Nonprofit Branding in the Digital Age

Designing a New Way Forward

Nonprofit Branding in the Digital AgeDesigning Online Experiences That Drive Social Change

Presented May 25, 2016

@constr_ctive / constructive.coNonprofit Branding in the Digital Age

First, a Little Bit About Me

Matt

• 20 Years in Branding & Interactive Design

• Founder & Director of Strategy, Constructive

• Brand Strategy & Experience Design Firm

• Exclusive Focus on Social Change Brands

• Located in NYC

• Online: constructive.co, @constr_ctive


How Will We Be Spending Our Time?

Q & A Q & A 21Demystifying

Digital BrandingProcess & Tools


PART 1

Demystifying Digital

Branding


PART 1

Demystifying Digital

Branding

We’ll Be Discussing

• What the Role of a Nonprofit Brand is

• How Brands Create Value

• How Brands Are Experienced

• What Digital Branding Is

• What Experience Design Is

• The Website’s Role in Digital Branding


Though Times are Changing, There is Still Skepticism of the “B-Word” in the Nonprofit Sector

“We don’t focus on our brand, we focus

on our grantees.”

“We shouldn’t look like we spend too much

money on our brand.”

“Our brand is managed by Communications.

We work on programs.”


Despite this Skepticism, Every Nonprofit Has a Brand, Whether They Pay Attention

to It or Not.

The Only Question, Really is How Actively We Want

to Manage and Cultivate It.


A Paradigm Shift in How Nonprofit Brands are Understood & Managed

Old School New School

No longer a tool just for fundraising & PR, but a strategic asset focused on mission implementation


“ A brand is a powerful expression of an organization’s mission and values…that can help engineer collaborations and partnerships that will better enable it to fulfill its mission and deepen its impact…It is a strategic asset central to the success of the organization itself.”Christopher Stone President, Open Society Foundations


Adapted from “Communications Matters”

What’s a Nonprofit Brand Made of?

Relationships

The associations that increase an organization’s

authority & capacity

The combined capital an organization can invest to achieve its goals

The sum of an organization’s earned &

perceived credibility

Reputation ResourcesB


Identity

Image

Cohesion

Trust

Capacity

Impact

Positioning

Leverage

Repe

titi

on

Adapted from “The Brand IDEA”

Organizational Strategy

Statement 2

Internally, a clear brand builds a stronger sense

of organizational identity, leading to greater

organizational cohesion, which translates into

effective decision making and increased capacity.

Externally, a strong identity results in a clear image and aligned reputation, whose consistency over time builds greater trust with audiences, and is leveraged with greater capacity to increase social impact.

How Do Nonprofit Brands Work?


What Currency Do Brands Trade in?

The less tangible the value a brand offers is, the more subjective the evaluation, and the greater the potential for a disconnect.

Aspirational Value

Intangible Value

Tangible Value


Where is Brand Value Created?

• Brands create value for their audience and for themselves at the intersection of their goals.

• Audiences evaluate your organization’s value based on how well it helps them accomplish their goals.

• Audience goals include both transactional ones and ones related to a person’s sense of identity.

• Nonprofit brands, whose goals can often be long-term, removed from daily life, and require significant aspirational value, have unique challenges .

Organizational Goals

Value

Audience Goals


• Design is both a noun and a verb, describing both a process and its outcome.

• Design is how your organization is understood, it communicates the promises you make, and indicates the kinds of experiences people should expect.

• Experiences with your brand are never the same for any two people.

• The sum of these experiences and the value audiences find in them determines what they remember you for.

And How Are Brands Experienced?

Design is the Primary Means Through

Which Your Brand is Experienced


“ Everyone designs who advises courses of action aimed at changing existing situations into preferred ones.”Herbert Simon Nobel Laureate Social Scientist


Experiences Must be Meaningful to be Valuable

• From tribal associations to religious symbols and heraldry, brands and identity have been an integral part of how society functions.

• In modern society, the brands we choose to associate with are a natural evolution of our desire for meaning and identity.

