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‘RECHARGE YOUR BRANDING TO ATTRACT MEMBERS’

Article by ARC PDG Brian Coffey

The new year lull and Co-Vid provide great opportunities to look at your Club and its direction. Brands
have to evolve over time, but reactive tactics and haphazard brand executions can happen despite one’s
best intentions to be strategic and coordinated – we have seen this with club’s reluctance to adapt to
the Rotary branding. It has been around for 7 years – it is not new.
I recently drove through Coonabarabran and the effectiveness of our branding hit home. The usual large service club
board was displayed at the towns entrance – what struck me was the Rotary Club had a sign no larger than any other
– but significantly more prominent due to the wheel and the word ‘Rotary’ on the side – no longer was the wheel
an insignificant symbol blending in with the other well meaning, but outdated logos.
Look at your clubs branding - is your finger on our branding pulse? Regular brand health checks are needed to
ensure your message is effectively reaching the right audience. Worse still, your organisation might be on a slow
decline, sliding into irrelevance due to lack of visual recognition.
Even if things are going well, it’s worth taking a little time to review whether your brand needs a little TLC or some
urgent resuscitation. Here’s seven steps to follow to give your brand the recharge it needs:
1. Redefine your core values: Are you clear on what your business core values are? Do you have your values, mission
and vison written down – it’s called a Business and Strategic Plans – once in place – they are easy to maintain.
2. Review your brand promise: Are your members (current and potential) and the community clear on what you
are promising them and what they can expect from your club? Remember that a brand is the essence or promise
that is delivered or experienced. It’s about what your customer thinks about you, not what you think about
yourself. Maybe it is time to ask do you foster the Rotary International Vision and our Core Values?
3. Re-evaluate your audience: Take a fresh look at your audience each year. Use it as an opportunity to get rid of
any deadwood and realign your plan for membership and service. Be aware of an evolving community –
demographics, culture, marketing needs.
4. Revise your offerings: Step back, reflect on your AGM and mid-year goal achievements, taking a closer look at
current Rotary trends, significant changes in your community and what surrounding clubs, and the District is
doing. What services and products do you need to start promoting, offering, or retire, to better serve your
community and improve your image?
5. Reassess your marketing strategy: Stop and reassess its execution and suitability for your area and
demographics. Be prepared to revise it, if needed.
6. Reflect on your branding executions: Branding is a lot more than a logo,
but it does include the logo (design and advertising) application across
the media channels with which you communicate
(digital/social/print/signage/clothing/trailers/marquees). Lay
everything on the table and do a brand and communications audit: is
everything relevant? Is it on brand? Are the colours, fonts, message,
photography, brand story, worthy? A misaligned look, feel and message
can confuse your audience and you appear inconsistent and
unprofessional – something that may not sit well if ever a legal claim is
in place against a Rotary club. Is your club marketing team being as
responsive, effective and creative as you need them to be?
7. Consider your best asset - your people: Are all of your members
(especially new members) educated and equipped to live out your
brand? Members are the key part of our brand story; so, ensure that they
are telling and promoting it well – our brand is remarkably well
respected by those who know it. Simply reflect on our core values of
friendship, integrity, acceptance of diversity and our service and
leadership opportunities.
Hopefully a brand audit will only reveal some small inconsistencies. Fill in
those gaps, celebrate and promote the cumulative effect of making the
improvements - your target market is perceptive and will notice.

If the inconsistencies are great – and your brand has gone off on random tangents or is dated – then it could be time
for a new strategy or rebranding exercise, and it is time to call in help of your Assistant Governor for some guidance
and connections.
For further assistance contact PDG Gina Growden Rotary Public Image Coordinator 2018-2021
Rotary International Zone 8 Email: gina.growden@bigpond.com; Mob 0412 128 106 or refer to
https://brandcenter.rotary.org/en-GB

Rotary on the Move December 2020 Page 4