Branding

The biggest mistake people make in brand storytelling is they forget the party shaping your brand story is the person experiencing the brand — and not your marketing department. Bad brand storytelling is simply stating a vision or mission statement, spewing jargon that describes what you do rather than why it matters to someone else, or not interesting. Good brand storytelling is telling stories that emotionally plunge your audiences right in the middle of your cause and stir them with your value to others. It has a heartbeat.

Funny how such a simple, five-letter word (brand) can be so complex and so much more than just a logo.

In in August 2010 Easier Said Than Done column, "You're Not Nike — Get Over It," Jeff Brooks pulls no punches in reminding fundraisers that corporate-style branding hurts nonprofits and flattens fundraising.

In her To the Point column from the June 2009 issue, fundraising and marketing maven Katya Andresen addressed the problem of being "Brand Slammed" and outlined what to do when you've been dissed online. The key is to respond quickly, honestly and appropriately.

In keeping with our big-picture case study theme for the Engage Conference, it feels appropriate to look back on a rebranding effort that combined innovative strategies and a development department overhaul by the ASPCA. In our April 2006 cover story, "Fundraising Unleashed!" FS Editor-in-Chief Margaret Battistelli Gardner spoke with Jo Sullivan, then the VP of development and communication at ASPCA and now a fundraising consultant and co-chair of the FS Editorial Advisory Board, about how ASPCA stays ahead of the curve in fundraising.

In the June 2008 issue, Katya Andresen put on her Marketing Maven cap to answer some tough questions in "Dear Marketing Maven … "

I'm gearing up for tonight's season finale of the quirky little Betty White sitcom, "Hot in Cleveland," so here's an Editor's Note from the October 2010 issue where I managed to include the inimitable Ms. White and the branding/communications lessons fundraisers can learn from her.

In this feature, "Tag(line), You're It," from September 2007, copywriter and creative consultant Richard DeVeau explains why that little statement underneath your organization's name has to be powerful and to the point.

Hat tip to Oreo for its relevant marketing during Sunday's 30-minute Super Bowl blackout. Relevance rules! But where were nonprofits? Radio silence on the social channels, ideal for right-things, right-now marketing. Take a look at the possibilities: The Oreo marketing team posted this photo ad on its Facebook page within a few minutes of the blackout. It was exactly the right message for viewers at  exactly the right moment.

So you may be asking yourself, what does an ancient Greek genius have to do with my nonprofit? At first glance, not a whole lot, but a nonprofit could learn a thing or two from one of history’s brightest minds. When it came to rhetorical persuasion, Aristotle believed that an effective argument encompassed three critical components — ethos, logos, and pathos.