Social Mission Marketing for Your Brand
Treebird sits down with Kristi Porter of Signify. Kristi is a copywriter and consultant who helps cause-focused organizations get noticed and grow through effective marketing and communications. She also teaches small businesses how to incorporate easy philanthropy and giving strategies.
We talk defining your social mission, building a brand voice, and human-centered design for businesses.
Can you talk about human-centered design and what businesses can get out of it?
Simply put, human-centered design puts people first. It focuses on the end user’s needs and wants, and works backwards from there. It’s much like every great strategy—begin with the end in mind. In this case, the “end” are customers and donors.
When you think about your favorite brands or products, and say things like, “It seemed natural,” “it was intuitive to use,” or “I didn’t have to think about it,” your likely talking about companies that are putting human-centered design front-and-center. For a lot of us, Apple probably comes to mind.
The takeaway for all business owners here is that human-centered design is a way to make customers happy. There is often a high level of satisfaction that comes with these services and products because they intend to make our life easier, even in some small way, which could mean repeat customers and donors. That’s the goal, right?
To put this into practice, think about your website. Is the thing you most want people to do in the top right corner? If not, consider making this move. When glancing through a website, that’s where our eye naturally goes. So, make your CTA (call to action) easy to find by placing it where most of us are prone to look. If someone has to search for how to purchase from you, for example, they’ll likely lost interest and click away. (Spoiler alert: That’s not good.)
So, if you want people to love what you have to offer, put them first.
Empathy seems to be something of a buzzword these days. How do you see the role of empathy in branding evolving in 2019 and beyond?
Empathy is a search for understanding someone or something. It’s wanting to know what it’s like to be in someone else’s shoes, or imaging how it would feel, despite not knowing precisely.
From a business standpoint, we just hinted at this idea above. Like a human-centered design approach, empathizing with your audience allows you to better understand them. And when you better understand them, you can create more products and services that they need or want. (Hear: more dollars)
It’s 2019, and people have more options than ever. You need to prove why you deserve their hard-earned dollars. And if people feel like you “get” them, have shared interests, or align with their values, you’re way ahead of your competition.
Not to get too philosophical here, but I think we’re all essentially looking for relatability. Since the beginning of time, we’ve been seeking out our tribe.
As a copywriter, one of the most interesting places I’ve seen this shift over the last few years is your website’s About page. Just FYI, next time you’re hanging out in Google Analytics, check out your About page’s stats. It’s often one of the top five most visited pages on your website.
Makes sense, right? We want to know more about the person or people behind the brand.
And for many years, our About pages were . . . about us. It was more of a bio, a copy and pasted mission statement, or a history. It was saying here’s who I am, here’s what I do, and I’m awesome, so buy from me. That’s no longer the case.
The best About pages now have relatability. They demonstrate empathy. As customers and donors, we want to see a version of ourselves in a brand. It unconsciously says they’ve sought to understand us, and show us how we’re alike. That’s what makes us loyal.
So, when we put on our business owner hat, why would we overlook that?
Empathy begins in the market research stage, but great companies know it doesn’t end there. If you can continue saying to your audience, “I understand you,” in your products, services, marketing, and culture, you’ll turn your fans into evangelists.
We often say design is more than just images and colors. Can you talk about the role of voice and writing in branding?
Your brand is essentially the personality of your business. When you think of a person, what comes to mind? It’s 100 different things all rolled into one. It’s not just what a person looks like, but what they sound like, how they make you feel, and the lasting impression they leave.
The same can be said for a company or non-profit.
Take the “classic” example of Coca-Cola. Sure, their colors are red and white, but their advertising makes you feel cheerful and bubbly when they’re playing pop music and showing you images of cookouts and families with the words, “taste the feeling,’” and warm and fuzzy when they’re jingling bells in the background, filling your screen with polar bears, and saying, “open happiness.”
Looking at another Atlanta favorite, what would Mailchimp’s brand be without the playful language? It wouldn’t work to have boring language alongside a cartoon ape.
So, when you think about your brand, what adjectives do you want people to use to describe it? How do you want them to feel about your brand? It takes the right combination of words, images, colors, and maybe even sounds to make that happen.
Even a gorgeous website needs substance to back it up. Plus, if you have more than one person working on your communications efforts, they all need to operating from the same playbook.
Maybe there’s one person writing blogs, a different person managing social media, and still another person out having in-person meetings. You want to make sure they’re all using the same tone, words, phrases, and messaging. If not, you’ll sound inconsistent or confuse your intended audience . . . which results in lower sales and donations.
Your brand has a big job to do, but it’s your job to make sure it’s happening on purpose.
Do you see a link between for-profit and non-profit messaging and marketing?
I think there’s a lot that each side can learn from each other, and there are also a lot of places where they overlap.
And, these days, there’s more overlap than ever because people want to know for-profits stand for something, not just sell something. In a 2019 study by Cone Communications, 79% of respondents said they feel a deeper personal connection to companies with values similar to their own. And 86% said they would purchase products and services from purpose-driven companies.
