We often hear from organizations that are having trouble with their messaging. But what we often find when we “get under the hood” is that these challenges actually stem from a bigger problem: ineffective brand positioning.

When it’s good, purpose marketing acts as a rallying cry, helping promote real, positive change in the world while deepening your connection with audiences.

But when it’s bad, it can be a disaster.

Authenticity has become a marketing buzzword, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a helpful concept. The problem is that, like most buzzwords, it’s tough to know exactly what it means. Authentic brands, we’re told, are ones we trust and connect with, while inauthentic brands are ones we mistrust and avoid. But reducing “authentic” and “inauthentic” to good vs bad ignores important questions.

Marketers are often the ones having to juggle their organizations’ messages and visual elements, and for this reason, it can be tempting to think of “brand” as a marketing problem. Here are a few methods for making the case to senior leadership to prioritize your brand.

Strategy without reflection is just reaction. We work with leaders of purpose-driven organizations every day who care deeply about their missions and communities. But even in the most values-aligned businesses, it's easy to get swept up in doing things a certain way because it's "best practice" or it's what the competition is doing.

What are key messages? As simple as that may sound in theory, in practice there is a lot of nuance that goes into creating effective key messages. In this post, we’ll explain what key messages are, how they are used, and how your nonprofit can develop key messages that strengthen your brand and inspire action.

Your donation page is the heart of your fundraising campaign. It’s where your campaign drives traffic and where all of your messaging and design come together to convert moral support into financial donations. We’ve put together a checklist to make sure your donation page is performing the way you need it to.

Identity is a complex thing. With brands as with people, there are multiple layers: who you are, how you look, and—ultimately—the things you do. Authenticity occurs when all of these things exist in alignment with one another.

To continue growing, nonprofits must build a thoughtful and intentional brand that leverages their strengths while taking into account their unique goals and challenges.

That process begins with brand strategy.

If you pay attention to brands and marketing, you may have noticed that “purpose” is having a moment, particularly with for-profit brands. Although you don’t hear that word as much among nonprofits. To understand why, we need to look at what these foundational statements actually are.

So much has happened in the past 10 years, both in the world and in our optimistic corner of it. In honor our 10th anniversary, we're giving ourselves the gift of a new brand!

Your visual identity is important. It’s part of what attracts people and it’s also how they recognize you. Ideally, the way you look also communicates a lot about who you are and what you care about. But just like there’s more to every book than its cover, there’s more to who you are than the way you look.

We’ve made some effort in the last few years to prioritize our own marketing, but it’s been a while since we looked at our brand with any real intention. Coming off of our Nonprofit Marketing Summit presentation on rebranding, however, we decided to fix that.

At the Nonprofit Marketing Summit, we shared branding insights with nonprofit professionals from all over the country. To accompany the presentation, we also developed a range of free resources exclusively for Summit audiences.

Greg Cole is the executive director of Emmaus House, an organization that has been helping residents of Atlanta’s historic Peoplestown community overcome poverty, racism, and other barriers to opportunity for more than 55 years.

Katherine Branch will be leading a session at this year’s Nonprofit Marketing Summit March 5 - 7. We hope you can join!

Strong messaging is important, but far too many organizations want to skip to what they’re saying (messaging) without giving serious thought to who is speaking (your brand). Now more than ever, having a strong brand is crucial if you want your communications to have an impact on audiences.

We know that branding is important—more than 90% of nonprofit leaders recognize it has a positive impact on donor engagement—but for organizations operating on shoestring budgets, it’s important to have systems in place for measuring ROI.

For nonprofits—as well as all organizations—a brand includes who you are intrinsically, what you look like (i.e. your visual identity), and how others perceive you. Brand development is about creating and maintaining alignment between these various dimensions.

6 ideas for ways you can connect with supporters and improve donor retention, all while building a more engaged and positive culture at your nonprofit.