messaging. One of the biggest reasons for branding is to capture attention, she says, and to do that you need to differentiate yourself and stand out from other nonprofits that do the same thing you do: “Once you have differentiated yourself, you can keep it with a good brand experience, which is what I consider to be good marketing.” Source: Taylor Shanklin, CEO and Founder, Barlele, Sugar Mountain, NC. Phone (828) 457- 9157. Email inquiries: [email protected] Website: https://www.barlele.com/ ‘Micro Content’ Strategy Brings Consistent Brand Awareness If you’re working on a large body of content, for example your 70-page annual impact report, one of the best ways that you can consistently grow brand awareness is to repurpose that pillar of content into small chunks and pieces, or “micro content”, and distribute it across multiple channels throughout the year, says Taylor Shanklin, CEO and founder of Barlele (Sugar Mountain, NC). “Take the 50 stats you shared in the impact report and make each one a social media post, or highlight each of them in your e-mail newsletters,” she says. “When you start with a pillar piece of content as a framework, you also show a consistent message and a consistent look or brand identity.”
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