Recently over lunch a few colleagues were discussing the state of Canadian politics. Both painted colourful stories of their parents who were passionately involved in their chosen political affiliation back in the day where it "meant something" to support a party. Their comment was that the differences between the spectrum are so blurred, that party positions have become meaningless. Apathy is the result.

This reminded me of a simple but most important principle of marketing. You have to stand for something. Your mission has to be simple, and clear. Donors should implicitly understand the core purpose of your organization and relate to the need in a way that inspires them to action. The same applies to staff and volunteers.

If you have an inspiring message, repeat, repeat, repeat and resist the urge to overpower with variations on a theme. You’ll risk standing for nothing. 

In an upcoming e-newsletter I’ll cover messaging in greater detail. In the meantime check out Katya’s Andresen’s blog on keeping the message simple.