Rolling Out a New Look for Your Small Nonprofit

Maybe your logo's look takes viewers right back to the days of Miami Vice - all teal and purple with shadows reminiscent of neon or totally simplistic because at the time you had to design it yourself and you only had 6 typefaces to your name and a black laser printer. So you go out and get yourself a look more relevant to the time; something that reflects how your small NP has grown. Now you gotta present the change to the world. Here are a few things to keep in mind:

• Build it up with social media
• Repeat, Repeat Repeat
• Website, website, website
• Follow-Up
• Some people will hate it

Build It Up With Social Media

Get people excited about the change by introducing the topic ahead of time. Maybe you've gotten some comments about your visual branding - now's the time to trot them out and address them. Use hints, use a meme, if possible (what would Gordon Ramsay say about it?), then lead into an announcement about the coming change. Allude to the reasons for the change and what you hope to accomplish with it, but save the details for the blog. Keep your tweets, FB posts, Pinterest pins short, intriguing, funny and link to the blog for details.

Repeat, Repeat, Repeat

Remember the most of your followers are not on the same schedule as you. If you're using an auto-post application, set them to repeat the posts one or two a day at different times in the days leading up to the change. They should not dominate unless the visual brand change is a HUGE deal for you, but should be repeated to make sure they have more reach. And don't forget to ask people to pass the word along.

Website, Website, Website

A small nonprofit I know of had everything ready; stationery, signs, biz cards, roll-out events, etc., but the website wasn't done on time. This meant that their new domain had to have a redirect to their old site. Lame. Plus, some antivirus programs are set to shut down attempts to redirect to another site. I know you're busy making sure all of the people you've invited to the events can be there and you can't move the dates, but you might want to consider adding in some padding to the schedule for the build of the new website just to make sure, so that when you announce the new name, new site, the new site works.

Follow-Up

As with the lead up to the roll-out of the new look, you need to repeat your posts about the changes to improve your reach and avoid WTH? comments from people who were on vacation or whose streams move faster. "Just a reminder - we have a new website: www.newlook.com" And popular email addresses that have changed should also have reminders: "Contact Events Manager Susie at her new address - Susie@newlook.com". Set the auto-posts as you did for the roll-out, a couple every day at different times. Hint: if you have analytics that tell you the time of day when most people view your posts, you're ahead of the game.

Some People Will Hate It

Just a fact. Some people hate change. No matter how many others LOVE the new look, there will be a few who dislike it intensely and aren't afraid to post comments saying so. Keep your replies simple as "Sorry you don't like it. Hope it will grow on you," and leave it at that. Post updates that highlight how the new look is working great (assuming it is), how versatile it is, how people are embracing it, why (almost) everyone thinks it's great. And for heaven's sake, DO NOT get into a public discussion trying to convince a hater that the new look is worthwhile. It won't do your relationship with that person - or your small nonprofit - any good.

Change is the only constant in the world. If your small nonprofit is making a visual change to the brand, keep these things in mind and hopefully you can present your shiny, new face with the confidence it deserves.

Not Content With Content - Four Things a Nonprofit Can Learn from the Private Sector

Image via Revelife.com

Business people on nonprofit boards often support attempts by nonprofits to apply business-acumen to the public sector. In recent years, there's been a decided push in this direction to which some nonprofits  have dug in their heels. Me - I'm always in favor of balance, which doesn't always mean 50-50. I think each nonprofit has its own definition of balance that encompasses what they're trying to achieve and how much useful transformation they are willing to deal with to get there. And I also believe that business can offer the small nonprofit valuable information, if they can get beyond the sales conversion perspective and see the possibilities. In this post, let's look at the possibilities for nonprofits in how for-profits use online content:

1. Your Nonprofit is a Brand
2. Your Brand is a Publisher of Content
3. Content Must Entertain and/or Add Value
4. Content is More Than You

Your Nonprofit is a Brand

You should know this already. In the public eye, your small NP is not necessarily your mission. As Patricia Tan points out in her article on branding, many NPs are reluctant to think of themselves as brands. She believes that this "stems from a narrow understanding of 'brand' as a marketing tool rather than as a core organizational tool."

So, what a brand? Here's my favorite definition via AMG Media, Inc.:

It is the emotional and psychological relationship you have with your customers. Strong brands elicit opinions, emotions, and sometimes physiological responses from customers.

When potential clients, donors, or volunteers see your logo, what emotions or opinions do you think they have? How has your brand strategy (or lack of it) contributed to that viewpoint?

Your Brand is a Publisher of Content

Your social media communications - what you post on your website, Facebook, Twitter, etc. - is your content.

Content Must Entertain and/or Add Value

To be worth commenting on or sharing, your content has to catch the viewer's attention. If your content emphasizes "this is what we do" or "this is what we are doing", you are not leaving much room for your viewers to engage with you beyond a simple "We were there, we had fun" or "Like."

If your content doesn't evoke laughter, sympathy; if it doesn't inspire, encourage, incite, solve a problem or otherwise provide some benefit (value) to your viewer, then it could probably stand improvement.

Content is More Than You

Take an oblique perspective. For example, your NP is sponsoring an artist in residence. The artist holds informal classes for children in an underserved community. You could take pictures of one of those classes and post them, but that's not as engaging as it could be. What if you had video of those children answering questions about their art? Major difference, right?

Another example: your NP delivers warm meals to the elderly and housebound. Which is better - a well-designed infographic of how many meals have been delivered in the last 10 years or a story, with pictures, about how a friendship has developed between a volunteer and a housebound veteran?

Strategize around your brand. Look for ways to associate it with the human emotions and thinking that embody your mission. Design and write content to spotlight that emotion and thinking. It's marketing, but it's also revealing at a deeper level, a non-verbal level, why your nonprofit exists.


Want some examples of not-for-profit brands doing content right? Sprout Insights has a few.