Liberal Communicators Network

Farra Trompeter on the Importance of Strategic Brandraising

Farra Trompeter (USA), Co-Director and Member-Owner, Big Duck Consulting for smart communications for non-profits. Farra is a non-profit strategist with over 25 years of experience helping organizations develop strategic communications, brand strategies and assets, campaigns, and strong teams to achieve their mission. Farra has led dozens of organizations through major brand overhauls, fundraising campaigns, and much more since joining Big Duck in 2007. She’s a frequent speaker, training non-profit staff and board members on branding, communications planning, and engaging donors at all giving levels.

It is an honour to have Farra for a second year as a trainer at the flagship communications training of the European Liberal Forum and FNF East and Southeast Europe - The Liberal Communicators Network (LCN): Non-Profit Academy. The insightful learning journey at LCN 2022 focused on how to establish your Non-profit’s Brand Personality workshop.

Brandraising

In today's highly competitive business landscape, organizations must take a holistic approach to create a strong brand that speaks to their target audience. A brand is not simply a logo or a tagline, but rather the sum total of what audiences hear, see, feel, and experience when they connect with your organization. As such, a strong brand is essential for building an audience, establishing trust, and ultimately driving donations.

It's important to note that brandraising is not a one-time activity but rather an ongoing process. As your organization evolves, so too should your brand strategy. This means regularly revisiting and updating your brand's messaging, visual identity, and strategic plan to ensure that it remains relevant and effective.

The brandraising process can be divided into three different levels, each of which plays a critical role in building a strong brand. First, we have the organizational level. This level is where strategic planning comes in. Here, you'll define your brand's vision, mission, values, objectives, audiences, positioning, and personality. These elements will form the foundation of your brand strategy, guiding your decisions about how to communicate with your audience, what products or services to offer, and how to differentiate yourself from competitors. Farra made sure that the main focus should be on knowing your brand.

Farra emphasizes the importance of understanding your audience. It's not just about what you want from them - it's equally important to understand what the audience wants from you. She suggested that first focus should lay on people you must engage with, then on an audience which you should engage with and only lastly consider those who you could engage with.

Second, we have the identity level. This level is all about creating a cohesive visual identity and messaging platform that reflects your brand's personality and values. This includes your logo, typography, color palette, and other visual elements, as well as your messaging strategy and tone of voice. Together, these elements should create a consistent and compelling brand identity that resonates with your target audience.

As an example, Farra wanted participants to describe their non-profits using unique adjectives to stand out in the sea of sameness. She advised choosing adjectives that are imaginative, detailed and most importantly, unique. For instance the word “bold” - not only does it evoke a sense of strength and confidence, but it can also be paired with bold, bright colors when connecting it to corporate design.

Lastly is the experiential level, which consists of the various touch points through which audiences interact with your brand. This includes for example online, in print, on air, in-person, and mobile experiences. Each of these touchpoints should be carefully crafted to align with your brand's values and messaging.

In conclusion, building a strong brand is essential for business success in today's competitive landscape. However, it's not enough to simply focus on short-term brand awareness. To truly establish a lasting brand, organizations must take a strategic approach to brandraising, focusing on creating a cohesive brand identity that is aligned with their long-term goals and values.

If you want to learn first-hand from Farra Trompeter and other thought leaders, do apply for LCN by 4 April to join a professional network of liberal mission-driven marketers in Europe!