Building Your Brand Emerging Program Institute | February 15-17, 2009 Hosted by HUB-BUB and McColl Center for Visual Arts.

Building Your Brand

Emerging Program Institute | February 15-17, 2009

Hosted by HUB-BUB and McColl Center for Visual Arts

What is a brand?

Trusted promise

Encapsulates a Big Idea

Examples

Name Product Big Idea

Shoes Winning

Furnishings Better living for the masses

Airline Irreverence

Coffee Sociability & consistency

Involves the whole organization

More than just materials: all communications, partnerships, programs, etc.

Requires mass buy-in: all staff, board, and volunteers

Reflected in alumni and audience

Who cares about your brand?

Board Staff & volunteers Artists Foundations Individual donors Community leaders/partners Other program participants

Branding

Defines you relative to the competition A view from the outside looking in Takes into account the needs and

motivations of the customers Answers “What do I have that’s worth

attention, time, effort, and money?”

Benefits of branding

Promises you are unique Projects your values Makes you recognizable Builds reputation Builds trust Gives you an expressway into the target’s mind Makes communications more efficient Builds loyalty Celebrates differences

Effective branding is...

Repetitive Consistent Highly focused Makes a connection

Branding components

Customer: Who needs to know about you?

Competitive Advantage: Who do you compete with for their time/money?

Core Competency: How can you make the mission relevant in their lives?

Step 1: The Customer

Who are they demographically? What are their wants, needs, desires,

attitudes, interests, barriers, concerns, pressures?

How could you benefit them? Solve a problem?

What, if any, position or image do you conjure in their minds already?

How to get customer info

Artist applications and exit surveys Alumni surveys Donor relationships Foundation research – Chronicle of

Philanthropy, Foundation Center, local Donor’s Forums

Targeting your message

Who needs to know about you? What do they need to know?

Example: Donors need to know you are professional and socially relevant

Example: Artists need to know you are supportive. Depending on your target artists, what else might they need to know? scenic, fun, accommodating, hands-on, hands-off...

Exercise – Defining your customer

What kind of artists do you want to attract? (disciplines, demographics, temperament, values, etc.)

What do they need to know about you?

Step 2: The Competition

What are the competition’s strengths in the customer’s mind? Weaknesses?

Where is the competition on the customer’s mental ladder? (How much familiarity do you have to overcome?)

How do you compare? Contrast? Is there an unoccupied position you

could claim?

Who is your competition?

Who do you compete with for artists? Who do you compete with for funds? Who do you compete with for

community support? What is the comparison (from the

customer’s perspective)?

Exercise – Competition

Identify one competitor for each category: competing for artists, for funds, for community support Think beyond other residencies, e.g.,

what are artists doing if they’re not coming to your residency?

Identify one comparison in your favor and one in your competition’s favor Is this from the customer’s perspective?

Artist competition

Staying home, working in own studio Other artists’ residencies Personal/work obligations What else?

Foundation/donor competition

Non-arts issues – poverty, hunger, environment, education, health, etc.

Other arts organizations – presenters, museums, community-based centers

Other artists’ communities/residency programs

Community support competition

Other local events Other arts organizations What matters to your community?

What impresses your community?

Differentiation in the field

As funders and artists become more savvy about artists’ residencies, how you differentiate yourself from other residencies is increasingly important

How well do you know the field?

Step 3: Core competency

What do you do really, really well? What impression do people have of

you now? What is unique versus the

competition? Where are you vulnerable? What do others need to know about

you to buy-in to the organization?

Knowing your vulnerabilities...

Is critical to your trusted promise Allows customers to self-select Sets up appropriate expectations Example: Art Farm

Vulnerabilities: Extremely rustic, isolated, antiquated, few creature comfortsBranding: “Time is measured by sun and night sky, not by clock or calendar. Space finds its borders by proximity to sound and silence. The sky and your ears are full of sounds and shapes of birds and bugs. And, like it or not, the weather will be your collaborator in all undertakings.”

Exercise - Vulnerabilities

Where are you vulnerable? How can you turn that into a benefit?

Communicating uniqueness

Once you know what makes your organization unique, how well do you communicate it? Messages Materials

Kitchen table test

Spread out all of your communications materials, and all of your competitions’, and ask: Does it speak to the heart? Is it clear who the audience is? Is there a consistent aesthetic? Does it stand out?

Example – Kitchen table test

Director’s quotes – Unique?

“The Residency program provides artists with focused time for unfettered exploration and completion of work in a supportive setting. The program encourages personal growth and interchange between artists.”

“The XXX Center is a place where artists are granted the opportunity to be productive in a supportive environment conducive to self-challenge and experimentation.”

“Our desire is to provide a place that is both supportive and nurturing; one that encourages creativity, collaboration and experimentation.”

Director’s Quotes – Unique?

“Time at XXX is an opportunity to work, relax, reflect, and be inspired by the quiet refuge of the countryside.”

“The program provides the ideal combination of seclusion and community in a setting of truly inspirational beauty.”

“The solitude, uninterrupted time, and an appropriate workspace, all within a supportive community of other creative people, make for the perfect environment.”

“Artists have the opportunity to spend their residency in quiet, contemplative solitude and immerse themselves in their work.”

Director’s Quotes – Unique!

“Time is measured by sun and night sky, not by clock or calendar. Space finds its borders by proximity to sound and silence. The sky and your ears are full of sounds and shapes of birds and bugs. And, like it or not, the weather will be your collaborator in all undertakings.”

Art Farm

Example – Art Farm

www.artfarmnebraska.org

Director’s Quotes – Unique!

“Art Omi is guided by the vision that creative work is a vehicle for knowledge and understanding that transcends political and cultural boundaries. As an integral part of our programs, Omi broadens the scope of traditional retreats by hosting visiting New York critics, gallerists, publishers, collectors, curators and agents who help residents cultivate valuable career opportunities. Our strong commitment to fostering professional success and growth in the lives of serious artists, writers, dancers and musicians makes Omi unique.”

Art Omi

Example – Art Omi

www.artomi.org

Getting to your uniqueness

List 5 things your group, and only your group, is/does. Focus on benefits, not facts. If you move to another city, what do other

organizations there have to fear? If your organization died tomorrow, how

would it be eulogized?