Whether you want it or not, your non-profit already has a brand. From the first moment you told someone else about your organization you began building the brand. Understanding the brand and influencing its direction is more important to your mission than most non-profits realize. Your brand will impact who feels drawn to volunteer for your cause, who seeks your input in public policy, or whether or not they interact with your organization at all.
Your brand is more than the logo, it's beyond the organization's name, and it is more than a reputation. Your brand encompasses every type of interaction people have with your organization. It plays across every sense. There are a number of great definitions of a brand, but my favorite comes from Casey Jones. Your brand is not defined by what you think and feel, it is what your constituents think. It is not developed by what you tell people to think, it is inferred from what you do and say.
Everything brands.
As an organization you get to influence your brand, but you cannot directly manage it the way you can update a Web site or write an article. Your brand becomes the accumulation of all these things you do.
If you are purposeful about influencing your brand, you can make it your most valuable asset to accomplishing your mission. More on how to do that over the new few posts.
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