YOUR BRAND = INFLUENCE EQUITY In the best-selling book Good to Great , Jim Collins describes the Hedgehog Concept as the overlap of passion, performance, and profitability. In the follow-up monograph, Good to Great and the Social Sectors , Collins clarifies that the financial piece – the resource engine – of non-profit organizations is different than for-profit businesses:
“Whereas in business, the key driver in the flywheel is the link between financial success and capital resources, I’d like to suggest that a key link in the social sectors is brand reputation – built upon tangible results and emotional state of heart – so that potential supporters believe not only in your mission, but in your capacity to deliver on that mission.”
Several years ago, our research pointed out the steep decline of a well-known non-profit brand. The leadership of that organization had a choice to take stock of the challenges and either recalibrate their efforts or ignore the warning signs.
What would you do? No organization should allow public opinion to determine its vision. Yet your identity – your brand – is a matter of stewardship. Perhaps your organization has enjoyed favorable positioning for decades or just for a few short years. Either way, your organization’s brand is part of your resource engine.
A non-profit’s brand amounts to “influence equity,” the ability to shape the future, to inform minds, to fill venues, to raise funds, to create and distribute resources, and ultimately to connect people to Jesus Christ. A solid brand offers the capacity to fulfill a vision.
Although every organization has a natural life cycle – and the economy is pushing many organizations into uncharted territory, accelerating the rise and fall of many enterprises – it would be irresponsible not to manage your “influence equity” effectively. Your organization’s brand is like finances, time or human resources: a gift from God to be stewarded carefully and strategically.
David Kinnaman
President | Barna Group
Good stuff. How easy will it be to get some church leaders to think this way. Particularly for churches and leaders in Africa.
Having worked in public relations in both a Fortune 100, for-profit environment and in the non-profit, ministry arena, my observation is that there is a tremendous gap between the two in terms of understanding the value of the brand to an organization. The for-profit community sees the brand as a significant, tangible asset that must be proactively cultivated, monitored and protected as if it were gold. Many in the non-profit sector tend to take a more passive approach to the brand, allowing external forces to shape the organization’s reputation and public image instead of taking charge of these elements themselves. The reasons are many - a shortage of real-world knowledge of how a brand impacts the bottom line, assorted religious/denominational impediments that have marginalized the concept of branding as a “worldly” endeavor, a lack of resources with which to engage competent PR talent, and rock-star personality-driven cultures where the principals will not listen to the counsel of capable professionals until there is a scandal or a crisis of reputation. There is no aspect of ministry that is not impacted in a major way by an organization’s “brand equity” - consider the demise of any number of ministries in the wake of an image scandal. It is time for the Body of Christ to give this vital ministry asset the time and attention it deserves. Proper stewardship of an organization’s brand resources is absolutely paramount in these turbulent times…
Actually, the importance of brand equity was foundational in the formative years of Christian ministry–i.e. the times of the Apostles. The importance of one’s reputation, the need to be a “good witness” and be “above reproach” gets at least lip service in contemporary ministry circles as well. The idea of postively promoting our image is a biblical concept, but for some reason we have developed the idea that it is a passive rather than an active endeavor. This is unfortunate, particularly where it is the community’s rather than the individual’s image. Taking a proactive approach to our image, our brand–our community reputation and witness–is essential to effective ministry. Let’s get at it!
Building brand equity is the missing link in non-profit marketing. The book of Acts is filled with examples of good ‘marketing’ that is actively managed in a positive way by Paul during his journeys; Paul’s passionate and consistent efforts were critical in building momentum for Christianity. But yet, believers in “ministry” oriented non-profits seem to have the biggest problem is seeing the value of brand building marketing that is not 100% tied to fundraising marketing efforts. Thank you Jim Collins for bringing this reality into the public forum.
The Lord’s prayer says “Hallowed be thy name”. In the OT Jehovah complained that his name was not hallowed because of the actions of his people. A praise chorus proclaims “How majestic is your name in all the earth” If we are not concerned about the “name” our actions give our organizations and by extension give God, then we are not concerned about something that very much concerns God.
It’s the language. From my perspective as a church-going woman who has seen her fair share of ministry, business terms like branding raise suspicion.
If resistant faith based non-profs and organizations shrink back from branding themselves, I wonder if that resistance can be dismantled simply by speaking the language of the hearer.
I don’t like the word branding. It makes me think of cows (getting branded…go figure!) and then Twinkies flood my mind. Twinkies are most definitely a successfully branded junk food item that has become an iconic snack in America. I am not comparing faith based organizations to cows, nor twinkies…(smile)…but if the folks who are leading that organization have negative connotations with certain words like I do, then unfortunately this can lead to rejecting entire concepts because we don’t like or understand the language.
I very much like the idea of substituting words like influence and image for branding. If you talk to me about my organization’s need to broaden our influence and strengthen our image I will likely not think about cows nor twinkies but will instead be listening.