For many B2B nonprofits, identifying and communicating your throughline through your many services can be challenging. With so many offerings, creating a clear and concise message to tie everything together that resonates with potential partners and donors can be difficult.
In this post, we'll explore how your team can identify and communicate the throughline of your many services.
Tips for identifying your throughline
- Start with your mission statement: Mission statements articulate the overarching purpose of your organization. Use it as a starting point for identifying your throughline. What unites all of your services? How do they support your mission statement?
- Identify your core competencies: Are there specific problems your organization is ideal at solving? What are the things your org does well? What unique skills or expertise do you bring to the table? Identifying your core competencies can help you identify the throughline that ties your services together.
- Emphasize the benefits: Don't just focus on what you do – focus on the benefits of your services. How do your services help your clients? What problems do they solve? Communicating the benefits of your services can help potential clients understand the value of your work.
How to communicate your throughline
Once you've identified the throughline of your org's services, it's essential to communicate it effectively to your audience. What better way to achieve this than through video storytelling?
Maybe you're thinking, "here we go again with creating videos." This topic can be daunting, especially when considering making reels all the time. Still, I want to focus on the bigger picture of video storytelling, creating a library of video content.
Many organizations view video storytelling as annual well-check visits, done once or twice a year; "Oh, we need a video for this one thing." Creating a video content library communicating your throughline is like a daily, weekly lifestyle.
Think of it this way, having a video content library that ties everything together is like having a puzzle with all the pieces in front of you. Each video represents a piece of the puzzle. As you add more and more details, the picture becomes more apparent and complete. Just as a mystery is more satisfying when you see the final image, a library of video content can provide a sense of fulfillment and understanding of a nonprofit's work and impact.
It's like having a bird's eye view of everything and seeing how all the pieces fit together to create a beautiful and meaningful picture.
This is why creating episodic content as a video series or podcast is advantageous. It provides good entertainment and education, allowing people to binge-watch and see the big picture.
What I'm describing here is a mind-shift from once in a while video storytelling method that can only tell part of your organization to an approach that prioritizes video storytelling as a repeated strategy to communicate your throughline in fresh ways.
Conclusion on identifying your throughline
Identifying and communicating the throughline of your many services can be a challenge. Yet, by starting with your mission statement, identifying common themes, using storytelling, emphasizing the benefits, simplifying your message, using visual aids, and being consistent, you can create a clear and compelling message that resonates with potential clients and donors.
Rather than simply listing out your services or relying on the viewer to connect the dots, you can provide engaging visuals and compelling narratives to demonstrate the connection between your services.
Doing this will help build trust, showcase your expertise, and establish your organization as a knowledgeable and reliable source.
Overall, creating a library of video content can be a powerful tool for B2B nonprofits looking to showcase their many services and communicate the throughline of their work.
Ready to start creating a series that supports your brand?
BairStories offers video marketing for environmental & social justice nonprofits to help you build lasting connections with your audience. Discover how we can help communicate your message!
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