Welcome to Volume 1, Issue 7 of Issue #7 Summer 2007 Welcome to the 7th edition of Branding Bytes. Branding Bytes is a FREE quarterly e-letter courtesy of Larry Checco of Checco Communications (please refer below to our privacy policy and how to subscribe/unsubscribe). Past issues are archived on my website (www.checcocomm.net). Simply click Branding Bytes on the website homepage menu to access them. NOTE: Branding Bytes is copyrighted and may not be reprinted or reproduced without attributing Larry Checco of Checco Communications as its source and providing the website address above. Thank you. In this issue: Question: What is an external brand audit? Bits & Bytes Speaking schedule Question Q. What is an external brand audit? A. There's an old saying in the communications business that states: It's not how a message is delivered, but rather how it is received that makes all the difference. Put another way, it doesn't matter what you may want to say about your organization through brand messaging. If those messages don't resonate with the audiences you are trying to reach, it's mostly a waste of time, energy and valuable resources. An external brand audit, therefore, is an effort to determine what impact your organization's messages are having on clients, funders, partners and policy makers. (see Branding Bytes #5 on my website for an explanation of an internal brand audit.) Depending upon how you approach them, external brand audits can be expensive (large corporations spend millions on testing their brand messages) or relatively inexpensive. Understanding that most nonprofits allocate little, if any budget, for such functions, what follows are some cost-effective ways to learn whether or not you are reaching your audiences with clear, appropriate messages: Surveys Simple surveys distributed by mail, or conducted at your place of business, over the phone or over the internet (check out www.surveymonkey.com) can be very effective. When surveying your audiences, ask questions that would give you a better understanding of: How they currently perceive your organization? What more they would like to know about who you are and what you do? What key words come to them when they think about your organization, its work, its relationship to clients, customers, partners, funders and the community, in general? What kinds of messages they think your brand needs to convey? For best results, keep surveys short, simple and to the point. Informal focus groups Conduct small informal focus groups that consist of representatives from each of your key audiences. These can be held in your meeting room during business hours or in the evening. If you don't have a meeting room, secure an appropriate space to conduct the event. Often churches, libraries or local government service centers will provide such space for free. The point is to bring these folks together in a comfortable, relaxed setting where they can freely and confidentially discuss your organization and its relationship to them, their respective organizations and the community at large. Hint: Free food or snacks is usually a good draw. Be creative An executive director of a large, well-known national nonprofit wanted to learn how her organization's name resonated with external audiences. In lieu of focus groups, she conducted, on her own and over the course of about a year, an informal survey of every nonprofit and corporate leader she ran into at meetings, conferences, business lunches and so forth. She was told by the majority of those she asked that "We like what you do, but your organization's name just doesn't work for us." This eventually led to her organization successfully rebranding itself under a new name. Be careful After you've created your brand messages based on information gained from your external brand audit, retest them with the same audiences. Why? Because words are a tricky business. Take "partnership", for example. It's a good, simple word often used to describe relationships. It implies affiliation, collaboration, and alliance, all of which should lead one to think of positive brand images. Yet when one organization wanted to include the word in its brand messaging to describe its relationship with local financial institutions, the financial institutions balked. When asked why, one bank representative said that the word "partnership" is loaded with legal implications. "We'd rather be known for 'working together' with the organization, rather than 'partnering' with it." The lesson? Language is a powerful tool that forms our images, thoughts, opinions and actions. Therefore, when creating your brand messages, choose your words wisely. And periodically audit your external audiences to ensure that you are sending them the right messages using the right language. Bits & Bytes Many thanks to the NeighborWorks America Training Institute (NTI) for hosting an author's luncheon for me on Tuesday, May 8th, at its Institute in Phoenix, AZ, and to all those who attended. NTI is the premier training venue