You're at the grocery store (remember when we used to do that?) and you grab a box of your favorite breakfast cereal. It looks different. But you breathe a sigh of relief when you notice the prominent starburst:
Great new look, same wonderful taste!
They've rebranded!
And they know this may cause a moment of confusion in some buyers' experience, thus the disclaimer: "Don't worry," they're saying, "We rebranded, but didn't actually change anything."
I know nothing about retail marketing, so I don't know if announcing and apologizing for a brand change is smart or not. It probably comes down to the appropriateness of the new brand.
But I do think the nonprofit version of Great new look, same wonderful taste! is a bad move almost every time.
Let's say rebranded your nonprofit. There are a number of good reasons you might do that. (There are also many bad reasons for doing it. We're tired of the old brand is at the top of the list of bad reasons to rebrand.)
And let's say your new brand is good at capturing the feeling you're selling. Congratulations. That is a real accomplishment.
So you tell your donors, We've rebranded! with a big splash on your homepage, a lead article in your newsletter, and pretty much any other place you can think of.
You're telling them things are different. You can't really claim same wonderful taste, because the new look is their whole experience with you.
So you're telling them you've changed something.
You've raised a red flag, unlike the cereal company, whose statement is more of a green flag, saying "nothing has changed."
The wonderful reasons you give for the change is a bunch of insider talk that they're unlikely to understand, much less care about.
So if you rebrand, just do it! Make sure it's good and connects with your donors. If it does that, you should benefit.
If you need to talk about it, that's often a sign that you're heading for fundraising trouble.
Want more help with the complex and difficult issue of nonprofit branding? Read my book, The Money-Raising Nonprofit Brand.
from Future Fundraising Now https://ift.tt/3mIq821
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