1. Designing for yourself
Whether creating a new brand or rebranding an existing organisation, one big mistake is getting wrapped up in the creative process and designing something because you like it rather than because it’s right for the brand. It’s a new brand for your charity, not your living room.
It can be a hard to step back, especially if the organisation is one you’ve worked with for a long time and/or are incredibly involved with. But choosing a colour, font or logo because you like it is a big red flag. Because this brand isn’t for a few, it’s for your audience.
Which bring us on nicely to point two.
2. Not understanding your audience
Problem one, usually comes hand-in-hand with this next mistake. Not understanding your audience or even worse, assuming you do!
When embarking on branding or rebranding of a charity, focus groups with your target market and partners are key. It’s likely you’ve got to this point because your organisation and/or market have evolved, otherwise your old branding would still be doing the job. So it’s really important to start at the beginning and learning about your audience and what they need/want/like.
The best branding delivers something new to a target audience, stands-out and appeals, but does so with the confidence of knowing that the target market was always ready to receive it.
3. Copying your competitors
Part of any good research stage, along with audience workshops, will include competitor research. Seeing what others are doing well, and not so well, is really useful. BUT it’s not about cherry picking what they do and copying it.
Once you understand your audience, you need to understand your charity. What’s your USP? Ensuring that solutions are ownable to your organisation and therefore authentic is key! Authenticity is one of the things that resonates with audiences, especially in a not-for-profit sector.
So, it’s about cherry picking, refining and making things as powerful as possible for your organisation.
4. Inconsistency
The worst return on investment when it comes to branding, is to invest in creating something brilliant only for it to get diluted in roll-out. Ensuring your have a robust set of guidelines and that they are used by those within the organisation is crucial. Also appreciating that not everyone using them are going to be design experts mean having templates ready for people to use and imagery libraries where people can find brand photography and illustrations is key.
5. Poor copywriting
When we think of branding, people an often think it means a logo and some colours. It’s far more than this and one thing that can often get overlooked is copy. The words you use are just as important as the way you look. They should work together to reinforce your charity brand.
Having an idea of words you do and don’t use, for example: we say ‘hello’ rather than ‘hiya!!!’. Is a good way to start thinking about your tone of voice. Are you professional in your tone, approachable, friendly, fun?
6. Ignoring inclusivity
Probably the biggest crime of them all – not considering accessibility in your brand.
When you are accessible to everyone you are likely to be more successful. Whether it be showcasing a broad spectrum of people in your imagery or ensuring colours have a good contrast level or making sure your website is screen reader friendly. It all matters. Considering how different people may interact with your brand will not make your brand sucessful, but grow your audiences.