• Social change brands have the power to strengthen meaning & identity by bringing people together around shared mission, values,or specific goals.

The Desire for Meaning is as Old

as Humankind Itself


Digital Branding is Fundamentally Different Than Traditional Branding

• Branding in the digital era is no longer about highly controlled, one-way projections.

• Digital branding is built on participatory engagement and two-way conversations in which audiences have far greater control and choice.

• Brand democracy and online dialogue are primary drivers of digital branding.

• Websites and other digital channels allow audiences to quickly form and share opinions of the quality and relevance of an organization.

Digital branding contains the sum of

all online experiences brands create


Digital Branding Uses Design to Create Value by Bridging the Online Gap Between Nonprofits & Audiences

Organizational Goals

Audience Goals

Digital Branding


WWW

Media Relations

24/7/365

Community

Events

Intranet

Fundraising

Marketing Systems

Storytelling

CRM

Reporting

Publishing

Tools & Resources

Knowledge Management

Stanford Credibility ??


Planning Strategy Building

Partnerships

Supporting Grantees

Cultivating Community

Influencing Policy

Mobilizing Audiences

Elevating Issues

Convening Stakeholders

Making Grants

Sharing Knowledge

FundraisingManaging Programs

Delivering Services Attracting

Talent

Making Investments

Reporting

Generating SupportConducting

Events

Creating Social Change is No Small Task!


Planning Strategy Building

Partnerships

Supporting Grantees

Cultivating Community

Influencing Policy

Mobilizing Audiences

Elevating Issues

Convening Stakeholders

Making Grants

Sharing Knowledge

FundraisingManaging Programs

Delivering Services Attracting

Talent

Making Investments

Reporting

Generating SupportConducting

Events

Creating Social Change is No Small Task!

Your Website is an Expression of All of This Activity and More.


Demystifying Digital Branding Summary

Nonprofit brands are no longer just a tool for a fundraising & PR, but are a strategic asset focused on mission implementation.

Nonprofit brands consist of the combination of its relationships, reputation, and resources.

A Nonprofit’s brand strengthens identity, cohesion, and capacity to improve its image, build trust, and increase impact.

Brands are evaluated by the combination of tangible, intangible, and aspirational value they create.

Brands create value and meaning at the intersection of an organization’s goals and its audiences.

Digital branding is fundamentally different than traditional branding, and is built on participation and dialogue

An nonprofit’s website is the hub of its digital branding

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5

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HALF TIME

Let’s Discuss!


PART 2

Process & Tools

We’ll Be Discussing

• The 4 Core Elements of Every Website

• The Inherent Challenges in Website Engagements

• A Process That Can Help Us Overcome Them

• Brand Strategy’s Role in Uniting Our Efforts

• Some Tools & Techniques That Can Make Our Process More Effective


Brand Strategy

Content Strategy

Design Strategy

Technology Strategy

Every Website is Made of 4 Core Elements

They Are Its 4 Strategic Foundations


Brand Strategy

Content Strategy

Design Strategy

Technology Strategy

Too Often, Online Brand Experiences

Are Designed by Heavily Siloed Teams


The Process of Creating Websites is Often Long & Complicated!

WWW


We Need an Integrated Approach That Keeps Everyone Pulling

in the Same Direction!


Brand Strategy is a Unifying Force of Experience Design. When Used

to Drive a Collaborative Website Process, it Reduces Risk & Aligns

Outcomes with Organizational Goals.


Project Manager

Content Strategist

Technology Strategist

Client Team

Design Director

Director of Strategy

Discovery & Strategy

UX & Content Strategy

Design & Content

Development

QA & Deployment

Brand Strategy Creates Common Vision Across Disciplines in a Process That Emphasizes Direct Access, Collaboration, and Shared Learning Throughout.


What Tools & Techniques Can Help Improve Our Process and Outcomes?