for people in the field of community development. It was an honor for me to have had NTI host such an event and to give me the opportunity to talk about my book and my approach to branding. About.com columnist Joanne Fritz recently reviewed my book Branding for Success: A Roadmap for Raising the Visibility and Value of Your Nonprofit Organization, and gave it a five-star rating. She writes: "Checco goes into detail about...how to define, promote, and protect your brand. Get the book...it is the easiest-to-read and most accessible one we have seen about branding. Checco believes every nonprofit can achieve successful branding and he lays out a program to achieve it that anyone can pursue." For the full review click here: About.com Branding for Success can be ordered on line at my website (www.checcocomm.net), as well as through www.amazon.com, www.trafford.com, and the websites of numerous organizations. My latest Speaking Schedule Cooperative Communicators Institute, June 3, Williamsburg, VA; American Marketing Association's Nonprofit Marketing Conference, July 9-11, Washington, DC; Goodwill Industries International Annual Conference, Rockville, MD, Aug. 6; Utah Housing Coalition, Oct. 4-5, Salt Lake City, Utah; Assistance League National Conference, Oct. 13, Washington, DC. As always, I look forward to receiving your feedback, questions, success stories and branding challenges. Also, if you are in need of a motivational speaker, trainer or branding consultant/coach, I invite you to contact me or log onto my website for more information. In the meantime, here's to great Success with your Branding! Larry Privacy Policy—we do not sell, rent, or lend the e-mail addresses of our subscribers. N O T E: If you received this message from a friend, you can sign up for Branding Bytes by emailing me at Larry.checco@verizon.net and asking to be placed on the mailing list If you would like to unsubscribe from Branding Bytes, simply click Reply and type in "REMOVE" on the subject line. Branding Bytes is copyrighted and may not be reprinted or reproduced without attributing Larry Checco of Checco Communications as its source author.
Issue #7 Summer 2007 Welcome to the 7th edition of Branding Bytes. Branding Bytes is a FREE quarterly e-letter courtesy of Larry Checco of Checco Communications (please refer below to our privacy policy and how to subscribe/unsubscribe). Past issues are archived on my website (www.checcocomm.net). Simply click Branding Bytes on the website homepage menu to access them. NOTE: Branding Bytes is copyrighted and may not be reprinted or reproduced without attributing Larry Checco of Checco Communications as its source and providing the website address above. Thank you. In this issue: Question: What is an external brand audit? Bits & Bytes Speaking schedule Question Q. What is an external brand audit? A. There's an old saying in the communications business that states: It's not how a message is delivered, but rather how it is received that makes all the difference. Put another way, it doesn't matter what you may want to say about your organization through brand messaging. If those messages don't resonate with the audiences you are trying to reach, it's mostly a waste of time, energy and valuable resources. An external brand audit, therefore, is an effort to determine what impact your organization's messages are having on clients, funders, partners and policy makers. (see Branding Bytes #5 on my website for an explanation of an internal brand audit.) Depending upon how you approach them, external brand audits can be expensive (large corporations spend millions on testing their brand messages) or relatively inexpensive. Understanding that most nonprofits allocate little, if any budget, for such functions, what follows are some cost-effective ways to learn whether or not you are reaching your audiences with clear, appropriate messages: Surveys Simple surveys distributed by mail, or conducted at your place of business, over the phone or over the internet (check out www.surveymonkey.com) can be very effective. When surveying your audiences, ask questions that would give you a better understanding of: How they currently perceive your organization? What more they would like to know about who you are and what you do? What key words come to them when they think about your organization, its work, its relationship to clients, customers, partners, funders and the community, in general? What kinds of messages they think your brand needs to convey? For best results, keep surveys short, simple and to the point. Informal focus groups Conduct small informal focus groups that consist of representatives from each of your key audiences. These can be held in your meeting room during business hours or in the evening. If you don't have a meeting room, secure an appropriate space to conduct the event. Often churches, libraries or local government service centers will provide such space for free. The point is to bring these folks together in a comfortable, relaxed