{"id":16935,"date":"2019-03-11T15:44:07","date_gmt":"2019-03-11T15:44:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.brandtwist.com\/blog\/?p=16935"},"modified":"2019-03-11T15:44:07","modified_gmt":"2019-03-11T15:44:07","slug":"3-ways-to-strengthen-your-nonprofit-brand-with-a-twist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brandtwist.com\/blog\/brand-experience\/3-ways-to-strengthen-your-nonprofit-brand-with-a-twist\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Ways to Strengthen Your Nonprofit Brand with a TWIST"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I spend a lot of time talking about branding in the for-profit space, but a powerful and clearly defined brand is a critical asset for <em>any<\/em> organization. Last week, I had the opportunity to chat with Hugh Ballou and Russell Dennis of <a href=\"https:\/\/synervisionleadership.org\/ope-brandtwist\/\">SynerVision Leadership Foundation<\/a> about how nonprofits from churches to charities can use the TWIST to stand out, get the attention their good work deserves, and build a loyal community of followers, donors, and volunteers.<\/p>\n<p>Watch the video here and read on for key takeaways your organization can start implementing right now.<\/p>\n<div class=\"youtube-embed\" data-video_id=\"YQEIk9nQOKs\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"696\" height=\"392\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/YQEIk9nQOKs?feature=oembed&#038;enablejsapi=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p><strong>Take off your brand blinders<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Your brand is much more than your logo or name\u2014it is your story, and great stories have a TWIST. A TWIST is a point of differentiation. It\u2019s what\u2019s unique about your organization, the hook that gets stakeholders interested in hearing more and wanting to become involved.<\/p>\n<p>The first step in discovering your organization\u2019s unique TWIST is to take off what I call \u201cbrand blinders.\u201d If you spend all your time thinking about what other organizations in your own space are doing, you will end up doing the same thing. Removing your brand blinders allows you to break free of \u201cme too\u201d marketing by looking at brands unlike yours for inspiration.<\/p>\n<p>Pick a few of your favorite brands. What experiences are they providing? How are they engaging customers? What differentiates them from the competition? And finally, how can you take those lessons and apply them to your own organization?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Don\u2019t build your brand by committee<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Committees are key to building a successful organization, but they can actually do more harm than good when it comes to building your brand.<\/p>\n<p>When I work with nonprofits, we often get input from many sources\u2014including leadership, staff, members, donors, and the community\u2014but I always insist that we identify a much smaller group that will actually champion the brand direction.<\/p>\n<p>I do this because making important branding decisions by committee\u2014in other words, expecting consensus on the name, logo, or positioning\u2014is branding by the lowest common denominator and the result is often vague, confusing, and unremarkable.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Remember, your brand is not for everyone<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Speaking of trying to please everyone, it may sound counter-intuitive, but the narrower your focus, the closer you\u2019ll connect with your ideal target. You can\u2019t be everything to everyone\u2014and trying is only going to dilute your brand and the caliber of followers it attracts.<\/p>\n<p>Women age 25-54 is not a target. People looking for meaning in their life is not a target. Instead, you have to zero in on a single person who personifies your best \u201ccustomer,\u201d and start thinking about what they want that you can offer.<\/p>\n<p>Ready to revolutionize your nonprofit brand? I am offering <strong>15% off <a href=\"http:\/\/brandtwist.com\/brand-health-check\">Brand Health Check<\/a> strategy sessions with code SVLF<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I spend a lot of time talking about branding in the for-profit space, but a powerful and clearly defined brand is a critical asset for any organization. Last week, I had the opportunity to chat with Hugh Ballou and Russell Dennis of SynerVision Leadership Foundation about how nonprofits from churches to charities can use the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":16936,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,27,30],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-16935","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brand-experience","8":"category-brand-personality","9":"category-brand-strategy"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandtwist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16935","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandtwist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandtwist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandtwist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandtwist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16935"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/brandtwist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16935\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16938,"href":"https:\/\/brandtwist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16935\/revisions\/16938"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandtwist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandtwist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandtwist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandtwist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}