Ep. 102: Discover Your Differentiator: How to Make Your Nonprofit Stand Out
EPISODE 102
Discover Your Differentiator: How to Make Your Nonprofit Stand Out
About the Episode:
Recently I’ve had several calls with different service providers and tech companies to potentially partner with their service or tool. In these conversations, my goal is to see if this is a fit for anyone in my community? Is this a fit for any of my clients? Do my clients need to know about this? Will this make their life better? But what I’ve found is that when I ask what makes their company A different from company B or C, they don’t know how to answer this question. So that’s what I want to talk about in this episode – the critical importance of differentiation for nonprofit organizations. I’m going to share how you can uncover the essence of what makes your organization unique, while urging your nonprofit to define your brand beyond just logos and colors. I highlight the significance of authentic storytelling and targeted communication, particularly to engage younger generations like Gen Z. We also discuss the necessity for innovative fundraising methods and moving away from traditional, outdated practices (while also including your board to lead to more engagement). This episode is a call to action for nonprofits to be bold, authentic, and clear about their unique contributions to their communities.
Topics:
The importance of recognizing and understanding the reasons behind unexpected successes
Exploring what makes an organization unique in its mission, programs, and services
Emphasizing the need for organizations to be bold and authentic to stand out
Defining and understanding an organization's brand beyond logos and colors, focusing on who the organization serves
Tailoring communication and branding strategies to appeal to different generations, particularly Gen Z
How to involve the board in branding and differentiation exercises to ensure everyone is aligned
Challenging traditional fundraising methods and promoting innovative approaches
My favorite exercises to help organizations identify their unique attributes and effectively communicate them
Think you’ve reached out to “everyone” in your network? Out of ideas to get noticed and get funded? Generate leads for your nonprofit or social impact business: https://www.splendidcourses.com/prospect
Christina’s Favorite Takeaways:
“Celebrate your wins, but don't treat them like lottery tickets; understand what made them possible."
"Differentiation is key: know what makes your organization unique and communicate it clearly."
"Authenticity and boldness are essential to stand out in a crowded nonprofit sector."
"Your brand is not just your logo; it's about who you are, who you serve, and how you're different."
"Engage younger generations by speaking their language and aligning with their values."
"Traditional fundraising methods can hold you back; innovate and disrupt to grow faster."
“We have to ditch the rulebook and start innovating and disrupting the nonprofit sector. I believe that wholeheartedly.”
"Involve your board in defining your brand and differentiators to ensure everyone is aligned."
"Practical exercises can help you uncover and articulate your organization's unique value."
"Be brave enough to be different and clear about your organization's unique contributions."
"Turn up the volume on what makes you different to capture attention and support."
Episode Resources:
FREE Resources from Splendid Consulting:
How to Work with Christina and Splendid Consulting:
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*Links may be affiliate links which means I may earn a commission at no cost to you.
Christina Edwards 00:08
Welcome, everyone. Let's start today by sharing a win. This was a really fun one we got in the purpose and profit club coaching program. This past week, one of our clients said they got an unexpected big check in the mail, multi five figure check in the mail. And it was such a windfall in such a celebration. But what I told them is, don't discount that as blessings from the universe like it fell out of the sky. Okay, this is something that they actually this was a donor in their pipeline who had given before and it was a relationship that they had nurtured and seeded. So even though the timing was different, and earlier than they expected, even though it was more than they expected it you want to make sure that you celebrate those moments, not as like a lottery wins, but celebrating these moments, especially with your team as how did we help make this happen? And how can we help move this forward? Like, how do we get more of this? And if you ask yourself that question of like, this wasn't an anonymous check that fell out of the sky. So if we want more like this, what do we need to keep doing? And my answer for them is really just looking at the work that they've been doing in the club. And keep doing that keep that forward momentum, because they've been doing so many great pieces, as far as storytelling, comms adjusting their frequency really deep, like deepening that authenticity, which we'll get into today. All right. So today, we're gonna talk about this concept that has come up in a couple of different ways lately, and I was like, we got to do an episode about this, this idea of what makes you different. What is a differentiator between your organization, your mission, your programs, your services, versus other ones? There, you're not the only one that serves the sector, right? You're not the other only organization that maybe serves the community, if you're local. Or if you're international, you're not the only organization that does it. Now, I was just on several calls with different service providers, and tech companies, and tech tools. In the past, I would say like, two ish months, I've had a lot of these, like service provider ish, kind of discovery calls, partnership calls, right? And usually, in that process, they're