setting where they can freely and confidentially discuss your organization and its relationship to them, their respective organizations and the community at large. Hint: Free food or snacks is usually a good draw. Be creative An executive director of a large, well-known national nonprofit wanted to learn how her organization's name resonated with external audiences. In lieu of focus groups, she conducted, on her own and over the course of about a year, an informal survey of every nonprofit and corporate leader she ran into at meetings, conferences, business lunches and so forth. She was told by the majority of those she asked that "We like what you do, but your organization's name just doesn't work for us." This eventually led to her organization successfully rebranding itself under a new name. Be careful After you've created your brand messages based on information gained from your external brand audit, retest them with the same audiences. Why? Because words are a tricky business. Take "partnership", for example. It's a good, simple word often used to describe relationships. It implies affiliation, collaboration, and alliance, all of which should lead one to think of positive brand images. Yet when one organization wanted to include the word in its brand messaging to describe its relationship with local financial institutions, the financial institutions balked. When asked why, one bank representative said that the word "partnership" is loaded with legal implications. "We'd rather be known for 'working together' with the organization, rather than 'partnering' with it." The lesson? Language is a powerful tool that forms our images, thoughts, opinions and actions. Therefore, when creating your brand messages, choose your words wisely. And periodically audit your external audiences to ensure that you are sending them the right messages using the right language. Bits & Bytes Many thanks to the NeighborWorks America Training Institute (NTI) for hosting an author's luncheon for me on Tuesday, May 8th, at its Institute in Phoenix, AZ, and to all those who attended. NTI is the premier training venue for people in the field of community development. It was an honor for me to have had NTI host such an event and to give me the opportunity to talk about my book and my approach to branding. About.com columnist Joanne Fritz recently reviewed my book Branding for Success: A Roadmap for Raising the Visibility and Value of Your Nonprofit Organization, and gave it a five-star rating. She writes: "Checco goes into detail about...how to define, promote, and protect your brand. Get the book...it is the easiest-to-read and most accessible one we have seen about branding. Checco believes every nonprofit can achieve successful branding and he lays out a program to achieve it that anyone can pursue." For the full review click here: About.com Branding for Success can be ordered on line at my website (www.checcocomm.net), as well as through www.amazon.com, www.trafford.com, and the websites of numerous organizations. My latest Speaking Schedule Cooperative Communicators Institute, June 3, Williamsburg, VA; American Marketing Association's Nonprofit Marketing Conference, July 9-11, Washington, DC; Goodwill Industries International Annual Conference, Rockville, MD, Aug. 6; Utah Housing Coalition, Oct. 4-5, Salt Lake City, Utah; Assistance League National Conference, Oct. 13, Washington, DC. As always, I look forward to receiving your feedback, questions, success stories and branding challenges. Also, if you are in need of a motivational speaker, trainer or branding consultant/coach, I invite you to contact me or log onto my website for more information. In the meantime, here's to great Success with your Branding! Larry Privacy Policy—we do not sell, rent, or lend the e-mail addresses of our subscribers. N O T E: If you received this message from a friend, you can sign up for Branding Bytes by emailing me at Larry.checco@verizon.net and asking to be placed on the mailing list If you would like to unsubscribe from Branding Bytes, simply click Reply and type in "REMOVE" on the subject line. Branding Bytes is copyrighted and may not be reprinted or reproduced without attributing Larry Checco of Checco Communications as its source author.
Issue #7 Summer 2007
Question
In the meantime, here's to great Success with your Branding! Larry Privacy Policy—we do not sell, rent, or lend the e-mail addresses of our subscribers. N O T E: If you received this message from a friend, you can sign up for Branding Bytes by emailing me at Larry.checco@verizon.net and asking to be placed on the mailing list If you would like to unsubscribe from Branding Bytes, simply click Reply and type in "REMOVE" on the subject line. Branding Bytes is copyrighted and may not be reprinted or reproduced without attributing Larry Checco of Checco Communications as its source author.
Privacy Policy—we do not sell, rent, or lend the e-mail addresses of our subscribers.
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