Why Brand Values are Critical to PR Strategies, Especially Nonprofits

Promoting nonprofits is tricky business.

I like to use a Nike shoe analogy to describe the challenge. If a customer buys a pair of Nikes and doesn't like the shoes, they have the option of returning them and getting their money back.

Yet, nonprofits don't have a tangible product like Nike shoes for customers - or rather, donors. Instead, donors are left trusting that the nonprofit delivered a high quality and effective "product" or service to unnamed recipients.

But what was actually delivered? And how much of it? And was it even any good?

It's understandable that donors can sometimes become cynical of nonprofits. In a recent poll, a third of surveyed Americans said they had little or no confidence in charities. When asked about factors that influence their giving, the biggest portion, 68 percent, said it is very important the charity has evidence that its programs are effective. 

Therein lies the business challenge for many nonprofits - deliver a non-tangible "product" to donors so they feel confident that recipients are truly being served well.

I've spent more than six years now promoting nonprofits as a former news reporter turned public relations professional. And from my experience, it's tricky to find the right mix of authentic communication combined with appealing marketing. Sometimes it's difficult not to oversell a nonprofit's effectiveness because the intention is to use compelling stories to prove an organization is serving recipients well.

Organizational structure and job descriptions actually have a strong influence too. If a PR professional is under a Marketing team structure, then the temptation is to oversell and ignore important facts or nuances. If under a Communications structure then often times a PR professional will miss the mark in truly promoting the primary ask for an organization. And if within an integrated Marketing/Communications structure, then a PR professional is often left trying to weigh critical decision making priorities that balance both promoting and protecting the organization.

I've found that very few leadership teams truly understand the struggle or tension that PR professionals find themselves juggling, and I have personally had to make some difficult decisions over the years that I haven't always known what was the right call.

I've found myself wondering - is there a better way to promote brands without overselling or putting organizations at risk? Is it always necessary to focus on the services provided when it's so easy to unintentionally oversell or mislead?

While it's important to ensure effectiveness and that customers or clients receive tangible services or products, I've found I am captivated by the motivation or intentions that drive a brand to do what they do. What is their PURPOSE?

While brand mission statements reveal the WHAT, the WHY is often times even more of a selling point.

To test my theory, I recently visited a local animal shelter to talk with their staff and volunteers. But instead of interviewing them on the WHAT - or what they do - I focused on the WHY. One of their core organizational values is compassion so I spent the afternoon talking with them about what it means to be compassionate and why it's important to the effectiveness of their work.

In the end, I concluded that compassion is actually the primary "product". While the shelter has a mission to ease the suffering of animals and does so by providing important services, it was actually their desire to be compassionate that fueled their effectiveness. If compassion were removed and animals merely received services without compassion infused throughout, I realized the animals wouldn't be as well cared for or happy in the end.

If we deconstruct any brand's mission statement and values, we soon realize that the WHAT is directly influenced by the WHY. What we aim to achieve and whether we actually do it depends on WHY.

Recently, I relaunched my PR consultancy called Purposeful PR where the intention is to focus on promoting purpose-driven brands. Why purpose? Because the very definition of purpose is the reason WHY something or someone exists. Instead of promoting the WHAT, I believe spreading the word on the WHY not only is a more honest form of PR for most brands but it's a more universal selling point as well.

Even in interviewing the animal shelter, I left realizing not everyone may be passionate about supporting animals specifically. Some people just aren't dog or cat people. But compassion? Well, that's something we can all agree is a noble value for each of us to get behind!

Read my blog For All Intents & Purposes to learn more about living & working with compassion.

Listen to Purposeful Podcast's Compassion - Episode 1 - How A Local Animal Shelter Models Compassion.

Purposeful PR is a public relations consultancy promoting purpose-driven brands, nonprofits and influencers. Learn more at www.PurposefulPR.com.