Unlock stronger coalition comms with a unified brand
Written by EMILY SWARTZLANDER
A few weeks ago, I wrote about how coalitions can improve advocacy efforts by aligning around core messages and creating easy-to-use resources to better reach your audiences.
Today, I want to talk about the next step in successfully communicating about your coalition: creating a coalition brand.
whY SHOULD WE CREATE A COALITION BRAND?
Like core messaging, a strong, cohesive brand is a cornerstone of a successful coalition communications strategy. Coalitions bring together diverse experts and organizations because of their individual knowledge and networks – but it’s essential for your coalition as a group to have an identity all its own.
Here’s why:
1. A good brand influences behavior. A brand isn't just a logo. It's everything that determines how your audiences feel about your coalition. (Even the colors you choose for your brand can bring up different feelings and word associations in peoples’ minds.) The way your audiences feel about your coalition and its work will influence whether they take the actions you want them to take.
2. Solid branding helps build trust. At its core, a good brand strategy is about building trust. Research shows trust is vitally important to helping any nonprofit – or coalition – meet your mission. In fact, 70 percent of people surveyed in an Edelman Trust Special Report said trusting a brand is more important now than it was in the past.
3. A separate coalition brand creates a clear, consistent path for audiences to follow. Coalitions are a constellation of organizations with their own distinct missions and brands. Including all of those logos, fonts, organization names and more on your coalition materials leads to…well, brand soup.
On the other hand, having consistent brand elements for your coalition means your audiences will see the same consistent look from your materials over and over, and repetition is key in communications. That’s because when we learn through repetition, we remember the information better and retain it for longer.
how SHOULD WE CREATE OUR COALITION BRAND?
Think about branding as you’re getting your coalition up and running, with a focus on naming. (Find tips about coalition lifecycles here!) Why? Because a good brand starts with a great name.
At Forthright, we love a good naming process and we’ve narrowed it down to two easy steps.
1️⃣ First, start with strategy. Really think through why your coalition is forming, what you hope to accomplish and, perhaps most importantly, how you want to make your target audiences feel.
2️⃣ Second, make sure your name is both meaningful AND easy for audiences to remember. That means your name is:
Easy to say. Audiences can forget a complicated name or, worse, be embarrassed to try and pronounce it!
Simple to spell. No uncommon spellings, please and thank you.
Memorable. Stay away from the crazy acronyms, unless the acronym helps further the issue. (Think M.A.D.D. – Mothers Against Drunk Driving – here.)
Relevant. The best names are recognizable. When your name doesn’t immediately resonate with your audience, you’re missing a huge branding and relationship-building opportunity.
Once your name is set, you can take the next step: creating a look & feel, including a logo, colors and overall brand book. Find more tips on how to create a great logo, color palette and choose the best fonts here.
Together, we can keep working on creating a brighter future for children and families!
PS - I love working with coalitions! If you need help with your coalition name or brand, we’ve got you.
