How to make your nonprofit stand out
In the business world, marketing is all about positioning. Positioning is a way of describing a business or organization and its services that sets it apart from its competitors. For a flower shop, their positioning statement might look like this:
For Capitol Hill residents who care about quality and uniqueness, Flowers on 15th is the best florist because all of our fresh flowers arrive daily to be made into stunning European-inspired designs that last twice as long as other flower arrangements.
This is great for a for-profit business however there's an element of bravado to positioning statements that doesn’t resonate with many of the nonprofit leaders that I work with. For-profit positioning is all about stating that you're the best in your market and you're the best at your product and services. It's meant to be a rallying cry.
Most nonprofit leaders that I work with don't think like that. They're looking for a more collaborative and more inviting, a humbler way to describe what they do.
So, I created the distinction framework. It is a more approachable and unique way for you to describe the programs and services that are part of your mission without needing to compare your organization to another. The distinction framework is based on a tri-level pyramid; each level builds on the previous.
Audience
At the bottom of the pyramid is audience. Audience answers the questions, “Who do we serve?” or “Who is it that we are making a difference for?” You may feel like you have a huge audience because your mission centers around global or regional issues. If that’s the case I'll challenge you to still zero in here about who you are serving by answering the question, ‘Who is impacted the most, or first, by the issue?”
Another question that will help you define your audience is, “Who do we want to support our mission?” I’ve spoken before about the circle of support. These are the folks who give of their time, talent or treasure to support your mission. This includes donors, volunteers, stakeholders, and other supporters.
Your audience isn't just the people you serve. And it's not just the people who support you. It also includes the people that you want to share their belief in your mission. The third question to define your audience, is “Who do we want to advocate for our mission?”
Beware the demographics trap
When you’re defining your audience, remember that demographics don’t tell the entire story. If you have the data, great! Be careful not to get caught up too much in age, income, or gender and the assumptions that come with those data. What motivates people to connect with your nonprofit mission are their ambitions, their motivations, and their beliefs about the world.
Approach
This level of the distinction framework is how you go about solving the problem that your mission seeks to impact. Approach is more than just what you do, it’s how you do it. Here’s an example:
Nonprofit A delivers school supplies to disadvantaged kids in their area. Their staff collects the supplies and makes a quarterly delivery to the school’s loading dock.
Nonprofit B also delivers school supplies. They collect the supplies and organize a weekly after school program where volunteers not only deliver the supplies, they get to help the students complete a creative project with some of the supplies.
See the difference? Neither is better than the other, and the what is the same. It’s the how that helps each nonprofit stand out. All of the subtle differences in how you deliver on your mission make a huge difference and can set you apart from other nonprofits that are working in a similar space.
Marketing Freebie
Stand out in the hearts and minds of your ideal donors with these 3 steps!
Affect
The final level of our framework is affect. This is just a fancy word way of saying emotion. Thinking back to your audience ask, “How do we create emotional connection with the people we serve, the people who support us, and the people we want to advocate for our work?”
How do you create an emotional connection with everyone that's part of your mission? This could be ensuring that your volunteers have a chance to interact with the clients that you serve and the communities that you're impacting with your work. Emotional connection can be found in your marketing materials where you tell amazing stories that really hit home for your audience. It could also be in the design of your materials because color, typography, and layout all have an emotional impact.
And of course, it's the energy and enthusiasm that you and your staff, your donors, your board, and your volunteers all bring to fulfilling your mission every single day.