Saf band.promise.2.9.narration

Editor's Notes

• #2: Cue Miracle Exercise with participants
• #4: SAF has a proud history representing exceptional forest managers. And the identity of our organization has been closely aligned with the personality, values and legacy of foresters themselves - with an identity - since our founding. But today that identity faces both challenge and opportunity. Challenges stemming from public perception about forestry and the perceived role of foresters, and opportunity in the breadth of interest in managing the future of forests - a more diverse gene pool of people involved in management. In light of these realities, we undertook a brand clarity project in 2012, all with the goal of helping us answer these three questions - Who are we? What do we do? and Why does it matter? - both for our members and society at large.
• #5: But answers alone weren’t enough. We wanted answers that were simple, relevant and different, so that they could help us navigate the challenge and opportunity facing our organization. With answers that are simple, relevant and different, we believed we could have greater opportunity to create engagement and inspire connection.
• #6: We also wanted to get past our focus on the what and how of our work as an organization and as foresters. There’s a compelling why behind the work that we do, and we wanted to bring that to the forefront.
• #7: When we talk about forestry we get into a lot of technical details and don’t always show our passion for forests. When we try to communicate about our work through the complexities of forest management, it’s easy for people to get lost or lose interest. How many of your family members still think you sit in a fire tower? But when we tell a rich story about why our work is crucial to society, we connect with peoples values about the importance of forests and create opportunities for dialogue and genuine progress.
• #8: Before we walk through core insights from the Brand Clarity project, there are some important concepts I want to share for context.
• #9: The first is the distinction between brand and branding. Brand is the core promise of our organization and branding is all the signals we send to transmit that promise. The order in which these are explored is also important. We focused first on our brand and then with clarity about our core purpose, evaluated the ways in which we signal that brand - everything from who we are, how we show up, to the strategic choices we make and what we publish or say.
• #10: An effective brand promise answers the questions - who are we? what do we do? and why does it matter? It’s also simple, relevant and different.
• #11: Let me share an example of how this works. This is the mission statement of the Marin Waldorf School - page one of the mission statement in fact. And you can likely imagine how it was written. A room full of people each suggested a sentence and these suggestions were all mashed together. Everyone in the room was smiling because their suggestion was included - but as you can see the mission statement makes little sense to anyone outside of the room. It’s also not very memorable, nor can it help the school and its staff make choices about their work.
• #12: In contrast, here is the brand promise of the Marin Waldorf School. Can you see how it answers the questions and is simple, relevant and different? It’s also actionable. Imagine a new teacher on the first day of school, and the principal doesn’t have sufficient time for an orientation. She can give the new teacher this brand promise as orientation and encourage him to use it to make decisions during the day.
• #13: What about this one? (Starbucks) Now you’re never going to hear Starbucks employees running around claiming to be the “third space” but what their brand promise points out is that their brand is about more than selling coffee. They are creating an environment for their patrons - that is different from their home and work spaces - where they can relax and buy a $5 cup of coffee.
• #14: Now once we have a brand promise, we take it and wrap it in a personality and values...
• #15: And it ends up looking something like this. This is called a brand framework. Brand Promise - Our core purpose as a brand. Answers the questions: Who are you? What do you do? & Why does it matter to me? Brand Personality - Qualities that inform the tone and flavor of everything we do and say as a brand. Brand Values - Essential ingredients of our DNA and how we create impact.
• #18: And here’s the brand framework for SAF.
• #19: Armed with clarity about the SAF brand, we next focused on creating new language to talk about our organization.
• #27: During the process, two key insights about SAF also emerged.
• #28: The first is an equation for impact as an organization. Our members need and want a professional community, and they know they need to learn, progress and stay abreast of best practice, but they want to do so at the speed and ease of Amazon/Facebook. With this in mind, everything SAF offers needs to meet this equation for value. Anything that detracts from the equation will divert energy from creating member value.
• #29: The second is a venn diagram that informs how we can deliver content to our members. SAF has the most potential to create value for members and impact in the field when our members experience SAF as an integrated whole. When the latest science is shared in the context of the best practices to put that same science in the field, along with interviews from network practitioners who can share valuable insights about their experience doing so, members receive the maximum benefit from SAF’s integrated whole. Rather than look at distinct mechanisms for delivery that reflect the internal organization, we want to deliver solutions showcasing any product, service, presentation available to help members connect and solve problems.
• #30: Discuss LMS, Bring up TEM accreditation, membership task force
• #31: Cue $100 Exercise with participants