Four ways to think about branding

• Thu, October 04 2012
• Filed under: Branding

Holly Ross at NTEN recently alerted me to an interesting piece on nonprofit branding in the Stanford Social Innovation Review (SSIR) 

I agree with the philosophy of branding reflected in the article - that it resides in your organization’s actions and your audience’s hearts and minds.  It’s not something you control with color palette!

The SSIR piece breaks down nonprofit brand into four dimensions: brand integrity, brand democracy, brand ethics, and brand affinity.

1. Brand integrity: The organization’s supporters and staff feel a common sense of what it does and why it matters.

2. Brand democracy: Everyone who works for and supports the organization is trusted to apply their own understanding of the organization’s core identity.  To me, this means not command and control branding but branding as a way of being.

3. Brand ethics: The way the organization conveys its brand is authentic and aligned with what it truly does.  To me, this is about walking the talk.

4. Brand affinity:  This is described as working harmoniously alongside other brands and promoting collective over individual interests.

I think these are useful dimensions.  But I’d still add the ones I highlighted last week too!

.