Why Conducting a Brand Audit is the Best New Year’s Resolution

Whether or not you are someone who makes new year’s resolutions, at the beginning of the year some of us tend to think how this year will be different. When I review marketing efforts, at least once per month for my education nonprofit and technology clients, it helps us with ongoing marketing. The yearly review is a little different. It’s a good time to take a big picture look at the organization’s brand strategy. Reviewing brand strategy with a brand audit helps education nonprofit and edtech organizations continue to innovate and stay relevant with their community.

 Often people equate branding with their logo, but it’s so much more. It’s how people perceive the organization and its people, products, and services. Strong brands have the benefit of being top of mind. While my daughter calls them “tissues,” I still call them “Kleenex” because of how strong that brand was when I was a kid. There is a direct connection between brand strength and an ed nonprofit’s ability to raise funds or an edtech’s ability to grow revenue.  A brand audit will help solve the questions that keep us up at night:

·      Why can’t I generate more leads?

·      Why do I keep losing clients to a particular competitor?

·      Why are donations flat compared to the same time last year?

·      Why can’t I recruit more volunteers?

Branding and constant innovation have a strong connection, because anything your team does—especially improvements and innovations— should go towards strengthening the brand instead of diluting it. An example is Education Foundation of the Summit, which mainly supports teacher innovations, STEAM and literacy, and this is communicated through their brand. When they receive requests that don’t support their brand, like a school food pantry, they say no. It’s not because they don’t care about feeding hungry kids. It’s because they want the foundation to be associated with innovation, STEAM, and literacy so that when donors are sure that’s what their donation will support. If donors are not sure if their donation will go to STEAM or the “request of the day” then they’ll probably donate elsewhere.

Good luck on all your new year’s resolutions, especially your brand audit, because it will be the foundation of everything else your organization accomplishes this year.