It Takes More Than A Tagline

Can you say in 8 words or less why your organization exists? Can your leaders do it? Can most of your members/staff/volunteers? If not, then odds are you don't really know the answer. Not having a tagline is a pretty good indicator that people in your organization do not have a strong, common sense of purpose. 

But the inverse is not also true. 

Just because you have a tagline doesn't mean you have a clear sense of common purpose. Take, for example, one of the finalists in the 2009 Getting Attention Nonprofit Tagline Awards*: The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).

The ELCA's new tagline – "God's Work. Our Hands." – is pretty catchy, isn't it?! It fulfills most of the "do's" and avoids most of the "dont's" of effective taglines (see below); and the accompanying ad campaign is really well done. We like it. But where did it come from?? Who was involved in articulating it?? How were the million or so people who worship in ELCA congregations each week – or the twenty thousand people elected each year to make decisions for the church at regional levels – or even the few hundred who work for the denomination – invited meaningfully and deeply into the process of wrestling together around purposeful questions like:

• Who are we?
• What matters to us?
• Why are we here? 

They weren't. We don't know exactly how this tagline was developed (although we suspect it was developed using a traditional approach to rebranding) but we do know that it did not emerge from a widely shared sense of purpose. Recent headlines confirm that this organization doesn't exactly have one. 

An effective tagline communicates who you are and why you exist in a way that your name (e.g., "St. Matthew's Church By The Gas Station") doesn't. More than 70% of nonprofits say either that theirs is ineffective or that they don't have one at all. You probably need to develop one. But before you go running off to brainstorm a catchy phrase to put on your organization's website (or paying a traditional branding expert to do it for you), remember this: 

A tagline alone isn't very helpful without a shared sense of purpose.

Now, once you have a shared sense of purpose, what makes a tagline work??? Here are some "do's" from the folks behind the 2009 Getting Attention Nonprofit Tagline Awards. An effective tagline must: 

• Convey your impact or value 
• Be authentic 
• Be memorable 
• Be specific to your organization 
• Be eight words or less 
• Be highly visible 
• Make an emotional connection 
• Capture the spirit or promise of your organization 
• Complement or clarify your organization’s name 
• Connect with your audience while being true to your organizational “self”

To be really awesome, your tagline will also:

• Use a surprising approach or imagery
• Motivate people to action
• Use strong verbs
• Make people want to know more
• Make sure it means something even when standing alone

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Thanks to the Net2 Blog for a link to the free 2009 Getting Attention Nonprofit Taglines Report! The Net2 Blog's tagline is: "Remixing the Web for Social Change." Not bad, eh?

* Note to readers - You'll notice if you click to download this report that the group behind it may appear to take a traditional "top-down" approach to branding. (They've included a quote from an appreciative reader who seems to think she can brand her organization "all by myself"!) Keep reading, anyway. The report is full of great information. Just remember: Branding isn't a solo activity.

Comments

[Nancy Schwartz]

Great point you make about having a strong tagline...even though it may seem powerful to the outside world, if it misses the mark with an organization's base, then it's way off base!

Audience research is a critical step in tagline development. Without that, there's no way any organization will pinpoint the intersection between its base's needs and interests, and its own work and impact. That crossroads is what reinforces the connections between an organization and its base. When it's missing, there's a gaping void -- as you seem to be experiencing soon.

Great observation from an important perspective.

Best,
Nancy Schwartz, Publisher
GettingAttention.org

[Kelly]

Hi Nancy – Thanks for dropping by...and for the great work you're doing. Your report is fascinating and offers a lot of great ideas for people who are thinking about rebranding!

I think we would add, though, that something more than audience research is required in a branding effort. In fact, I think we'd say that there isn't an "audience," anymore (especially inside your organization!). A few posts ago we wrote:

"Branding used to mean that you (and maybe a few people on your team) would put your heads together and try to figure out what you wanted to communicate to the world. Not anymore. Today branding is more about cooperative communication. It is an experience. It is a participative process." http://www.arenewalenterprise.com/2009/11/you-are-not-alone.html

When you're taking a renewable approach, you don't see a target "audience" either inside or outside your organization. You see potential co-collaborators, people with whom you have the privilege to co-create a new and better reality, with whom you are called to be in relationship for the sake of "doing what matters" in the world. Something as important as revisioning or rebranding would never happen in a renewable organization without really involving, engaging, listening to, and wrestling with people (both inside and outside your organization).

I know this is a pretty radical shift. See more here: http://www.arenewalenterprise.com/2009/11/immerse-yourself.html

I'd love to hear what you think about it!