SBLC: Finding a New Voice to Express How ‘Learning Works’
The Challenge
The South Baltimore Learning Center (SBLC) is a community-based nonprofit organization providing functional literacy education, life-skills training, and career preparation services to adult residents in the Baltimore area. The team at SBLC is doing important work in the Baltimore community, but needed assistance communicating why the services and experiences they provide are unique to them.
- The SBLC needed help creating and articulating a compelling story that engaged and resonated with its target audience.
- The SBLC needed to find a way to distinguish themselves from peer organizations, beyond calling itself a “learning center.”
- Since funders are moving away from focusing on “adult education,” the SBLC needed a unifying message that conveyed the depth and breadth of their overall value, including as an engine for workforce development.
The Process
- We pinpointed the core motivation behind the SBLC, which is: to support the desire in each person to learn and excel to the highest points of her or his abilities and potential.
- We identified the SBLC’s core strengths including: a people- and support-first approach; the ability of its expert, knowledgeable staff to instill confidence and inspire achievement, and a focus on shared success.
- We determined the SBLC’s target audience, so that their brand message would speak directly to their desired market.
The Solution
- Drafted the SBLC story, which included the history of the SBLC, explained their approach to adult education, identified what makes them unique, and highlighted how they make a difference.
- Selected a few shorter, core messages to be used in a variety of different contexts, as well as a new tagline: “At the SBLC, we put learning to work.”
- Developed a new website, incorporating the new story, logo and messages.
- Designed a new logo and print materials to support SBLC’s rebrand and new communications strategy.
The Success Story
As a result, we were able to help SBLC create and articulate a compelling story about the organization that would engage and resonate with all stakeholders and, based on that story, would generate awareness, increase enrollment and support, and cause the organization to stand out from peer organizations in a positive way.
Most notably, through the discovery process, SBLC was able to recognize that it functions not only to educate adult learners, but also to empower them to succeed: by securing better jobs, enhancing their life skills and personal lives, and contributing to their community. And that led them to adopt its newfound core message: “Learning works.”
“We love our new look! The Redstart Creative team includes professionals who are experts in their fields and sensitive to the unique needs of a non-profit marketing strategy. Their genuine compassion for our mission helped SBLC achieve a brand that effectively conveys the story we’ve been longing to tell, but just couldn’t find the words or images to express so succinctly.”
Empower4Life: Finding a New Voice to Express the ‘Why’
The Challenge
- To create and articulate a compelling story that matched and supported their unique culture and strategic goals.
- To create a clear, more focused message — delivering the right message, to the right audiences.
- To find a way to distinguish themselves from peer organizations, increase awareness, improve communications, and spark growth.
The Process
Mortimer Communications, in conjunction with Redstart Creative, engaged in the STORY Process with multiple stakeholders at Empower4Life so that we could identify the gaps in communication and find opportunities to clearly articulate who they are, what they do, and why they do it. Our STORY process is designed to provide the information and tools an organization needs to find their voice, tell their unique story, and discover opportunities for success.
We focused on a few important distinguishing features of the Empower team, which would allow us to highlight why they matter to their audience in the communications we crafted for them. These features included their ability to customize content to fit the personal, unique needs or professional aspirations of adult learners, and the variety of their program offerings.
- The brand personality and tone was not aligned with the organization’s true personality. The words they were using to convey their message were filled with generalities and corporate terminology, not reflecting who they really were.
- Their website offered many features of their organization, without explaining the benefits. The content on the homepage of the website and elsewhere, for instance, hinted at their value proposition, yet the conclusion was relatively unstated.
- Nothing answered the core “Why?” questions: “Why does helping homeless children matter?” “Why do the ‘three intertwining components’ matter?” Or “Why does Empower410 do what it's doing?”
- The website and other communications offered no compelling call to action for the curious or interested visitor — no answer to the question, “Where do I go from here?” Most importantly, the website didn’t concisely answer the question, “Why should I choose to engage with/work for/support Empower410?”
The Solution
- We recommended a name change from Empower 410 to Empower4Life. We felt that although “Empower” addressed the goals of the organization, the “410” was confusing. After proposing several effective options, the organization chose Empower4Life as their new name.
- We suggested a new tagline that was meaningful and memorable: “Teaching homeless kids to be happy and healthy is our top priority” summed it up clearly and effectively.
- We established a new mission statement that conveyed the passion around the work they do in specific terms: “To teach children to develop the skills needed to be healthy and productive in school, feel empowered to overcome challenges they face, and inspired to learn, grow and succeed the rest of their lives.”
- We designed a new logo that embraced the new tone of their brand. After refining their message to reflect who they are and how they help, the next step was to bring that identity to life through visual elements. This meant a new logo and brand elements such as colors, icons and fonts. Together, these elements reinforce Empower4Life’s key message and personality.
- We crafted an “About Us” page that shared the history of their organization, the unique educational needs of homeless children, the reasons WHY they were inspired to create the organization, and their unique approach to addressing these needs.
The Success Story
As a result, we were able to help Empower4Life create and articulate a compelling story about the organization that would engage and resonate with all stakeholders and, based on that story, would generate awareness, increase enrollment and support, and cause the organization to stand out from peer organizations in a positive way.
Most notably, through the discovery process, the team was able to recognize that it functions not only to help children feel better about themselves physically and mentally, but also to empower them to succeed: by staying in school, learning to enhance their life skills and personal lives, and helping to contribute to their community. And that led them to adopt the newfound core message: “Empower4Life.”
“Redstart Creative and their team of professionals spent a tremendous amount of time learning our story and the ‘why’ behind our work. With this gained insight, they ingeniously reworked our mission, our vision, our logo, and our name. This rebranding has given the community a much clearer image of who we are, what we do and why we do it. All of this information is vital to our growth on behalf of homeless children in and around Baltimore!“