Locals Generous - Even These Days

Guest Blog from Catherine McConnell - Seattle Goodwill.

Originally published in Marketing NW 

by mnw on 03/07/2012 

By Catherine McConnell

Even in tough economic times, the Puget Sound region always has been generous with not-for-profits. That generosity helps sustain Seattle Goodwill’s job-training programs via financial contributions.  And in the social enterprise-retail thrift side of the business, having a strong brand that’s based on good products and customer service has benefitted us in good economic times as well as bad.

Success for any organization is determined by customer loyalty, built with a variety of tools. One of those is a clear brand identity. Brands are accessed by consumers the very same way people choose friends and develop relationships—by assigning them human characteristics.

They do this in part by referring to familiar things to help them assess people and brands. Our brand is the sum of all the experiences and messages about Goodwill, integrated into an overall perception.

When looking at a store that sells used items, like Goodwill, the only real difference between our thrift stores and conventional retailers is where our products come from. We want our customers to feel like they’re getting top-quality retail service from a first-class store, while supporting the job-training mission of Goodwill.

Goodwill stores are thrift stores, but they also provide a positive, high-value shopping experience for all and an affordable option to need-based shoppers. And when people shop and donate to Goodwill, they help us help others. That’s also part of our brand identity.

It’s important to spend time to research, define and build your brand in order to gain the customer loyalty you need to succeed in retail. We work closely with Stanton & Everybody, and they guided us through a brand audit this past year. The result was a much clearer understanding of our brand, the value of that brand and how to articulate it better through our marketing.

The Seattle Goodwill brand archetype is the Caregiver, with a hint of the Magician. Other terms for the Caregiver are the supporter or helper. The Caregiver is motivated by compassion, generosity and a desire to help others—and our mission and purpose are to do just that.  Goodwill is a Magician when we provide a magical moment of discovery for our shoppers, who find treasures, and our job-training students, who we help to realize their potential through training and jobs.

After clearly defining who we are as an archetype, we revamped our marketing voice to be consistent and compelling within the brand. And we saw dedication to Seattle Goodwill this year, despite the economy: record sales in October for Halloween and quality donations at our donation centers. Also, our 28th annual Glitter Sale in November broke records in both sales and attendance. This annual event is a fundraiser directly supporting our job-training programs. Part of having a strong brand is increased word-of-mouth—and people came from near and far (Portland and even New York City).

Goodwill also is doing well around the country. Same-store sales were up in the first eight months of 2011, more than 10% over the same period in 2010. Donations of items were up nearly eight percent. And we’re seeing new faces at our stores, across the board.

We’ve also seen an increase in foot traffic. Yet more people are coming to us for services at our job-training centers as well. The beauty is, when our brand performs well in the marketplace, our nonprofit nets higher proceeds, enabling Goodwill to aid more people with job-training programs, helping them and their families to self-sufficiency.

I think that’s called win-win!