Designing Tomorrow: Creative Strategies for Social Impact

Branding is about far more than just slick, eye-catching aesthetics. What truly transforms an organization is a brand built on vision and strategy. Without a clear strategy, positioning, and messaging, the aesthetic elements like logos, fonts, and colors won’t do anything to create lasting impact. Branding goes beyond visuals. It’s about aligning every aspect of the organization with its purpose,...

Do you ever feel like you’re just STUCK? Like no matter what you try or how hard you work you just can’t seem to get traction? We’ve all been there before, and it’s NOT a fun space to be in.  Here’s the thing: there are going to be sticking points in your social impact journey. That’s pretty much guaranteed.  What worked on day 1 — or year 1 —  won’t necessarily work for year 3, or year 5.  What w...

Far too many social impact orgs are giving their power away — and they don’t even know they’re doing it.  There’s a fundamental tension in the social impact space.  A tension between the generosity that powers this sector and the need for social impact brands to leverage their power so they can make a true impact.  But when this healthy tension strays out of balance — in either direction — the res...

Core brand values aren’t just fluffy words you put on posters.  But without the right approach, that’s all they’ll ever be.  Core brand values — when done right — can be absolutely transformative for your organization’s culture, effectiveness, and impact.  But you can’t just come up with 5 words that all start with the letter “R” and call it a day.  So how do you create core values for your brand...

What makes an EXCEPTIONAL social impact marketing team? Often, when we get this question from clients, they are trying to determine what ROLES to hire for.  But that’s putting the cart before the horse. Instead, it’s best to think about the QUALITIES and CULTURE of a successful marketing philosophy for your brand.  Because you can build a highly-skilled marketing team and still totally flop if: ↳...

There’s one thing the most successful social impact orgs get right, every time. They truly define and own a niche. Owning a niche as a social impact brand is probably one of the most important — but least understood — superpowers to further your mission.  When we help our clients define and own a niche, they: ↳ More easily drive engagement and action for their mission ↳ Build capacity and become m...

Your brand is not your logo. It’s not your fonts, or your colors, or your voice. It’s not your content. It’s not your mission.  Your brand is: ↳ Whether you come through on the promises you make to your community ↳ The actions you take ↳ How your team shows up each and every day But what happens when you paint a picture of those values and promises, but don’t come through on them for your communit...

You probably shouldn’t rebrand your social impact organization.  Except, of course, when you really should . (wait, what?) Because when the conditions are right, a rebrand can be one of the most powerful ways to reach your mission faster. But how do you know when it’s the right time to invest in a rebrand? Let’s be real: a rebrand is a big swing move. And it’s a tempting play to run when: ↳ You ar...

In this bonus episode, we're kicking off Season 2 with a new co-host, Jonathan Hicken. Learn about Jonathan’s path to social impact, from being raised by peace corps parents in Venezuela to his current role as Executive Director at the Seymour Marine Discovery Center, a marine science museum.  You can also learn a bit more about Eric's journey from design school dropout to accidental ent...

We’re back with Season 2 of Designing Tomorrow, and we’ve got an exciting update.  This season, we’re joined by our new cohost, Jonathan Hicken. Jonathan has extensive experience as a leader in the social impact sector, and brings a practitioner’s point of view to the show as he tests Eric’s ideas about brand building and marketing, and introduces ideas of his own.  This season, we’ll continue to...

Today’s episode is going to be a little different. Because this is the last episode in our first season of Designing Tomorrow. Today, we’re not going to introduce any new concepts or strategies. Instead, we’re going to challenge you. If you follow the the playbook we outlined over the course of Season One in Designing Tomorrow — truly, actually embody it — you will become a leading social impact o...

Is your social impact brand attracting enough revenue to power your mission and build a healthy, sustainable organization? Or do you feel like you’re constantly chasing donors and customers just to keep the lights on? Chances are, the second scenario hits closer to home. If so, you’re not alone. Because the social impact sector has a revenue problem. And it’s not a small one.  We’re not just talki...

Is community in decline, or is the way we’re participating just changing? The data and statistics, as always, are messy. And there’s valid opinions and arguments supporting different trends here. But whether or not community-engagement is in decline, our relationships with community is going through a rapid transformation.  And as a social impact brand, you need community support to power your wor...

What if we told you that there is a way to work smarter, not harder, with your content strategy that can help you get the absolute most out of each piece of content and idea that you come up with? Whether you’re just getting started on your content creation journey or if you’re a seasoned content creator with established workflows and formats, the big idea and framework we’re going to cover today...

Are you tired of putting time and energy into creating content that just doesn’t get meaningful engagement from your community? We’ve all been there.  You’re proud of your hard work and effort. A feeling of excitement rushes over you as you hit “post” or “publish.” This one’s going places, you just know it.  Only, it doesn’t. It flops. Or maybe a few people engage but nowhere near the level of tra...

Are websites a dying relic of the internet’s past?  With so much of our digital engagement today happening through social channels, there’s an ever-growing narrative that your website just isn’t that important anymore. That what you really need to do is nail your content strategy. Get big on TikTok. Tell your story through short form video. Build supporter trust through influencer campaigns. That...

Picture this: You’re scrolling through your inbox and see a message from an organization you support. But something’s not quite right. The subject line reads “URGENT! WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT!” You open the email, only to be bombarded with more fake urgency around hitting an important fundraising deadline and how you, and only you, can make that happen. You just have to donate RIGHT NOW OR ELSE the or...

There’s one critical piece of your social impact strategy that you have to get right.  When you don’t get it right, it holds back every facet of your growth and progress.  We’ve seen it block and hinder revenue and fundraising. We’ve seen it create massive inefficiencies and reduce capacity. We’ve seen it negatively impact engagement, growth, and culture. So, what is this one key thing? It’s your...

Today, you’ll consume 74GB of information. That’s the equivalent of watching 16 movies. In one day.  Our inboxes are overflowing, our social streams are noisy, we doom scroll short form content on apps purpose-built to hijack our attention, designed by the world’s smartest minds. But as the volume of information we consume grows each day, our capacity as humans to focus and make sense of the world...

In our rapidly-evolving world, today’s social impact brands are falling behind their profit-driven competitors. The old playbook for creating meaningful social impact just isn’t keeping pace with modern culture.  The lion's share of attention is dominated by big brands, often leaving social missions unable to remain relevant. But, for those of us committed to pioneering a new path, there’s ho...

Why do some social impact brands thrive, while so many others fail to get traction, build support for their cause, and make meaningful progress towards their mission? Now imagine, for a second, what kind of impact you could create? With truly sustainable revenue and resources. With deeper engagement and relationships with your community. With more influence in your social impact category. Welcome...