As you get the ball rolling with creating regular content for your organization, you may notice your content beginning to drift off-brand. Thankfully I have a few ways to keep your content brand-focused before that happens.
When planning and developing new content, always refer back to your content mission statement and ask yourself: “Does this fulfill our content marketing mission?” If the answer is “no,” then it’s back to the drawing board.
If you have a content team, be sure to store your content mission statement on a shared drive where everyone can easily access it. This way, everyone will be on the same page when creating and sharing content.
Another way to stay on-brand in your content outreach is to use a brand guide. It will provide a good reference for brand messaging as well as visual branding elements—which are a crucial part of content marketing.
If your organization has a strong focus on social media, you may also want to create a social media brand guide that focuses on brand elements used in social media: digital colors and fonts, as well as types of posts and themes.
TIP: Don’t have a brand guide? See my guide to creating one.
An easy way to stay on-brand is to have design templates for often-used social and content marketing pieces. You may want to partner with a designer to create often-used templates for blog headers, social media graphics and infographics.
If your team uses Canva, be sure to use the Brand Kit which helps graphics stay on-brand by giving you easy access to brand fonts, colors and logos. .
A content calendar is an essential tool for staying on-brand in your content outreach.. The visual aspect of the calendar allows you to see at-a-glance what is being posted to assure it’s fulfilling your content mission.
The calendar also keeps you focused on topics that are relevant to your audience so that you are creating content that your audience wants to read and engage with.
TIP: New to content calendars? Read my series on content calendars to learn more about why you need one, what type you should use, and how to build one.
Using a content mission statement, brand guide, design templates, and content calendar will help you create brand-focused content that resonates with your audience and expresses your organization’s mission.
If you need a hand getting your content on-brand, I have a few free resources to share.
I also have a Nonprofit Content Calendar Template in Google Sheets, as well as a Content Mission Statement Worksheet (PDF)—just send me an email for either of those!
Want more branding and marketing tips and resources for your nonprofit, association, or other mission-focused organization? Join my monthly email list—plus get my free Nonprofit Branding Checklist.