231. Defining Your Nonprofit's Brand Purpose + How to Bring It to Life - Rob Feakins

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Overview

Meet Rob. After surviving cancer, this writer and former chief creative officer pivoted to something that felt more meaningful and purposeful. He's an award-winning filmmaker and storyteller skilled at creating viral films and mini-docs that drive engagement and emotionally connect followers to charities. Tune in as we chat about ethical storytelling and bringing your brand purpose to life through content.

💡Learn:

How to bring your brand purpose to life through content
Creating shareable, viral and impactful stories
How to emotionally connect donors to your mission & make them advocates, not just donors
What Rob learned as a cancer survivor / hospice volunteer & how that influences his filmmaking

Today’s Guest

Rob Feakins, Founder, For All Humankind

“There’s studies that show you retain anywhere from 85-90% of a message while watching a video, versus only 10-20% when reading that text. So just when you absorb information, it’s a better communication device.”

— Rob Feakins, Founder, For All Humankind

Episode Transcript

Download Full Episode Transcript Here

Episode highlights

Rob’s story and journey to where he is today (2:20)
Creating your brand purpose (8:00)
Where a nonprofit could start building and perpetuating this brand promise through all of their offerings (20:00)
Viral content + leveraging social media to expand your mission outside of your four walls (25:00)
The business and artistic reason to invest in film (28:00)
Ethical storytelling (33:00)
A powerful moment of philanthropy in Rob’s life (41:00)
Rob’s One Good Thing: Be in service to someone so you can find perspective, gratitude and generosity. (46:00)

powerful quotes

“We’re not just advertising people, we are advocates. We owe it to our community and cities to be advocates.” -Rob

“Advocacy is a word that struck me early on.” -Rob

“Our agency brought Citi Bike to New York City. We also did the first PSA to hit the YouTube top 10 leaderboard.” -Rob

“Having those lived experiences and the connection point to missions changes you in a way.” -Becky

“People want to buy into a brand.” -Rob

“Regardless of what you do, you need a purpose and a mission, and you need to live it.” -Rob

“What is that one sentence? Once you have that brand purpose and statement, you have to activate it.” -Rob

“A brand purpose and brand statement is nothing if you don’t activate it.” -Rob

“I became a Nike user because they created an app that helped me find the athlete in me. They had training at my local Nike stores, and then I started to buy their gear. They got me by living out their mission statement.” -Rob

“If you don’t activate your brand, then why have a purpose? You have to activate through your product and your services.” -Rob

“Your brand purpose should be very human.” -Rob

“I sometimes think nonprofits don't consider themselves a commercial business. And I think they have to realize they're in serious competition.” -Rob

“Find a unique selling proposition that differentiates yourself from the competition.” -Rob

“Do you have a mission statement?” -Rob

“Followers are as important as donors. How are you going to inspire followers that may become donors in the future?” -Rob

“Embracing culture and embracing hope can help.” -Rob

“Sometimes the things we don’t understand are the things that we resist. Let go and let yourself go into this. If you are listening very well and you have a solid fan, you will find your rabid fans.” -Becky

“There's studies that show you retain anywhere from 85-90% of a message while watching a video, versus only 10-20% when reading that text. So just when you absorb information, it's a better communication device.” -Rob

“We've all had struggles, we've all had tough lives. Some a lot tougher than mine, that's for sure. But people need to be validated.” -Rob

“Be in service to someone so you can find perspective, gratitude and generosity.” -Rob

Creating A Brand Purpose

Get all the stakeholders in a room
Go into the brand attic. What were some of the historical components of your organization?
What are the 5 best days of work last year? What happened during those days?
What are some reasons you didn’t want to come to work last year?
Make the room write a 3 paragraph brand statement about why you exist.
Boil your 3 paragraphs down to a brand purpose of one sentence

Translating These Ideas to the Nonprofit Sector

Find a unique selling proposition that differentiates you from the competition
Do you have a mission statement?
Develop people into advocates.
Create a content calendar.
Expand your company beyond your 4 walls to all the people on social media today.

Connect with Rob and for all humankind

Website / Instagram / LinkedIn

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