By Pia Demsky, Director Public Image and Communications, District 9800
The Rotary District team is here to assist you with making sure your club is putting its best foot forward—branding is a key element to ensuring all our messaging is consistent.
At an International level, new compliance is now in place around our brand. An example of this is that you will no longer see old branding in a House of Friendship at an International Convention.
I think it’s safe to say that all clubs wish to appear professional, respectable, and approachable. However, having a website that was created twenty years ago won’t portray this message, but there are a few simple ways you can fix this issue.
Is your club on brand?
The Rotary Brand Centre has lots of tips and tricks to get you brand-compliant and looking professional. Check it out here: https://brandcenter.rotary.org/
Firstly, is your logo up-to-date? There’s a really simple template in the Brand Centre that allows you to type in your club name and download the logo. Most clubs have now done this and for those who haven’t, I’m happy to run through the process with you, or you can attend one of the Public Image sessions. I’ll also be talking this Saturday at Morning Tea with the DG.
Once you have your logo, your club can easily embed this into your e-signature to look professional with all email correspondence. You can also apply it to your website, newsletter, and letterhead etc.
When printing new marketing collateral such as business cards, banners and so on, the easiest way to make sure you’re looking professional and approachable is to give your designer the Brand Guidelines. These can be downloaded from the Brand Center. This document ensures the logo is used in the right way. It avoids guessing which blue is the Rotary blue, by providing all the colour codes that designers can easily use. Don’t have a designer? There are a few Rotarians who are either designers or printers, and we can put you in touch with them if you feel this will help.
For those who have the basic branding down, the next thing is to ensure your imagery reflects what you want to say about the club, and attracts those members who suit your club’s culture.
If you have an interest in Public Image, want to bring your club up to speed, have an event to promote, or you want to help at District level because you have a background in the marketing/communications/digital industry, feel free to contact me directly via email: publicimage@rotarydistrict9800.org.au