giving you a demo, or they're telling you about the service, they provide very standard, right? And in these conversations, my goal is to see, is this a fit for anyone in my community? Is this a fit for any of my clients? Do my clients need to know about this? Will this make their life better? Right? And I want to leave that 20 or 30 minute meeting, knowing the answer to that question very, very simply. So oftentimes, this will be let's use a couple of different examples. Let's say it is a tech tool. And it's something that serves the nonprofit sector. I want to know how their tech tool is different from the two dozen tech tools that supposedly do the same thing. Okay. Now, I asked this question, I don't like sugarcoat it, I will literally ask the salesperson, how are you different than a, b, and c? And I've been disappointed by some of the responses lately. I've heard a lot of well, you know, people are just really excited about our product. Guys, not a good answer. Or, you know, I haven't really I'm not that familiar with your competitor ace products. I'm not really sure y'all. You need to know about the other ones that people are betting. Okay. And so if I can't leave the conversation, really understanding, maybe the UX is different, maybe the pricing is different. Maybe the platform is different. If your service provider, how are they done for you services? Better, faster, more optimal, just higher converting than a bunch of others, right? Like, I want to know those questions, and you need to be able to tell me, it's like you don't want to, you don't want your audience your prospect to have to guess the answers or like do their own detective work? So you want to know, how are we different? What separates us? What's our differentiator? So that's been happening. And then, while that's been happening, had a client recently that had an annual board meeting. And in the board meeting, or in advance of the board meeting, a board member was very excited to have a conversation about brand. And really like dig into like, what is our brand you know, we're, we're scaling to a million. Let's dig into what is our brand. What I send to the IDI is if we ask the board that question, it's going to be crickets. We got to give them like we got to kind of set the table like we got to put out some tapas and really let them like get them going on. What do we even mean when we say like, what's our brand we need to we need to dig in. So I gave them some prompts that the board could do an exercise in because I think for a brand if you're not a marketer, You're not a comms person, then you start to think about logo. And let me tell you, I'm not talking about logo at all in this entire podcast. And I'm not talking about logo when I say brand. Nothing about colors, nothing about fonts, none of that. I mean, like, Who are you for? What is our brand culture? Who should join? Who should be in our community? Like really thinking about the who write the who, who are our people? Who are we for? Who do we serve? And don't answer that question with your mission statement and your vision statement. I want you and I, if you're workshopping this, to act, like you were having a cup of coffee, then what do you say? Who are you really, really for? And for this organization very, very smartly. They were thinking about, like the next generation of donors, particularly the younger generation, we look at Gen Z. And it's like, why should Gen Z care about organization? Why is it? How is it for them? And if you don't know the answer to that question, this is a conversation you need to have as a staff, this is a conversation you need to have as a board. Because when we think about not just communication preferences, but really like brand preferences, you're older group of Rand supporters, your organization's supporters, your boomers, or Gen Zers. Your Gen Xers, they are our Hang on. They are attracted to your brand in a different way, than the younger generations, right? So we know the younger generations want to be part of a movement, they want to be part of change, they want to be part of social good. That's really, really important to them. Is that important to your organization? And if it is, how are you actually saying that? Like, what are the words you choose? What are the platforms? You say it? How often do you say it? Okay, with this idea of like, who are we? Who are we for what is our brand? I want to also make the distinction is the answer to this is not a 25 page marketing plan, and strategic plan. And lots of words on paper that no one will ever read. The answer to this is again, you and I are sitting and having a cup of coffee, and I go tell me about your organization. And you're like, well, we've started by opening our first shelter for cats. And really, we were operating in this one space, and we really outgrew it. And next thing we knew we sort of had this neighborhood community movement. And this happened, right, you're telling you the story. And through there, I'm sort of picking up who you're for, right? Think about it through that lens more of like more than this sort of sterile lens. The output of this exercise exercise should be more of an elevator pitch, then a long list of pages and pages and pages of bullet right. This should be like an elevator pitch so that you can very easily say Who are we for? What is the culture? What are our brand values? How are we different? If you leave nothing from today, I want you to be able to answer that question. How are we different than other organizations that serve the same? Cause? You've got to know the answer that question. If you don't know the answer, your potential donors and supporters aren't going to know the answer. Okay, so who knows the answer to this question. I'm thinking about Wente Faust, from the live like glue Foundation, we had her on the podcast, she shared her story, we will link to that here. She had a really good example of this exercise