Brand Strategy Workshops

Brand Messaging Framework

User Experience Research

Stakeholder Surveys & Interviews

Digital Strategy Brief

Information Architecture

Content Audit & Content Strategy

Design Language System


TOOLS & TECHNIQUES

Stakeholder Surveys & Interviews

• Provides valuable insights via common questions and points of departure for each stakeholder to contextualize broader brand questions within their areas of expertise.

• Creates a safe environment for stakeholders to share their opinions freely, and for brand strategy leads to then use them to strengthen collaboration.

• Allows common patterns and differences of opinion to be identified before collaboration begins, providing strategy leads the opportunity to frame them effectively.

Individual Insights Provide an Ideal Starting Point for Collaborative Exploration


TOOLS & TECHNIQUES

Brand Strategy Workshops

The Foundation of Effective Branding Starts With Collaborative Discovery

• Creates a valuable opportunity to co-create a clear understanding of an organization’s value that can then be translated into experience design.

• Democratizes the branding process across an entire organization, breaking through traditional operational silos to create a common vision built on trust.

• Reinforces organizational identity by clarifying mission around a common vision and shared values that drive organizational thinking and operations.


TOOLS & TECHNIQUES

Brand Messaging Framework

• Creates clear, concise language that can be used flexible across all communications, increasing messaging consistency and cohesion to different audiences.

• Creates a through-line that connects an organization’s mission at its highest level through to its operations and partnerships that help advance it.

• Provides a brand-driven framework for effectively evaluating digital content and developing content strategy that is focused on creating value.

A Clear Message Communicates How Change Happens and Why it Matters


TOOLS & TECHNIQUES

Digital Strategy Brief

• Provides greater detail than a “creative brief” or “project brief” to contextualize specific project goals within a big picture driven by brand.

• Establishes a common vision that is driven by brand value, and connects challenges, opportunities, audience needs, the peer/competitive market, and more.

• Clearly details goals for each of the four core disciplines so that clients and teams better understand what outcomes they are aiming for, and how they interrelate.

Clear Goals & Common Ground Keep Multi-Disciplinary Teams on the Same Page


TOOLS & TECHNIQUES

User Experience Research

• Provides insights such as differences between demographics and audience, and unforeseen barriers that are not otherwise possible.

• Reduces subjective decision making based on client or design team preferences by highlighting what online audiences value most or find most frustrating.

• Helps prioritize time, budget, and effort on developing features and content that audiences demonstrate having the greatest interest in.

Working With Real Users Allows Evaluation of Assumptions Before Execution


TOOLS & TECHNIQUES

Design Language

System

• Takes a systems-based, responsive approach to flexibly solve common design problems across a variety of online touchpoints.

• Address interaction, animation, and more in digital interfaces to ensure audiences have cohesive brand experience on all devices and platforms.

Digital Branding Demands More Than Traditional Brand Standards Deliver


TOOLS & TECHNIQUES

Content Audit & Strategy

• Identifies content goals and gaps—both quantitative and qualitative—within the broader framework of an organization’s brand strategy.

• Combines with UX design to help ensure that all content delivered online is accessible and useful, and that it helps audiences achieve their goals.

A Roadmap for Creating Meaningful, Cohesive, Engaging, and Sustainable Content


TOOLS & TECHNIQUES

2-Tier User Experience Wireframes

• Quickly focuses everyone on broad buckets of content & interaction so that primary drivers of an organization’s brand strategy operations can be evaluated.

• Allows more detailed, design- and layout-driven decisions to be made only after broad goals and requirements have been agreed upon.

• Provides a creative and technical roadmap for execution by indicating specific design priorities and layout, and providing clear functional annotations for development.

A Top-Level & Granular Evaluation of How UX Will Achieve User & Audience Goals


WR AP-UP

Let’s Discuss!

Designing a New Way Forward

Thanks, Everyone!

Have questions or want to continue the discussion? Please get in touch!

Matt Schwartz [email protected]

212-925-6460 xt 124

Web: constructive.co Twitter: @constr_ctive Medium: @constructive