I enjoyed talking to dog trainer Joel Silverman on our teleseminar on Tuesday, although I have to say that a lot of what he mentioned is intuitive to those of us who work with dogs regularly (and is covered in my book Happy Hound). I guess I knew more about training than I thought. You probably do too!
That got me thinking about how much we depend on our intuition when working with animals. We know more than we think we know. Animals give us subtle cues all the time that affect how we react to them. At the same time, they are picking up cues from us. Every time I get up from my office chair, multiple canines look up to make sure I'm not doing something interesting. You can almost see the cartoon thought bubble: "are you going to take me outside (yay!) or just gonna yammer at the human in the next office? (boo!)"
In similar subtle ways, our marketing efforts offer cues to what our organization is about to the world. You often see the word "branding" bandied about. But branding really is just providing an impression of who you are and what you represent.
The trick to branding is that, much like my dog picking up on cues from me, it's really more about what the dog perceives than what I actually do. When you are looking at your "brand" you need to look at your organization from the perspective of a potential adopter or donor. Exactly what you say is less important than what they perceive.
What is the first thing people think of when your organization's name is mentioned? What is the single thing that differentiates your organization in people's mind. You need to pick one mantra, approach, or idea that no one else is using in your community.
Maybe you're the only golden retriever rescue in Tikaville. Maybe you only save animals who are over the age of 10 (the gray muzzle crowd). Whatever you decide your unique "thing" is, you need to put it out there consistently.
When you present your brand, you also want to make a good impression across all the media you use. For example, what impression do people get when they visit your Web site? Do they think "professional, organized, doing great work" because of the easy-to-read design and clear copy? Or do visitors think "don't care, can't spell, must be color blind" because of the flashing animation, cheesy graphics, and typos?
First impressions matter. Make yours a good one ;-)