she did, which is if a donor is considering making a donation to her organization, she shared going through this exercise of Why should I give to yours? What will you do with my donation today? And she went through that she was like, this is what will happen today. And that like that, that understanding for her makes it so much easier than to outwardly express that to prospects and to donors and to donor upgrades and to partners and to potential sponsors. Because there are other organizations that serve the ALS community, right? There are other ones, what makes you different, you got I would come up with a list of 20 things like really make your brain come up with 20 different ways that you're different than any other organization. So I want to give you another example. I do this in my own business, right. I am not the only nonprofit coach out there. Not the only one, right I am not the only consultant who has had almost two decades of experience out there. That's there are more than one of me. How am I different? I will tell you how I'm different. I believe that long cultivation cycles aren't necessary. In fact, I believe that long cultivation cycles actually hurting your funding growth. They are hurting, not helping I believe The old school fundraising won't get you to your goal. Right that we have to ditch Brest practices, we have to ditch the rulebook and start innovating and disrupting in the nonprofit sector. I believe that wholeheartedly. I believe that the Follow the Leader, do this script, take this template, say these 10 words in this one way through this coffee meeting with this handwritten note, is the reason why your organization isn't growing. So, organizations, executive directors are attracted to joining the club, when they're like, oh my gosh, yes, I'm so tired of this antiquated, clunky way. And I actually would like to say the words that are true for me, and I would like to have a creative idea, or I want to just pick up the phone and, and make this call or call this donor to pitch the sponsor, or you know what, I really want to start working with social influencers. And I'm like, Yes, I can help you with that. Yes. Do I have a template for that? Yes. But this idea of pulling organizations into the future is such a passion of mine, it's such a value of mine, versus this is the schedule, this is how it has to be. So when organizations work with me, that's what they get. We don't do to best practices, they come to me and they're like, this is my goal. And I'm like, let's talk about how you can get there. And let's talk about how we can get there in a faster, more efficient way and in a way that feels good. So unlike other consultants and coaches, we do the inner work, we make sure that you're not doing this through white knuckling that you're not calling that donor that you're not pitching that influencer, that you're not growing, you're funding through late hours through white knuckling through feeling terrible. Instead, you're develop developing kind inner self talk, you're developing the muscle of grit, so that you do take imperfect action, right, so that you do get the motivation to keep going when you do that your growth is faster than ever. So that's what makes me different. I could go on and on and on about what makes me different, but that's not what this episode is about. This episode is about what makes you different. So alright, I'm gonna have to press pause. See, I'm gonna mark this because I don't have to keep going
Christina Edwards 00:31
So this idea of knowing who you're for knowing who what makes you different is something that startups do really, really well, particularly online startups. So like direct a direct to consumer ecommerce. We're gonna like dip our toe in a little bit of the for profit industry for a second. So let's think about some very popular very air quotes saturated market. So what's coming to mind now is like coffee, coffee can Bucha those types of things like beverages, right? Very hard. If you're like, I want to start a kombucha brand right now, if you go to Whole Foods or you go to your local grocery store, how many computers are there? Right? How many coffee brands are there? There's a lot. So what's really, really interesting to me, though, is there are founders of kombucha brands of coffee brands that are absolutely disrupting the market and finding space on the shelf that is already really, really full. Because they figured this out. They're like, Oh, no, Christina, there's not a kombucha like ours. And here's five differentiators. Here's how we're different. Or you think you've had coffee, you haven't had this coffee, you haven't had it, where it's sourced in this way, where it includes mushrooms and other antioxidants in it, where it tastes like this where it has these different roasting notes where it has this different piece. Often in my trainings, I will talk about Jenny's ice cream. She's a beautiful example of this, right? Jenny's ice cream is selling a pint of ice cream for $12. Not like a half gallon, not like a big ol tub of ice cream, but a pint of ice cream for $12. Think about it right now. If you went to your local grocery store, and you went to go get a pint of ice cream, or I'm sorry, a big ol thing of ice cream, how much could you get for $12 you get a couple and a pint of ice cream, maybe five bucks somewhere around there. So she has absolutely like elbowed her way into a saturated market by being different. One of the biggest things that she is different on is her flavors. Now, not only did she end up using really high quality ingredients, like grass fed milk and things like that. But she also is coming up with these crazy flavors. Like one of them recently was everything bagel. So it was like a savory flavor. And there's a local scoop shop near near us. And I sampled it and I was like This tastes like and everything bagel. So she found her spot, not by saying hey, we're gonna make vanilla, we're