Martha & Mary, a health care and education nonprofit based in Poulsbo, Wash., has retained McVey Marketing to provide strategic marketing and brand counsel. The firm recently completed marketing research and strategic recommendations for Martha & Mary, and it will continue to provide advice and guidance to the organization going forward.

The firm's market research for Martha & Mary included focus groups with prospective customers in Kitsap County, Wash., as well as interviews with key stakeholders.

With nearly 500 employees and a dozen locations, Martha & Mary is one of the largest employers and organizations in the region. It provides health care to seniors and adults, as well as child care and early education. The organization recently expanded into providing home care, and it has several new senior living, health and rehab facilities on the drawing board.

McVey Marketing Inc. is pleased to be continuing its work with Olympic Property Group, a subsidiary of Pope Resources based in Poulsbo, Wash. OPG retained the firm in 2008 to help position and advance the historic mill town of Port Gamble, Wash., as a lifelong learning community. The firm has helped arrange meetings with several potential lifelong learning partners, including colleges and universities and other nonprofit organizations. The firm also has helped advance OPG and Port Gamble through research, environmental scanning and strategic counsel.

OPG is the largest private property owner in Kitsap County. The company manages more than 150,000 acres in western Washington, including nearly 3,000 acres of residential and commercial developments within 50 miles of the Seattle-Tacoma metropolitan area.

YOUR BRAND IS NOT YOUR LOGO
What is your organization's brand? Better yet, what's a brand? Your brand is the position you want to hold in the mind of your customer. Also known as a brand promise, it's a commitment of what your customers can expect each time they avail themselves of your product or services.

The most successful organizations can sum up their brand promise in one or two words. When you think of Volvo, you think of safety. Walmart, low price. 3M, innovation. BMW, thrill of driving. You get the idea. It's about focusing on that one thing -- or, better yet, that one benefit or feeling -- you want customers to associate with your organization. Your brand is not your logo, your advertising tagline, or your latest marketing campaign. These are examples of marketing tactics that communicate and reinforce your brand.

When developing a brand promise, I recommend to clients that they consider three criteria, or tests: Is this brand promise relevant to our customers? Is it true of our organization? Can the brand promise be sustained over time? An organization's tagline, key messages, and marketing efforts should all flow from and reinforce its brand promise, that position you want to hold in the mind and hearts of your customers. If your brand strategy isn't right, your messaging and marketing won't be either.

So the next time a graphic designer, a web developer, or a social media guru tells you they can help "brand" your organization, be careful. What they really mean is they can help communicate your brand. Not that they have the skills and experience necessary to conduct and analyze market research, or to craft a successful brand promise that correctly positions your organization in the minds of your customers and differentiates it from competitors.

100,000 WORDS EACH DAY
A recent study by the University of California at San Diego found that the average adult in America is now exposed to more than 100,000 words per day. Think about that, and why it's critical that your core brand promise be summarized in four words or less. And, equally important, that your key messages and creative be as focused and compelling as possible in order to smash through the clutter of 100,000 words a day.

What one to four words does your organization want to own? How will it rise above the noise and be memorable?

STUDY: BLOGGING IS SO YESTERDAY
Is your organization blogging to reach teens and young adults? You may want to re-think that strategy. According to a new study released last month by the Pew Research Center, blogging is so yesterday.

The nationwide study found that in Fall 2009 only 14 percent of teens age 12 to 17 and 15 percent of young adults age 18 to 29 actively blogged. Those numbers are down sharply from 2006 when 28 percent of those in each of the two groups said they actively blogged.

What's going on? Texting using mobile phones and social networks such as Facebook have replaced blogging for many teenagers and young adults. In 2009, Facebook was used by 73 percent of young adults (18 to 29) compared to 48 percent for MySpace and 14 percent for LinkedIn. About 52 percent of those teens and young adults surveyed had memberships in more than one social network, up from 42 percent in 2008.

Growth of the social network site Twitter is being driven by young adults, not teens. Only 8 percent of online teens said they'd ever used Twitter. Teens clearly prefer sending text messages -- 66 percent -- to tweeting. Meanwhile, only 40 percent of adults age 30 and older used social media sites in 2009.

What does this mean to you? It means it may be time to re-evaluate your blogging strategies and tactics. And that while social media continue to get considerable buzz and to grow in popularity with some audiences -- namely those in the 18 to 29 age group -- a strategic mix of new and traditional marketing activities is still needed to effectively reach the target audiences of most organizations. With so many choices, it's more important than ever to have an integrated marketing plan, and to know who you want to reach and the best way to deliver your message.