How to conduct a nonprofit brand audit

The organization I work for recently underwent a brand audit. The process was meant to help clarify how the organization's brand was perceived by members of the nonprofit and external stakeholders.

The process was no small undertaking. The brand audit aimed to assess the strength and integrity of the organization's brand. A brand audit can be as in-depth as you want, but it often starts with some probing questions (ones that are sometimes difficult to ask) and ends with a series of answers (ones that are sometimes difficult to hear).

Ultimately a brand audit helps enhance an organization's position within the marketplace and its ability to communicate who it is, what it does, and why the work that it does matters.

Steps for conducting a nonprofit brand audit

1. Begin with a plan of action. What will a brand audit help your organization clarify? Is the timing right to conduct an audit? Do you have the resources avaialble? How will an assessment of your brand improve your organization's efforts or clairfy its values?
2. If you decide to go ahead collect as much collateral branding material as you can. This includes brochures, reports, logos, banners, website print outs, advertising, etc. Collecting this material will make it easier for you to see if you are 'on' or 'off' brand as you undergo the research phase.
3. Conduct a series of focus groups or in-depth interviews with internal and external members. The goal here is to get a variety of opinions and feedback about your brand. Questions may include:
   
   • What is unique about your organization?
   • What are your organization's strengths and weaknesses?
   • What is your organization best known for?
   • What are five words that someone might use to describe your organization?
   • How does your organization compare to others in the field?
4. Conduct a comparative analysis of similar or contrasting organizations related to your line of work. How does your brand compare to theirs? What attributes or reputations do other organizations have that you admire?
5. Organize, analyze, synthesize and evaluate the responses you receive from focus groups, key informant interviews and comparative analyses. Take a good hard look at what the data and feedback are telling you and draw out salient points.
6. Make a series of recommendations to strengthen the quality and integrity of your organization's brand. Remember to keep budget and resources (human and material) in mind. What can you do to improve your brand within the constraints and limits of your organization's capacity?

Branding isn't just about paint and wallpaper, it's much deeper than that. It's the essence of your organization and relates closely to communications, marketing, fundraising, campaigning, strategy and mission. Good luck!

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Guidelines for Nonprofit Media Relations: Part II

Part one of the nonprofit media relations guide discussed background steps to prepare a nonprofit media relations strategy. Part two covers how nonprofits can communicate with media.

Communication Tools for Nonprofit Media Relations

Face-to-face meetings - The best way to build relationships with the media is through face-to-face communication. Try taking a local reporter out to lunch - it may be the best $20 investment your organization can make (you may get a little media training out of the meeting too).

Fact sheets and issue briefs – These documents provide a concise, clear and effective way to provide key messages and information about your nonprofit. Fact sheets may be included in press kits.

News releases – Releases are the most common and conventional way to disseminate information to the media. They are a formal communications tool that may present an angle or story about your organization and its work.

Social media releases – Similar to traditional media releases, but with more integrated social and multimedia content. CNW (Canada), MarketWire (US), RealWire (UK) and PitchEngine offer social media release options.

Twitter - Social media networks like Twitter are becoming increasingly popular to build relationships with reporters and manage media contact lists.

Event release or invite - Offers details about a fundraising, community-building or professional development event related to your issue. Eventbrite is one popular tool.

Pitch letter – Similar to a news release, but less formal. A pitch letter provides key messages and suggests a story that a journalist might write.

Telephone and email – Call or email reporters to pitch story ideas. Journalists prefer to be called in the
morning or early afternoon. Be accountable and ensure that you meet journalist’s deadlines.

Op-eds, reaction statements and letters to the editor – Submitting an opinion piece or a letter to the editor is a way to raise the profile of an issue covered in the media or draw attention to an story your organization wishes to address.

Newsletters – Sending out a quarterly newsletter is an effective way to provide up-to-date information about your organization and build a community of interest around your issue. MailChimp, Campaigner, AWeber and Vertical Response are popular newsletter options.

What other tools have you used to communicate with media?

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Who Rules Nonprofit Social Media?

In October 2011, Craig Newmark over at craigconnects teamed up with RADCampaign to create an infographic looking at how the top 50 nonprofits do social media.

This week they followed up their previous release with another infographic assessing which nonprofit organizations rule social media and how these nonprofits are effectively engaging in conversations using social networks.

I've posted both infographics below, but be sure to check out Craig's blog and follow him on Twitter for more nonprofit news.

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Guidelines for Nonprofit Media Relations: Part I

Media relations, or gaining media attention, is one of those activities that causes some nonprofits a great deal of stress. But it doesn't have to be that way.

At its core media relations is about providing compelling story ideas, to the right media contacts, in the right format and at the right time.

Let's look at some of the most important guidelines for establishing and maintaining effective relationships with media outlets and reporters. Part II will address promotion and content creation issues and opportunities.

Guidelines for Nonprofit Media Relations

Create a media directory - the first step to any successful media relations plan is to develop a list of media contacts relevant to your organization and its area of work. You can't pitch media personnel until you know who they are.

