Dear Non-Profit Leader,

Probably the most significant thing that occurred in 2009 that will impact non-profits has been a change in attitudes.

Below is the interview with David Kinnaman, President of The Barna Group and a man who has a heart for the Lord. Keep an eye on him!

A company develops a personality based on the combined personalities of its leaders. There’s one aspect of our personalities that keeps us and our companies from moving forward and that’s our fears of loss.

Enhancing a visual identity for an established brand is a very delicate project. The new visual identity must create relevance without loosing the existing brand recognition.

TV commercials are annoying enough, but the ones that get on my nerves the most are the ones with the smiling, happy employees. That’s because I never see those smiling, happy employees when I go there.

Every aspect of your brand should enhance the customer experience, not detract from it.

Recruit the right staff and coach them to deliver

The 3 mistakes organizations make that effect long-term success

Who are your best customers? Best is defined any way you want to define it, but some of the absolute basics include, they believe in our cause and our loyal to our brand (Keep in mind people by what they want, not what they need. If people only bought what they needed Nabisco wouldn’t make Oreos®.); generous in their giving or want services or products we want to provide; pay on time; and are a pleasure to deal with.

Many leaders feel that they know their organization, their customers/donors, and their industries better than anyone else and therefore know what should be done.

Here’s an example of how data review and analysis can become important: A large hotel was experiencing an increase in revenue but not an increase in profit.

Our brains are constantly scanning our environment and attempting to make sense of what they see and come into contact with. To do that, the brain compares the new experience to past experiences and makes a judgment call about the new experience. It labels that new experience based on how it compares to the old experience.

As owners and leaders of growing organizations, you may begin to feel like a juggler in the circus who has to keep a bowling pin, a machete, and a melon in the air. Dropping any one of the items would be ugly and could even prove disastrous.

In parts 1 and 2, We talked about why you’ve got to have a great website, and we’ve shared some things to consider before having one designed, so now it’s time to think about how to leverage your website as an employee.

In our last artical, we gave you a persuasive argument why you need to view your website a primary business strategy. In this artical we’ll share some key things to consider before designing a site.

People often ask “Do I really need to invest in my website as a primary tool?” Our response is, “You may survive with the minimum, but are you in business to survive or are you in business to thrive?”

Many people use the terms advertising and marketing interchangeably, but they don’t mean the same thing.

Just as it takes a combination of all the right elements to make a beautiful garden grow, it takes more than a great logo, or a great ad to grow a successful business.

Building a brand requires the same four questions necessary when planning a trip: When do I want to go? What do I want to do? Where do I want to go? How will I get there?

What was the recipe for success that global companies used to get where they are today? When you go and buy a product that is globally known, do you ever stop to think that the company was once a small business operated by someone looking to make a difference, like you?