Quick Tips for Testing the Strength of Your Nonprofit’s Brand

Your brand is a powerful tool, but only if you leverage it correctly. Luckily there are a few tests you can do it quickly assess how well your brand is doing.

The “caveman” test

Could someone explain your brand, and more specifically your brand’s mission, if they told it to you like a caveman?

That’s the basis for the “caveman” test. Your brand’s mission should be so easy to communicate that you can convey it is a few simple words.

Example: Providing ice skating lessons to low income kids

Another way to test this is to tell someone your mission and then have them immediately repeat it back to you. If they’re able to repeat it back without any issues then your brand’s mission has passed the test.

Tip: If you find that your brand is struggling with this test, read our post about how to create your nonprofits message.

The “above the fold” test

Are you curious if your brand is standing out in the market? If so, here’s a quick experiment you can do in less than 10 minutes.

STEPS:
1. Go to your company’s website

2. Screenshot the hero section of the home page (the section right under the menu and above the fold)

3. Go to 3 – 5 of your competitor’s websites and screenshot the hero sections of their home pages

4. Take all of your screenshots and look at the images together (either on a computer or you can print out each image)

5. Look for the following:
– Does your hero section look similar or different from everyone?
– Could a visitor instantly recognize your brand?
– Is your messaging in the hero section clear and compelling?

You may be surprised by what you find.

The “consistency” test

Consistency is key to building an incredible brand (read why here).

But how can you test for consistency?

This test is a little longer than the other two, but it’s still fairly quick. Here’s the step by step process:

1. Gather any marketing material you have (business cards, posters, flyers, apparel, etc)

2. Document your brand’s visual elements (logo, colors, fonts). You may already have these in a brand guide. If not, use this template to build a guide.

3. Go through the following and make sure your logo, colors, and fonts are the same across everything:
– Marketing materials
– Website
– Social media accounts

4. Finally, note down where there are any inconsistencies and then create a plan to fix those issues.

Conclusion

To get started pick one of the test and complete it. The sooner you go through each test the quicker you’ll improve your brand.

Note: All of these test do not have to be done at the same time, but we recommend trying to complete them close together.