Those are numbers that for-profit companies cannot ignore! And it means that causes are no longer just the territory of non-profits.
Every organization, regardless of model, needs to talk about the things that are important to them in their messaging and marketing.
One the other side of the coin, times are certainly changing, but non-profits have historically seen marketing as only a for-profit tactic. But, at its core, marketing is about the relationship you have with the people who buy from, and donate to, you. That means it’s important to every organization, and non-profits are learning that.
If you want to build an audience, build relationships. To build relationships, talk about what you have in common.
Are you sensing a theme?
What’s more important: Audience or offerings?
Everything begins and ends with your audience. You don’t have a business with no one to buy—you have a hobby.
We all have great ideas, but ideas and offerings aren’t enough. I sometimes wish it were! But you have to know your audience well enough to know what they’ll buy or donate to.
From the perspective of a service provider or product creator, the difficulty comes when you know what your audience needs, but they aren’t biting. This has caused me a lot of frustration, and I’m sure I’m not alone.
I love what Sean McCabe says, “Give your audience what they need, but deliver it in a package they want.” I repeated this sentence to myself more than once, and it’s a great reminder.
How does an institution update its mission for changing tastes and attitudes? Or how does it communicate its mission regardless of the times?
It takes a lot of time, energy, and sometimes money, to write a business plan, devise a mission statement, and design a website. Once you’ve done those things, far too many of us tend to pat ourselves on the back, call it a day, and not look at it again or wait far too long to take another look.
I would love to see more people reviewing their key assets annually to make sure they’re current and still reflect the mission. After all, this is part of the strategy you use for converting customers and donors. If it’s outdated, it’s possible that it’s not working.
Sometimes your mission may change or pivot. Sometimes culture may change or pivot. Keep tabs on both to stay in the game.
I rewrote a website a while back not because what was written on it was bad or wrong, but simply because the language was stale. During the last rewrite, journalists were at the helm, and the organization and culture communicated more formally. Now, we want to know there are people behind a logo, and we want to see the more human side of a company. So, I was brought it to “warm up” the language and make it friendlier.
That’s a great example of changing tastes and attitudes, and where you should take note of any trends in communication and design. The mission didn’t change, but the way it gets stated does.
Additionally, I think the longer we do something, the better we get at communicating it. Now that I’m three years into business, I certainly don’t give my elevator speech the same way I did on day one. I think it’s possible that we can also refine our mission by talking about it over and over again.
My advice is to set aside some time every year to at least look at your primary marketing asset, your website. What’s no longer relevant? What language should be updated? What has changed in your mission, or where are you placing more emphasis?
Put this time on your calendar or in your project management software. That’s how you make it a priority.
From there, you’ve got a few options. You can hire someone to make the necessary updates, barter, or DIY. If you need to go the DIY route, which I understand, at least ask for feedback from others so you can gain a little more perspective.
Your mission is central to everything you do, so do everything you can to communicate it as clearly as possible.
Who out there inspires you, in terms of aligning purpose with branding, design, writing, and overall execution?
Whew—the whole package, huh? I’m on a lot of email lists, read a lot of books, listen to podcasts, and always have my eyes open for new and interesting things. One of my friends once called me “human Velcro” because I just want the info to stick to me for future reference.
So, I’m always on the lookout for what brands do well, even if it’s just one piece of their pie. It’s definitely harder to find the brands that do everything well, including purpose, but we do have a lot of good options these days.
I think some of my favs are the same as many others.
· I mentioned Mailchimp earlier, and though I’m not always a fan of their product, I do really enjoy their branding, writing, and design. And I love how involved they are in the Atlanta community. They’re great at demonstrating their values.
· I also really admire Delta on a lot of levels. They’ve had some terrific marketing campaigns, have good branding and messaging, and have thrown their considerable weight behind the anti-trafficking movement.
· I’m not even an outdoorsy person, but Patagonia is always top of my mind for their beautiful marketing and branding, and for all they do to promote environmental causes. They definitely put their money where their mouth is.
· TOMS, Warby Parker, Sevenly, and Brandless have done a fantastic job in the social enterprise space of sitting squarely at the intersection of commerce and cause.
· From the nonprofit side of things, Charity Water and Habitat For Humanity are terrific examples. Each of them do such amazing work, and have spent a lot of time carefully crafting their brand and messaging.
· And I always love brands with a sense of humor, because I think that takes guts in business and sets you apart. My friends at Funraisedo this (and pretty much everything else) well. And Chipotle doesn’t take themselves too seriously while slinging burritos, nor Chick-fil-A while serving up chicken sandwiches. Yet each of them does a remarkable job promoting practices, issues, and people they care about.
I’d love to hear what others have to say, so leave a comment! What brands inspire you and why?
Photo: Carmen Mandato
Kristi Porter helps nonprofits and for-profits with a social mission get noticed and grow through effective marketing and communications. She also teaches solopreneurs and small businesses how to incorporate easy philanthropy strategies. Essentially, Kristi makes cause-focused organizations look and sound more professional so they can build a larger audience, increase sales or donations, and do more good.
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