Branding: More Than Just Lipstick on a Pig

Rebranding efforts take a lot of energy. Before nonprofits rebrand they should make sure they have identified the right problem to solve so that their energy is going into the right place.

This was the advice shared by Katya Andresen, vice president of marketing for Network for Good, in a post on Katya’s Non-Profit Marketing Blog on Feb. 8.

If an organization determines that rebranding itself is the solution to its problems, Andresen advises it truly rebrand, rather than just change its look with a new logo, name or Web site.

“If you have an aging or dwindling donor base, problems articulating your unique value proposition or lackluster campaign results, you need more [than] cosmetics to change those facts,” she wrote.

Andresen says most marketers and fundraisers see communications as the sun and branding as an outlying planet, when in fact branding should be the “center of the marketing solar system.”

“Your brand is about how you stand out, build relationships, win loyalty and inspire action. That stand-out part has to be about more than color schemes. Your organization’s whole programmatic approach — not just marketing — should reflect what your audience wants, what you’re good at, and what you do better than anyone else. That’s what makes your nonprofit strong — and your brand a standout,” Andresen wrote.

“You can put lipstick on a pig,” she says, “but that’s not going to make you want to kiss it.”

Katya Andresen can be reached via www.networkforgood.org or via her blog, www.nonprofitmarketingblog.com