• Ensure that your media directory is up-to-date.
• Ensure that your media directory includes relevant print, radio, TV, social media and community leader contacts.
• Highlight media contacts that might have a particular interest in your organization or the issues you work on.
• Media directories can take the form of excel spreadsheets, but they can also be built using Twitter or LinkedIn.

Know your media contacts - personal relationships with media always help to smooth the process of pitching stories and generating media attention.

• Establish an ongoing rapport with key media contacts – invite them to information seminars or to important events.
• Reporters are often under deadlines and require prompt replies and information. Issue press releases to media in time to meet their deadlines and production schedules. Follow contact up with any additional information that reporters may require.
• Understand what mediums and which contacts might use the information your organization provides.

Produce pitches in the right media format - different mediums require different media pitch formats. Do your homework first! Here are some examples:

• Radio - public service announcements, press kit, audio clips
• Print - feature stories, press kit, press releases, op-eds, photos
• Television – press kit, press release, soft and hard news stories, video clips
• Social Media - social media releases, Twitter factoids, blogs

Be available - media are often deadline-driven and if you aren't available your story/pitch may get bumped for someone who is.

• Clearly explain to media contacts how and where you can be contacted and who else they can contact if you are not available.
• Set up face-to-face meetings (if possible) instead of phone conversations. Allow the media contact to associate a person (and face) with your organization.

Communicate often - media relations doesn't start when you want news coverage and it doesn't end after your story has been featured. Media relations is an ongoing exercise that requires cultivation even when your organization has no news to share.

• Follow up press kits with phone calls or meetings.
• Send out a letter, newsletter or media release every few months to media contacts.
• Invite members from the media to sit on your organization's Board of Directors.
• Monitor and evaluate the media’s coverage of your organization.

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The Value of Reducing Your Personal Twitter Network

The ability to relate to your organization's publics is directly connected to your ability to listen to them.

There is a lot of pressure, and rightfully so, for nonprofit and public sector organizations to have a presence on social media networks. And while I believe that the best way to understand the social media space is to just start using it, for the uninitiated this can feel like a daunting and at times a very noisy task.

The ability to have conversations in real-time through networks like Twitter or to share your day-to-day movement through location-based networks like Foursquare has fundamentally changed the way we communicate and interact. Yet at the same time, the sheer number of social networks available, combined with an increasing number of individuals and organizations using these networks, has created an overwhelming volume of information being shared.

One of the potential problems of expanding communication and PR efforts to multiple social networks is that it creates yet another channel to monitor, listen to and engage with. For some, technological immersion may mean a technological deluge.

Yesterday I took the time to review the conversations I was listening to on Twitter and came to a rather surprising realization - I wasn't listening very well to any of them. The reason that I wasn't listening very well to these conversations was that I was listening to too many.

I imagined a room full of the 300 people I was following on Twitter all having conversations at once. In a room full of too much noise we aren't able to listen very well. Social networks and other online spaces are no different.

When social networks become too cluttered or overwhelmingly noisy they loose the thing that makes them attractive. The noise creates confusion, the confusion leads to frustration, and rather than using these networks to socialize, we start to withdraw.

Sometimes the most effective way to listen, and in turn become more effective in relating to your publics, is to reduce the noise and information filtering through these online streams. This may be especially true of social networks like Twitter where you can actively control who you listen to. However, a brief word of warning - be careful not to alienate your supporters. If you have built up a Twitter following by following others you may receive some backlash if you start purging your account.

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Mapping Connectors in a Nonprofit Network

I've spent the last few weeks getting acclimatized to living in a new city. The transition to a new place is exciting, but it is also invariably filled with uncertainty. I've had to rebuild my social and professional network from scratch, I've had to curb my financial spending, and I've had to learn how to manage business activities.

This scenario is not unlike one that a nonprofit may face in starting to build their organization and engage with an existing group of established practitioners.

In his book The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell identifies three "agents of change" involved in the tipping point of epidemics - Mavens, Salespeople and Connectors. Broadly, Mavens are people who connect us with information, Connectors are people that link us with social networks, and Salespeople are individuals with an ability to persuade others.

For the burgeoning nonprofit building a strong network is an important key to success. That process starts with mapping the network that already exists.

In thinking about how to build my network in a new city I have sought out people who are natural connectors.

Understanding who the key influencers and connectors are in a nonprofit community is a good starting point for assessing how a network is constructed. Mapping the connectors in a network also provides a starting point for identifying people or groups you may wish to partner with to grow your own community.

The value of connectors is that they have a natural ability and desire to link people together. By finding and engaging these people, either in the collaborative creation of projects or as funding partners, your organization benefits by learning from others, increasing its exposure and likely by developing new potential partnerships along the way.

Who are the connectors in your network? And if you haven't already linked to them, ask yourself why not?!

(Looking for an online mind mapping and brainstorming sofware - check out Mind Meister)

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