Branding Takeaways

1. The fishbowl exercises which allowed participants to observe how to work with a nonprofit to create an organizational branding strategy.
2. Having a live client in the room to see the facilitation in action. I thought this was very powerful.
3. The skilled facilitation of Daniel, the incredible minds in the room, and the atmosphere of productive, cooperative learning.
4. The openness of the participants, egos, for the most part, are left at the door which leads to deeper learning, curiosity and more authentic shared learning.
5. Re-establishing branding as a priority - practical exercises to move forward with it for ourselves - tools to apply with clients.
6. Daniel's style was both well-informed (he clearly masters the content) and yet flexible & empathetic. His examples were very useful to bring the content to life.

1. The concept of marketing has a bad reputation among many nonprofits because it's often seen as something that "profit hungry corporations" do.  It was therefore very insightful to see how developing a branding strategy can be used as a much more accessible approach for introducing marketing concepts to nonprofits.  This is mainly because developing a branding strategy focuses more on how to best communicate an organization's values and how to provide the best possible experience for clients. 
2. Clarifying the persona of our most important audience.  Thinking more about the value proposition and brand promise we offer.
3. Concentrate on my clients' experience interacting with me and my brand. Give them the kind of experience that THEY want to have from start to finish.
4. Keep brainstorming vs jumping to the solution: what is the value that your client is getting from your services?   
5. Spend thoughtful, reflective time getting intimate with my value proposition.   Remembering to focus on what makes us different.
6. Importance of capturing the authentic experience of the client in process of creating a brand.