Digital Marketing and Branding for Non-profits
Background
There is a common misconception that non-profit organisations have no use for marketing since they aren’t “selling” anything, per se. This is far removed from reality. A strong brand can help your NGO establish credibility and trust quickly, including with funders and key stakeholders. It ensures organisational longevity and helps your organisation stand out. Marketing enables you to take the centre stage in your own narrative because if you don’t tell your own story someone else will.
Digital Marketing and Branding for Non-profits
The Sattva Partner Network recently hosted the webinar, Digital Marketing and Branding for Non-profits to guide organisations on strong brand positioning as well as the tools, steps and strategies in creating a brand. The keynote speaker for the webinar was Vrunda Bansode, Head – Marketing at Sattva Consulting.
The key highlights of the webinar are:
There are different components of a brand, they may be Tangible (Name, Logo, tagline, Visual identity) or Intangible (Values, Perception, Experience, Emotion). There are 6 steps to creating and nurturing a strong brand:
– Clarity of organisation mission and values
– Expression Through A Well-Built Narrative
– Consistency In Presenting The Narrative – ensure everyone in your organisation understands the mission and speaks the same language
– Identify Key Stakeholders For Your Work
– Develop Stakeholder Centric Strategy
– Review & Repeat
The science of building a consistent brand representation involves keeping the visual identity and presentation of the organisation constant. This includes:
– Logo
– Colours and graphics
– Report/document/presentation formats
– Online – website, emails, social media
– Standard blurbs
– Name
– Logo
– Tagline
– Visual identity i.e., colors, images, fonts, design
On the other hand the art of building a consistent brand representation has the following elements:
– Language and the tone
– Responsiveness
– Frequency of communication
– Channels of communication
– Partnerships and associations
Each stakeholder sees a different part (different projects, priorities etc.) of you so you become the story you tell. It is, then, important to tell stories that mean something to your audience/stakeholders.
An Interaction Funnel can be used to demonstrate the communications cycle of a brand and the goal of a communicator is to move people through it. Mass communication is at the top, while custom communication is at the bottom and that is where the conversion occurs.
Key considerations to be kept in mind when establishing your organisation’s online presence are:
– Can it be found?
– Does it accurately represent you?
– Is it current and updated?
– How are you driving traffic to it?
– Are you monitoring traffic?
– To achieve social media success:
– Be consistent – post regularly, maintain consistency in messaging and tone
– Be social – use relevant hashtags and tag people/organisations, respond and interact
– Be helpful –share authentic experiences and knowledge, do not push agenda at all times
– Lastly, build for the future! Nurture engaged communities, experiment with audio & video, and use quick and effective tools for design, mass email, social media posting, editing such as Canva and Mailchimp.
The presentation from the session be accessed here:
You can save a copy of the presentation by clicking the ‘Download’ link on the right.
The recording from the webinar can be accessed here.
We have collated a set of useful marketing resources, which can be accessed here.
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Sattva has been working with various non-profits and social organisations as well as corporate clients to help them define their social impact goals. Our focus is to solve critical problems and find scalable solutions. We assist organisations in formulating their long-term social impact strategy by strategically aligning with business to provide meaningful solutions to social issues.
If you have any such stories or ideas to share, please write to us: impact@sattva.co.in
