You’ve probably heard the phrase ‘branding is more than your logo’ or ‘branding is what people say about you when you are not in the room.’  And that is true. Branding is more than what you see; it’s the soul of your enterprise. Most importantly, branding is a promise of value that must kept consistently.

Granted you’re doing good work as social entrepreneur, but you must be careful not to skip on the commercial aspects of running a business. But you may ask – how about my story? Isn’t powerful enough to attract donors and volunteers? Well, your story is an integral part of your brand, but in itself it cannot propel you to new levels of growth if not backed up by other crucial elements of branding.

Here are a few tips to help you build a more impactful brand for your social enterprise:

Conduct a thorough research before creating your brand

Be sure to test your brand identity with your target audience. Conduct phone interviews or online surveys to get their views on your logo, color palette, and other visual elements of your brand. Even as you do that, remember to balance research with momentum.  This means that you will need to make quick decisions to ensure you make progress. Sometimes feedback from stakeholders can be overwhelming which can lead to slow decision making and implementation.

Be clear on what you want to be known for

Ask yourself, what is the one thing I’d like to be known for? Generally, doing good has never been more mainstream, so social enterprises must work harder to differentiate to help build reputation, attract donors, volunteers, and so on. For instance, Nike and Apple – both world renowned brands, are known for performance and innovation respectively. What is the ‘One Word’ that defines you?

Back up your brand with a good business model

The biggest problem with many social enterprises is a lack of good long term revenue generating business models. As you focus on polishing up your brand, ensure that you are also building/ have built a strong business model that will keep you up and running. Simply put, let your brand develop with your business.

Be consistent

Your brand should be consistent in every aspect – from service delivery to how you communicate across all your channels. Your visual identity and your brand values should equally be presented and communicated in a manner that is consistent.

Treat the social enterprise marketplace as you would any other

Even as you communicate your brand values as    ‘working for social benefits’ always look at the social enterprise marketplace from the same perspective as any other marketplace that does B2B or B2C. This is because social enterprises are still associations within their own right and need to be able to compete.

Remember that branding is in the small intangible things that when done consistently and over a significant period of time, begin to elevate and differentiate you from the rest.