What’s in a (brand) name?

If your product, service, or brand has a name that you believe is undifferentiated or not memorable, you may want to consider modifying it or changing it. While your current name may have some equity with certain audiences, it may be costing you more than what you could gain with a new name.

The Enemy of DO MORE GOOD

DO MORE GOOD, with its whimsical name and effervescent call to action, might be expected to have a simple and direct enemy like BAD or EVIL or perhaps MEDIOCRE. While all those are in opposition to our purpose, they’re not our enemy.

Moving from Doing Good to Doing MORE Good

Imagine for a moment that you are at a critical point in your life.

You’re jobless and your savings account is dwindling fast. To make matters worse, your immediate and extended family members are all living with you and counting on you for support. And because of circumstances beyond their control, no one in your family is able to work except for you.

Will you be fearful or fierce?

Some derivative of the following statement is being spoken in board rooms, fundraising committees, and budget planning meetings across the nation: “Let’s plan conservatively.” Whether in reference to revenue or spending, that phrase creates boundaries. We limit what we intend to raise for fear we’ll miss the mark.

Setting your sights on the (right) targets

When an organization deploys tactics before putting energy into segmentation and targeting strategies, impatience is really driving its development approach.

And that impatience can lead not only to “fire before aim” methods but also to “fire, fire, fire” programs that usually result in inefficiency and poor stewardship.

ROI squared

I’ve long advocated that nonprofits take a page from the playbook of successful brands: View dollars spent on marketing as an investment, not an expense. It’s a simple principle — smart and sustained investments in your brand will lead to growth. When you grow, you can do more good.

What’s the “product” of your nonprofit?

Most nonprofits believe they’re not in the product game. So they prefer to refer to themselves as service providers or humanitarian organizations.

Yet everyone seems to be talking recently about how marketing — even for nonprofits — revolves around having a distinguishable product. This means that when a product/service/organization is unique, and ideally a “game changer,” marketing and fundraising become a lot easier. And a lot less expensive.

YOU CAN ADD. OR MULTIPLY.

Many nonprofits substitute the word fundraising when they speak of their marketing efforts. Many more nonprofits use fundraisers exclusively in their marketing efforts, and that mentality is, oddly enough, limiting their ability to raise funds.