gonna make strawberry and we're gonna make Mint Chocolate Chip, I don't even think she has any of those flavors. She has like a balsamic strawberry, right, she's like, we are going to be different. What we have in common is that we are making ice cream. But that's about it. So think about that for your organization, your mission where you're like, Okay, there's a bunch of ice cream vendors, there's a bunch of organizations that may either serve the same community we serve, may serve within the same location we serve may have even just overlapping programs or services, or this is a big one, where you feel like you're in competition for a donor. So there's overlapping donors, you want to be able to say, how are we different? And this may be sort of the top line is how are we different? And maybe you're like, I listed everything I could, and I'm down to like seven things. And that's it and they are not very compelling, then this may be another layer of it. How do we want to be different moving forward? What do we want to what do we want to be known for? Now Jeff Henderson has a book called Know what you're for. It's a great book. And he goes into this a bit more, but like, what do you want to be known for? Think about that. What do you want an organization to be known for? And please, again, do not repeat back your mission statement and your vision statement. I really want you to say to me, you know, we're doing this, we've created an ecosystem, we've created a program, we've created a pilot, we've created something, because there wasn't anything like it, because the way we teach it because the way we serve, because then we will offer it there isn't another there isn't anything like it. We're doing this in a way that is slated and scalable for the future. Think of a lot of organizations that maybe are doing things in an antiquated way. Maybe you're not. Maybe you're using tech to your benefit. Maybe the A way that you have a more ethical storytelling lens, maybe that's what makes you different, right? There's a lot of organizations that aren't doing that. So you really want to say, how are we different? And then the next layer of that is, and how can we take that to like, an 11? Right? So if there are a couple of pillars where you're like, No, this is where we are different. I wonder how you could turn the volume up on that, if we want to turn the volume up on that, because people really need the repetition. Your ideal customer, your ideal daughter, your ideal partner, or sponsor, we need the repetition, they need the repetition, they need to hear your marketing message, your story, your differentiator, your diff, your differentiator, many times, okay? So you want to keep sharing those stories, and you want to keep sharing and talking about how you're different. Again, and again and again. Okay? Hang on. Now, I'm thinking of several different organizations I work with who are in this kind of liminal space, they're in this space, that is not quite where they want to be maybe from a messaging or branding or storytelling standpoint, and not quite where they were a few years ago, or even last year, right. So there's made improvements. And it's going to take some courage to get to where they actually want to be there in the in between space, because it takes courage. It takes daring action, it takes authenticity, to actually say, This is who we are, this is the culture of the people that support or in and around our organization. We love everything bagel ice cream, right? And we're creating these wacky flavors that I know people are gonna have a lot of opinions about, like that does take courage. It takes the courage to be disliked. It takes the courage to be loved and supported, and absolutely lifted up and receiving that and also the courage to be like, yeah, they're, you're not for me. It's a both, it's very, very hard to grow your organization to grow your funding to grow your social street team, your network of supporters and super fans, in a way that's super, super safe. From a branding lens that is super, super safe, and just blah and boring. You with me? So if we think about a kombucha that's going to disrupt the market in the next 12 months, they better be different. Right? They better be different. There is this like, not coffee coffee that I've been drinking. And it is like some sort of blend of antioxidants and mushrooms and all the things and it looks like coffee, it tastes ish like coffee, right? But there's a couple other players, there's quite a few, probably a dozen now in that sort of not coffee coffee market, right? So if another one wants to enter the market, like how are they boulder? How are they different? How do they how does it taste different? Right? You really want to say if they're gonna get a piece of this pie, then how are you different. So take the time to explore that you can explore that yourself, you can explore that with your team, your board, and you want to get your board on board with this. You want to get your board on board with us because this is that next level, that next layer of how your organization not only grows the funding, but also grows that sort of endorsement, that ripple effect, right? No one's super excited about supporting and talking and lifting up and sharing your social force posts. If what you're talking about is just vanilla. Yeah, if it's just same old, right? We're excited about sharing your stories, your social posts your fundraiser when what you're saying is like boom, lightning like different, compelling, captivating, and in order for it to be that way. It's going to take some courage. That's the work we do in the club in my group coaching program, so I'm always here to support you when you're ready to join the Club. In the meantime, you can click the link in our show notes to get on the waitlist. I am cheering you on this week. Ask yourself go for a walk. Ask yourself what makes us different. See you next time.