Now that you have a target audience and persona, let’s discuss what your organisation is offering them and how.
Your organisation is unique. Even if another organisation shares the same target audience, what you are offering that group of people differs. We call this offering a “promise”. When you invite someone to engage with your organisation, you are essentially making them a promise of what they will get out of the engagement. For example, Renew Ministries’ thrift store, Like New, sells used clothes and home goods. Their promise is “You will get previously loved clothes and home goods that are in good condition for a great price.”
It’s important to distinguish between a promise and a vision or mission statement. Your organisation’s mission or vision statement should be the foundation of everything it does. Your promise that will be part of your brand strategy should be built upon and influenced by your mission. However, while your mission and vision statements are public-facing (on your website, in donor letters, etc.), your promise statement will remain internal (only used by staff) to guide decisions related to identity and communication.
Identifying a promise gives you a chance to concisely and clearly state exactly what you are offering your target audience. It can be used to influence the way you communicate with your audience via visuals and messaging, but it is not the actual words you’ll use on your website, in social media posts, in emails, etc.
Let’s look at Renew Ministries again for an example. Renew Ministries’ mission statement is “to be the hands and feet of Jesus serving impoverished communities throughout Southeast Asia.” This is a great statement that encompasses what Renew Ministries’ focus is. Each of Renew Ministries’ sub-brands will fulfil this mission in some way. However, we need to narrow this down to explore what exactly those living in impoverished communities throughout Southeast Asia are receiving from Renew Ministries. Renew Ministries’ promise statement is, “You will get compassionate support and respectful medical care.”
Now the question becomes, how will your audience experience the fulfilment of that promise? We must identify the benefits of engaging with your organisation. We define “benefits” as tangible ways an organisation is delivering on its promise by fulfilling the emotional and functional needs of its target audience. You made a promise to your audience – now prove exactly how you’ll deliver on that promise.
I find it most helpful to identify 1-2 emotional benefits and 1-2 functional benefits that your organisation offers. Or, if it only offers either emotional or functional benefits, identify 2-3 benefits within that category. Emotional benefits speak to a need felt in the heart, soul, or mind of your audience. Functional benefits are ones that speak to more physically felt or situational needs.
Returning to our example of Renew Maternal Care, we have identified its promise as “You will get respectful medical and emotional support during and after your pregnancy.”
The functional benefits its audience receives are
- Free ultrasounds and
- Free delivery support.
The emotional benefits are
- Renewed confidence in who God made her and
- Peace of mind before, during, and after delivery.
Again, it’s important to note that benefits are part of your organisation’s brand strategy, which will remain internal. These benefits are used to inspire your organisation’s identity and communication, but may not be communicated to your audience in these exact words.
We’ll talk more about how your brand strategy will be used to influence your identity and communication in Section 3 of this course. You can also get a more thorough understanding of this in the course titled “Turn Your Strategy into Great Communication.”
In the next exercise, you’ll have the opportunity to define your organisation’s promise and benefits.