How to Bring Your Charity's Branding Vision to Life
A brand vision is just a vision without an action plan. Having a brand vision is a great starting point but do you have the means to bring your charity's branding vision to life? This 10-step guide will help you make your charity organisation's brand vision a reality.
To bring a charity vision to life, you need to follow a combination of strategic and creative steps.
However, it might be that you have all the strategic steps under control internally but lack the creative pieces, or vice-versa.
With that in mind, here's how you can get your charity branding vision from A to B.
#1 - Clearly define your vision and your mission
The vision and mission are central to the success of your charity branding but you need to communicate your vision and mission "elevator pitch style".
It needs to be short, sharp, and inspiring so that people can catch your vision and want to be part of it.
Here's a simple explanation outlining the purpose of a vision and mission.
👀 Vision: A clear and inspiring statement about what your charity aims to achieve in the long term.
🤝Mission: The specific goals and actions your charity will take to realise your vision.
#2 - Get to know your audience
In years gone by, your understanding of your audience has been strong. But the way people donate, volunteer, partner, and support charities is changing.
Plus, there might be a whole new audience out there for you that you haven't even tapped into.
For your charity branding vision to be effective, knowing your audience is key. Here's how you can go about getting to know your audience on another level.
📊 Research: Circulate surveys, run focus groups and interviews to understand the needs, values, and preferences of the people you're trying to reach.
🧑 Personas: Based on your research, create detailed personas representing your key audience segments.
Regular research is encouraged - at least once a year.
#3 - Tell a memorable brand story
Your charity branding vision will only ever be as good as the story behind it. People respond to powerful, emotive stories that they can relate to, and your research will give you clues about the stories your audience wants to hear. Here's how to go about telling those stories.
Narrative: Develop a powerful narrative that captures the essence of your charity's purpose, its impact, and the change you want to bring to the world.
Authenticity: Raw and real is what people want, so your stories need to be genuine and relatable, demonstrating real-life examples of your charity's impact. People can see right through the forced and the fake, so don't push your stories beyond what's believable. Tell it like it is. It will give your charity far more credibility.
#4 - Build a strong visual identity
For a charity branding vision to truly come to life, a strong visual identity is needed to get you noticed.
You could have the most powerful stories and impact in people's lives but if you're not visible visually, your stories go untold to many.
Here's how you go about building an unforgettable visual identity.
Logo: Don't just knock something up on Canva. Create something unique, memorable, and meaningful that truly reflects your brand values.
Colour Palette: Choose colours that spark the right emotions and are consistent with your brand message. For example, it would be pretty weird if the British Red Cross had a purple logo, right? Make it make sense.
Typography: Select fonts that are easy to read and align with the personality of your brand.
Imagery: Use impactful images to showcase your work and impact in action. Try and avoid stock images because it's not a real reflection of who you are as a charity, and most people can spot them a mile off. Images captured by your charity add to authenticity.
#5 - Create a consistent brand voice
How do you want people to hear you? Your tone and your message will be the ingredients that show people if your cause is worth supporting. Here's how to go about creating a consistent brand voice.
Tone: Collectively, your organisation needs to decide whether a formal, informal, inspiring, or compassionate tone is the right approach for your charity.
Messaging: You need to come up with standout key messages that are clear, consistent and aligned with your brand values. Generic messaging like, "we want to make a difference" are not enough.
#6 - Make an impact online
Many donors, volunteers, and charity partners first connect with nonprofit organisations online nowadays.
The digital space is a powerful way for you to raise awareness of your charity, encourage donations, attract volunteers, and more. Here's how to go about building a standout online presence.
Website: Create a user-friendly, informative, and visually engaging website.
Social media: Establish active and engaging social media profiles on platforms where your audience is most active.
Content: Create high-quality content that educates, inspires, and motivates your audience to take action.
#7 - Engage and empower your community
Your donors, volunteers, and partners are your biggest allies and ambassadors. Keeping them engaged and empowering them to spread your message far and wide will do wonders for the vision and mission of your charity.
Here's how you go about rallying your community.
Donors: Come up with a donor engagement strategy that honours and recognises the contribution that your donors make. Tell them about how their donations are making a difference to create a feel-good factor.
Volunteers: Encourage people to get involved and contribute their time and skills to your cause by developing an inspiring volunteer program.
Partners: Form meaningful partnerships with other organisations, businesses, and influencers to expand your reach and impact.
#8 - Measure and communicate your impact
A true charity branding vision is transparent with those who invest in your cause. In fact, transparency is a top motivator for people to support a cause.
So, you need a plan to communicate the impact of your work. Here's how.
Metrics: Identify key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure your impact and success.
Reports: Regularly share impact reports with your stakeholders, highlighting achievements, challenges, and future plans.
#9 - Continuous improvement
The future of your vision and mission will hinge on continuously improving your brand. Here's what that looks like.
Feedback: Gather feedback from your community, volunteers, donors, and partners to understand what’s working and what needs improvement.
Adaptation: Be willing to adapt your strategies based on feedback and changing circumstances.
#10 - Storytelling and campaigns
The ultimate goal of your charity branding vision is to raise awareness of your organisation and its mission.
This means you have to be active in the community you're serving to tell your stories face to face. This can be through…
Campaigns: Develop compelling fundraising and awareness campaigns that tell your story and engage your audience.
Events: Host events that bring your community together, celebrate successes, and raise awareness about your cause.
Other top tips to bring your charity branding vision to life
Workshops and brainstorming sessions: Involve your team in workshops to generate ideas and refine your vision and strategy.
Professional assistance: Consider hiring specialist charity branding experts, designers, and marketing professionals. If you find all the tasks overwhelming, or you don't have the skills in-house, partnering with a professional charity branding agency helps to lighten the load, serving as an extension of your team.
Pilot programs: Test your branding and communication strategies on a smaller scale before a full-scale rollout.
Use technology: Use CRM systems to manage relationships, social media management tools for online presence, and analytics tools to measure impact.
Bring your charity branding vision to life with Sodium & Co.
We're not your typical branding agency, we're a charity sector specific agency that gives you virtual support at your fingertips.
We understand the Third Sector space more than most branding agencies, which is why we're the ideal collaborators to give you the long-term brand management support you need.
Everything you need from a branding company for your charity can be found under our roof. We are a collective of hybrid branding and marketing specialists that build brands with staying power.
We are the creative force to champion your cause.
Let's talk brand consultancy. Book your FREE, 30-minute call with Navi Aulkh, for a detailed discussion about your organisation, branding requirements, our prices and packaging - and how to get the most out of working together.