Atomicdust Lends a Hand for U.S. Crisis Care’s Branding and Marketing
When we were first introduced to U.S. Crisis Care by a board member – and Atomicdust client – what we found was a small, passionate organization doing some very important work. Their mission was fairly well articulated:
“…a nonprofit organization that supports the development and operation of community crisis care programs…”
Their goals were pretty clear, they were organized and had had many accomplishments over the past 25 years. In this case, Atomicdust met U.S. Crisis Care at a time when they seemed to have their situation figured out. We weren’t sure where we were needed, but we wanted to help the organization, and we believed in our ability to help even the most successful groups get even better. They agreed to let us apply our Branding Program to see what Atomicdust could do to strengthen their efforts.
Here’s what we uncovered.
U.S. Crisis Care (USCC) is an organization that could do a lot for communities around the country, but is currently held back by resources and funding, limiting its reach beyond the West Coast. Our sights were quickly focused on 1) making stronger connections with potential donors to fund current and future efforts and 2) enhancing the organization’s online presence to carry some of the workload.
Here’s what we did.
Explaining succinctly exactly what USCC does is a challenge. They help communities set up crisis care programs, but the organization doesn’t actually run the programs or support those affected by crises. Our first step was to clearly and digestibly explain what USCC does. The language we created – in the form of a brand narrative, elevator pitch and supporting points – quickly conveys the mission of the organization, while linking the sensitivity of the organization’s work to the emotions of the audience.
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While the existing site was well-written and fairly easy to navigate, we saw room for improvement. The simplicity found in the core brand language inspired updated content and design throughout the USCC website. Overall copy was aligned with the newly articulated positioning. The amount and depth of content was reduced in key areas to more quickly get users to the point and connect them with a clearly defined call to action (contact or donate!).
Additionally, Atomicdust provided content and social media strategies aimed at creating greater national awareness for the organization, and guidance for existing and future local affiliates to leverage social sites like Facebook and Twitter.
USCC plans for slow growth over the next few years. Whether they stick to that plan or find themselves rapidly expanding their outreach, they now have an improved foundation to guide them moving forward. And we’re more than happy to have supported them along the way.
