In our last episode, Ensuring the Relevance of Your Legacy Organization, we talked about how long-term nonprofits face a unique burden of sustaining relevance and how longevity presents its own challenges for brand messaging. In this episode, we’re going to review strategies for when the answer to a legacy organizations’ relevance is a brand refresh.
Rebranding can assume many forms. Sometimes, it simply involves updating an organization’s existing visual identity, or logo. Since elements of design, including font styles and color palette, influence perception, maintaining visual relevance is really quite important. For instance, if graphic treatment of an organization’s name or logo appears dated and out of touch, it can compromise its influence and even imply that brand loyalty is being taken for granted. Since relevant is synonymous with timely, if graphics used in your visual identity are considered obsolete, it can undermine your impact and significance.
How do you know when what’s needed is a new name all together? There are often two primary motivators for that. 1) an identity no longer conveys the organization’s purpose or the solutions it offers current issues, and 2) the need to disassociate from a tarnished image.
We’ll leave recovering from crisis for another time and focus on enhanced identity. When rebranding includes a new name, it can be especially helpful to think of the process as realigning. In other words, better aligning what you do and why it matters with who you are. For legacy organizations considering a new name for greater relevance, I’d like to share three key points to keep in mind:
First, who are your target audiences, how have they changed over the decades and where are they located? What do they need to better appreciate about what you have to offer? If your original name includes the city where you were founded but now your service area is significantly larger, does maintaining that connection limit your influence? How do new word choices for a name resonate with your audience? Testing options that you’re considering, even with an informal cross-section of key audience members, is valuable, yet inexpensive, research.
Second, how can a new name emphasize your unique significance? In both branding and messaging we like to use the metaphorical example of distinguishing an
organization from others seated at the same table. For instance, if your organization sits at the table of championing literacy, what defines its value from others seated at the same table and how is that reflected in your brand identity?
The name Child Advocates not only reflects clear purpose, it embodies a third quality of relevance, and that is emotion. To what extent will the renaming of your organization evoke emotion in telling the story of what it does?
Of course, creating long-lasting, emotional connection between customers and your brand is highly dependent on what they experience. Afterall, when Shakespeare posed the question, “What’s in a name?” he made the point that a rose is a rose and would still smell as sweet, regardless of what it’s called. To that point, the greatest measurement of an organization’s relevance is how successfully it fulfills its purpose. Legacy organizations that connect the dots between today’s problems and the solutions they deliver, while shouting their impact from the rooftops, make a valuable investment in sustaining relevance.
I’m Kelli Newman and this has been a Minute with Messaging™. If you found this podcast helpful, I encourage you to subscribe on your favorite platform so you don’t miss an episode. And to learn how your organization can benefit from Newman & Newman’s marketing communication strategies, visit our website at NEWMANandNEWMANinc.com.
