1. Branding
Toolkit

2. Branding Toolkit
Featuring the following handy tools:
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Marketing Inventory
5 Steps to a Funective* Brand
Organizational Lexicon

3. Tool: Marketing Inventory
HOW TO USE THIS TOOL:
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Consistency is key to your marketing success. If you’re all over the map with your
messaging, people will think you don’t have your act together. (Yikes!) This tool will
help you bring all your messaging into alignment.
Step 1: Gather everything you have that talks about your organization (e.g. pamphlets,
postcards, letterhead, business cards, website, blog, Facebook, Twitter, etc.).
Step 2: Fill out a row for each item.
Step 3: Create a consistent top-level message. (For help with that, see the Messaging
Roadmap and Messaging Platform.)
Step 4: Finally, make sure everything uses the same language to talk about your
organization and also gives accurate contact info.
Bringing your messaging into alignment can take a little time, but it’s worth it.
Good luck!

4. Marketing Inventory
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People who work for and
with our organization. (We
started the first one for
you as this is generally
your biggest and most
overlooked mechanism.)
what contact info have
What we say we offer
Current message
Off-line
Online
MECHANISM
Remember:
Consistency is key.

5. Tool:
5 Steps to a Funective* Brand
HOW TO USE THIS TOOL:
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Having a brand that clearly, compelling and consistently conveys what you do and
why you do it is a modern-day must. Why? Because it makes it easy for people to
decide whether they want to engage with you and keeps them loyal once they do.
This tool guides you through the process of making your brand as funective*
(fun + effective =) as possible.
Simply follow these five simple steps and you’ll be on your way to having a brand
that sets you apart and gets you ahead!

6. Steps
To a Funective* Brand
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Having a brand that clearly, compellingly and consistently conveys what your nonprofit believes in and what
makes you special is a modern-day must. Why? Because it makes it easy for people to decide whether they
want to engage and keeps them loyal once they do.
So how do you make your organization irresistible? By creating a brand that is funective—*fun + effective*—and
then picking a “spokesperson” to bring it to life. Follow these five steps and you’ll be there in no time.
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STEP 1: Define Your Belief Proposition
First thing’s first—you have to know what you believe to know
what you stand for. Answer these two questions:
Why does your organization exist?
What would be different if your organization didn’t exist?
Answers to these questions uncover what your organization
believes. Now create your Belief Proposition by finishing the
sentence, “We believe...” (For inspiration, see examples at right.)
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EXAMPLES
Your Belief Proposition
We believe all children deserve to be
great readers.
We believe technology can play a
pivotal role in the greater good.
We believe fish are worth fighting for.
STEP 2: Get Personal
Now that you’re clear on what you stand for, the next question is: what words, visuals and actions will help you
convey your belief in a way that will capture the attention of those that share it. Put another way: what’s your
personality?

7. Continued: 5 Steps To a Funective* Brand
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To figure this out, finish the sentence, “In everything we do, we will be...” by picking three words that capture the
essence of your organization’s personality. This list is a good starting place.
Academic
Approachable
Casual
Conservative
Courteous
Dynamic
Fast-paced
3
Honest
Independent
Innovative
Knowledgeable
Open-minded
Outspoken
Playful
Progressive
Respectful
Serious
Stable
Transparent
STEP 3: Find a Spokesperson
Pick a spokesperson for your organization that would believe
in your belief proposition and embody your personality. This
person won’t actually be your spokesperson. Instead, you
will use them as a way to bring cohesion and consistency to
your efforts. The spokesperson might be a fictional character
(Luke Skywalker) or a real person (Luke Perry).
EXAMPLE: Spokesperson
We believe that all children deserve
to be great readers. To honor that
belief, we will be approachable,
dependable, and outspoken in
how we talk, write, visually portray
and act. Our spokesperson will be
Queeen Latifah.

8. Continued: 5 Steps To a Funective* Brand
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STEP 4: Introduce your website to your spokesperson
Review your website. Can you imagine your spokesperson saying it? Would your spokesperson use long
sentences or short phrases? If your spokesperson is an academic, semi-colons might be just fine, but if it’s
Buzz Lightyear, not so much. If you put your spokesperson’s picture on the site, would it fit right in or stand out
like a sore thumb? If you’ve got a sore thumb on your hands (pun intended), take a look at your color palette
and, if need be, your logo. For instance, if your spokesperson is a blazer and tie type of guy and your website
looks like something fresh off the set of Jersey Shore, how can you make it less casual and more polished?
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STEP 5: Find a Spokesperson
Write all future communications—newsletters, brochures, annual reports, etc—as your spokesperson would.
Having one voice will make it easy for multiple people to write in a way that is consistently irresistible to people
who are mad about your mission.
What now?
Repeat steps #2-5 once a year.
What you stand for shouldn’t change—who best represents what you stand for just might.

9. Tool: Organizational Lexicon
A lexicon is a set of words used by a person, organization or group. By creating your very
own lexicon, you up the odds that you’ll use words that make you stand out from the
crowd. And standing out from the crowd is a good thing when it comes to marketing!
HOW TO USE THIS TOOL:
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• Start by picking adjectives that best describe your organization. This is a simple
way to define your brand personality. For instance, one organization might be
thoughtful, compassionate, and diverse while another is ambitious, irreverent and
forward-focused. The words these two organizations use should reflect their unique
personality. (This step is most effective when you get input from your whole team.)
• Pick verbs, nouns and adjectives that align with your brand’s personality.
• Identify words that everyone in your organization will avoid. For instance, you might
decide that ‘awesome’ isn’t professional enough or that ‘vital’ is overused.
• Share the lexicon far and wide! The more people know which words to use and which
to avoid, the more consistently you’ll stand out from the crowd.

10. Organizational Lexicon
Our name is:
STEP #1: WRITE THE THREE WORDS THAT BEST DESCRIBE YOUR ORGANIZATION
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2
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STEP #2: LIST VERBS, NOUNS, AND ADJECTIVES EVERYONE SHOULD USE.
VERBS
Nouns
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STEP #3: ADD WORDS TO AVOID.
adjectives

11. We hope you found this toolkit useful!
Here are two other tools to help you market your mission:
Pitchfalls: why bad pitches happen to good people
1, 2, 3 Marketing Tree
Thanks for making the world a better place,
The Claxon Team
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www.claxonmarketing.com
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info@claxonmarketing.com
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206.351.8504