Advice for marketing and branding

The DOs and DON’Ts of marketing and branding for social enterprises

DOs

Define your mission
Sam Conniff: If you don't know what the mission is that you're trying to convey, none of your communication will be consistent. Ours is simply ‘to benefit the lives of young people’ - you need to get it down to something as stripped-down as that. Everyone in the team needs to be able to communicate this and a six-year-old needs to understand it.

Hot tip: Do focus groups with end users to ensure they understand you, says Penny Newman.

Create a brand identity chart
Sam Conniff: Write down one (two at most) words which represent the core of your business (for Nike, it’s ‘winning’), then three to four that represent your values and up to six for personality. Keep referring back to these so you can filter them into any communications. On top of that a social enterprise should be positioning its social advantage prominently too.

Hot tip: Social enterprises often have a lovely story behind them to make them stand out, use it, says Penny Newman.

Lever customer support
Sophi Tranchell: In the very early days Christian Aid mobilised all their supporters - and there are tens of thousands of them across the UK - and got them to ask for Divine at their local Sainsbury's. Divine went from being listed in 17 Sainsbury's stores to 350 almost overnight.
Build relationships
Sophi Tranchell:... with people who supply marketing services, with media sales people, with journalists - there's a deal to be had if people get behind you and understand the great things you are trying to do.

Hot tip: Work with other social enterprises where possible to share advertising or exhibiting costs, says Sophi Tranchell.

Be seen in ‘hot’ places
Reed Paget: Money can buy loads of media and hundreds of adverts, but you can get attention without loads of money. Get your product placed in important venues, so it gets seen by important people. Get it out to hot places, top hotels and events.

DON’Ts

Don’t rely on your social aspect
Penny Newman: We have to show that our product is excellent value and quality and say to people ‘By the way, did you know it’s fairtrade and we work with producers’. Some put the social impact first and don’t put enough into selling the main function of the product.
Don’t lack focus
Sophi Tranchell: Don’t just give free products to anyone, be targeted with your campaigns. We ended up giving away thousands of chocolate bars on Valentine’s Day, but not gaining many more customers from it.
Don’t use social media for the sake of it
Tim Campbell: Embrace new technology, but analyse whether it serves your business well. Use your resources wisely. We use Twitter for communications, but we don’t get many customers/clients through it. The most powerful piece of marketing for us so far, was a one page advert in a local newspaper.
Penny Newman: YouTube can be used fantastically by all social enterprises. I know when I show a DVD of our apprentices this is much more powerful than me standing up talking about them.

Hot tip: Use Twitter to listen to what relevant people are saying, not just for uploading loads of status updates, say Sam Conniff.

Don’t be too complicated
Sam Conniff: Early on in the business, to stand out at meetings and not just present another PowerPoint, we made some sort of beer carrier containing messages about how we work. It was a weird, flappy piece of cardboard and it just confused people.

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