Branding Your Project / Outreach Mechanisms

Corporations like CocaCola or Nike spend thousands of dollars each year to brand their companies – and thereby increase sales. Branding is all about creating a distinct yet consistent image and spirit for a company or organization. You can use these concepts in developing your own initiative – and help your community to become familiarized with what you’re doing. Some ideas:

1. Create a single mission statement that embodies your initiative. Use this mission statement on all flyers / brochures / website materials. The consistent language will help cement people’s understanding of your project.

2. Create a logo for your initiative that represents your name and mission; try to make the logo as simple as possible, as more people will be able to remember it.

3. Create a newsletter that you can send out to your community on a regular basis to update them about your activities.

4. Create a website that you can use for outreach and development. When creating your website, be sure to use your logo and mission statement. There are lots of ways you can create a free website online.  

5. Create groups on social-networking sites, like Facebook or MySpace, to get friends involved and aware.