Justifying the Investment in Brand Building

Designing Tomorrow: Creative Strategies for Social Impact

Branding/marketing isn’t going to do anything for your org…if you can’t fund it in the first place.

Unfortunately, justifying the investment in this work — both money AND capacity — for social impact orgs doesn’t come as easily as it might for other sectors. And right now everyone is still stuck in the “do more with less” mentality.

Here’s how to make a solid case for the investment — whether you’re pitching your leadership team, funders, or anyone else that needs buy-in to make it work:

1. Empathize with decision-makers

Understand what decision makers value and what other priorities they are focused on. This work isn’t the only thing on their mind just because it’s important to you.

2. Connect work to financial health

You have to make a case that this work is not just “feel good” work, but actually leads to better financial sustainability for the org. (Teaser: we’re going deep into this in next week’s episode).

3. Tie initiatives to impact

Connect the dots between this investment and how it will actually create impact for your community and help you reach your mission more quickly/effectively.

4. De-risk the investment

Use a pilot project or a phased approach to de-risk the investment and lower the barrier to entry.

5. Propose what to deprioritize

Realize that saying yes to this most likely means saying no to other valid projects. Come prepared with which projects you would recommend deprioritizing.

6. Present your project team

Think through WHO on your team will be involved and how this will affect their capacity. This shows that you understand this will take time and energy and make for easier planning.

In today’s episode of Designing Tomorrow, Jonathan and I dive deep into each of these points, plus we cover:

→ How to appeal to personal motivations

→ Making concrete connections to growth or cost savings

→ Aligning with your mission and impact

→ Balancing risk and reward

→Managing internal resources effectively

But here's the kicker: There's one unexpected benefit of investing in branding/marketing that most people overlook. It's so powerful, it might just be the most important (but rarely discussed) return on your investment.

Curious? You'll have to listen to find out.

Whether you're a CEO/ED, marketing lead, or passionate team member trying to drive change, this episode has some road-tested ideas to help you make your case.

Resources:

• Episode inspired by an article in - TheySaid’s 2.0 Magazine
• Want to Scale Your Social Impact? Your Brand is the Fuel.
• Beyond Aesthetics: The ROI of Brand Building
• Brand Building: An Authentic Approach to Growing a Fierce, Loyal, and Supportive Community

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1. Justifying Marketing Spend in Social Impact (00:00:00)

2. Strategic Investing in Branding and Marketing (00:10:34)

3. Creating Impact Through Design and Marketing (00:19:16)