White Paper: Fixing Fuzzy Perceptions
January 2002
communications strategy, messaging, positioning
Many not-for-profit organizations voice similar complaints about how their work is perceived. "Most people think we are all about (a particular service), but we are doing so much more than that." "We have a really hard time attracting new donors/new members." "Raising unrestricted funds is constantly a problem— people only seem to want to support this program." "The Board really doesn’t understand what it is we do."
This White Paper addresses how many development and awareness-building problems are reflecting deeper organizational issues that emerge in communications.
Why your organization isn’t understood
If I had a nickel for every social services organization I’ve worked with who began by telling me that their Mission and Brand Position is ‘to help poor children and families’… Is that what they really do? Of course it is, in the broadest of terms. With probing, usually in conversation with the Executive Director, the unique features of the organization begin to emerge. What sets them apart may be in how they serve poor children and families, or that they focus on a particular segment of this broad population, or that they serve a typically under-served area. These details are usually what make their work uniquely important and memorable.
As a communications consultant for nonprofits, it’s part of my job to understand how they are different— I am engaged to help with precisely these issues. But what about a donor? It would take a donor of unusual commitment or interest to get past the initial levels of ambiguity and go deeper inside the organization. Most don’t.
I don’t want to care about what you do
Our marketing-saturated lives, most people seek out reasons to ignore something rather than to care— it’s the only way to get through the barrage of telemarketing, direct mail, ads and requests that besiege most philanthropists (and others) on a daily basis. The constituent your development team is working so hard to attract— the person who, if they understood what you do, would clearly become a supporter— is likely to be unconsciously looking for reasons not to care every time you contact them. "I already support an organization that helps poor children and families," or "this isn’t an issue that I feel strongly about."
If your Executive Director could get this person on the phone, they would undoubtedly have a counter argument: "Yes, but we serve the immigrant population in this district— families just like yours." Or, "Did you know that 3 out of 5 children in this area don’t have enough food to eat lunch?" These more meaningful arguments start to make the organization more memorable and relevant for the average person.
All things to all people
Many organizations resist focusing their message for two reasons. One is that they don’t want to limit the funding opportunities that might be available if they keep their mission deliberately broad. The other is that they don’t want to restrict their activities to a particular area in case the landscape changes (for example, in case faith-based organizations loose favor or a particular population is no longer popularly viewed as the neediest).
These are real arguments that can’t be dismissed. However, being ‘all things to all people’ is usually an ineffective way to raise awareness and funding in a highly competitive landscape. Smart strategies that take these perspectives into account must be developed so an organization can maintain a clearer position without shooting itself in the foot along the way.
Other reasons your message isn’t making it
There are a myriad of reasons your target audiences may be missing messages. Here are some of the reasons I encounter most frequently when I audit staff, Board, donor and other constituent’s perceptions of an agency:
- You keep saying it differently. Some organizations start from scratch each time they create a newsletter, annual report or website. They rewrite their key messages, even their mission. This often creates a haze around what their work actually is.
- Lack of perceived need. Often agency insiders understand why their work is so important, but their target audiences don’t. These types of agencies have to begin by educating about the need for their work so audiences learn to care first.
- Staff doesn’t understand the work. This happens in larger organizations, particularly those that are lacking integrated management practices. Staff may understand what they or their department does, but they may not understand the bigger picture and the mission. If the staff doesn’t really understand the organization’s work, they usually won’t communicate well about it to outsiders.
- Board ‘disconnects’. Many Executive Directors inherit a Board with low turnover and high complacency. Engaging the Board and bringing it back to life is a difficult process. Many E.D.s manage by indulging some of the Board’s wishes and ignoring others (picking battles), which often results in two messages getting communicated.
A few things you can do:
- Monitor the landscape. Get to know your competitors, and keep in touch with what they are doing. Often this will clarify what not to do.
- Define what needs to be said every time. Set up systems so the language, images, logos, etc. that must always be used are clearly defined and presented to staff and vendors.
- Train staff. Make sure they know about other aspects of the organization and what needs to be communicated about the organization as a whole (not just about their division).
- Explain why your work is necessary. Build an undeniable argument in one paragraph (if possible) that is used on everything you do.
- Keep explaining. Don’t assume people paid attention last time you told them what you do and why it’s important.
- Be consistent. See our White Paper on "Branding the Nonprofit" for more information.
- Get bored. Just when you are sick of seeing the same language in the same colors, it’s starting to become recognizable to people outside the organization.
- Work proactively, not reactively. Plan and review communications as you would your organizational and development plans. Consider communications the ‘in between’— it serves both development and the organization overall.
Defining a ‘brand position’
A brand position is the place an organization strives to own in the minds of constituents. For example, "the best overnight delivery service" is the brand position FedEx wants consumers to associate with them. A brand position provides the backbone for all marketing and communications by providing the primary message all materials and actions should communicate and support.
A successful brand position begins with what key constituents already know about the organization, product or service. It builds on this knowledge in order to frame a product, service or organization in an identifiable manner. Since we can’t literally get into their minds, certain assumptions (which may or may not be proven by market research) are made about what audiences feel and think.
If the brand position is well conceived, it should marry what the audience already knows with the organization’s truths and competencies. Audiences will gather information as they interact with the organization and its representatives (usually people and communications). They use this information to determine whether the brand is reliable and worth supporting. In other words, "FedEx is the best overnight delivery service" only works as a brand position if the company can consistently and reliably provide overnight delivery service.
The not-for-profit’s brand position
The brand position of a nonprofit must integrate the organization’s mission, vision, and real-life work into a bite-size morsel that can be communicated and remembered easily. Defining one that will successfully integrate all of these elements can’t be done overnight— it’s a process that takes several months and usually requires the help of an objective third party. To work, it must begin with an objective hard look at the organization— what it is, what it wants to do, what it really does, and what its key constituents know about it.
© 2003 Big Duck. All rights reserved. No part of this case study may be copied, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in each case in any form or by any means, without prior permission from Big Duck.