How do you want people to talk about you in their everyday lives?

It’s a deceivingly simple question with a lot to explore.

I like this question because it forces an organization to connect its reason for being to an intentionally-designed experience. And it’s the starting point for a lot of my brand strategy work. Brand development is a process of consciously creating the experience that people have with your organization, which happens largely through your words, actions, images, and communication. And it lives in the words and experiences of other people. Their experience is influenced by your beliefs and values. Even without being intentionally designed, brands still develop. They’re just fragmented, unfocused, and they can work against your mission.

There’s an adage about how your beliefs become your thoughts, which become your words, which become your actions, which become your destiny. And brand work is no different. So let’s break this question down into it’s main parts.

“How do you want people to talk about you…”

What are people saying about you? For each answer to this question (and there will be several really important answers), ask, “How do we encourage that to happen?” This tells you what your organization must value, how you must act, it points toward your guiding principles and deeply-held beliefs, and so forth. Consider what people are going to say to other people about you. This is your brand. And you have all the power to influence it.

“…in their everyday lives?”

If I could encourage you to explore one aspect of this question deeply, it’s this. What does it take to get someone to mention your nonprofit’s name over coffee? This requires looking at the intersection of culture, identity, and the larger movement your organization is part of. What social forces are in play? How do you help people see that your work is part of something larger? How do you help people see that your work is aligned with their personal identity and image of themselves?

Thing is: People don’t usually talk about organizations in their everyday lives; they make it clear what they believe in.

When someone mentions clean water over dinner, they’re probably not thinking about charity: water’s latest campaign. They’re talking about something that matters to them: that clean water is abundant and it’s a basic human right. The organization becomes relevant when people can see how their specific approach connects to solving that bigger problem. (See my article on the Five Functions of Brand.)

This is where many nonprofits get stuck. They lead with what they do instead of why their solution matters in the big picture. A workforce development organization might say, “We provide job training programs.” That’s accurate, but it doesn’t connect to anything people already know they care about: Economic opportunity, fairness, justice, access to generational wealth, and ending the cycle of poverty. People can see themselves in that vision, and they can see how skills training is the specific solution that makes it possible. This is brand storytelling at its finest.

The question is this: Do your brand strategies and communications help people see your purpose, your approach, know how you’re different, feel connected to you through a larger movement, and support the personal identities of your supporters? Or are you stuck in the details? ◼