Thanks for the Brand Strategy. Now What?
Your organization just invested in a brand strategy, and it’s… amazing.
The tagline is brilliant, the tone-of-voice slides are polished, and the values? They’re alliterative and inspiring.
But now you’re staring at a blank Google Doc, trying to marry your brand strategy with your donor appeal letter. And that amazing strategy? It suddenly feels like a weight on your back.
I remember the first time I had to turn a brand strategy into real fundraising copy.
I froze.
After all, here was a strategy that had been painstakingly crafted by an advertising and marketing genius who had written smart language, bold headlines, and a knock-me-over tagline.
How was I supposed to distill their 50-slide masterpiece into my everyday, 650-word appeal letter… especially with a deadline breathing down my neck?
That’s when I realized something: I wasn’t supposed to infuse everything from the brand strategy. I just needed to figure out one thing: the product.
What one word, idea, or territory did this brand want to own?
Once I found it, I stopped trying to echo the strategy. I started writing from it, and that’s when brand strategies started becoming a friend to lean on instead of one I was intimidated by.
That experience shaped how I use brand strategy today. And it’s why I wrote this post. It’s for anyone trying to translate a beautiful brand strategy into real-world donor copy that actually works.
Because a brand strategy is powerful when you use it right. And when you don’t? It’s a big fat waste of time and money.
Your brand strategy is a decision filter for your message
As a copywriter, your job isn’t just to write. It’s to choose what not to say.
That’s where brand strategy helps. It’s a filter.
This means…
If your strategy says your organization is bold, don’t write timid.
If it says you believe “presence changes everything,” don’t lead with absence or abstraction.
If it says you serve “the overlooked,” your stories should center on the marginalized.
Without that filter, you’ll default to clichés, clutter, and worst of all—org-centric writing. 😖
With a brand strategy, you can cut fast, focus hard, and stay on message.
Your brand strategy is a cheat sheet for voice and tone
You don’t need to reinvent your brand’s voice every time you sit down to write. The strategy doc already told you how you sound.
This means…
If your tone is “urgent but grounded,” then that should shape your verbs.
If your copy is meant to be “warm, but not sentimental,” you should frame need without pity.
If you’re told to avoid “inspirational jargon,” don’t say “transformation,” you describe it.
Behavioral research shows that repetition builds “processing fluency.” That means the easier something is to read and recognize, the more credible and trustworthy it feels.
So when your audience hears the same phrasing across appeals, banners, and emails, it doesn’t feel repetitive. It feels reliable.
You don’t have to go hunting for new language every time. Steal from the strategy—because your best donor messaging is already written.
You just have to use it.
Your best hack for writing from a brand strategy
Let’s go back to the time I froze in front of that Google Doc.
The brand strategy was rich with insights: beliefs, audience profiles, tone-of-voice cues, differentiators… and a tagline so punchy it practically demanded a trademark.
But here’s what helped me get my head around the strategy and use it to write real-world copy. I asked:
❓ What’s the product of this brand?
❓ What one word or territory is it trying to own?
❓ How can I center my copy around that so it sounds natural, and not forced?
I didn’t regurgitate the tagline. I didn’t shoehorn in catchy phrases.
I just wrote like a human being—one who was tuned in to the word or territory the brand wanted to own.
And that tone always came back to one thing: the product.
Real-world example
For my company, Creator, my product is words. So I embed the words word, words, write, or writing in my brand messaging because words is the territory I want my company to own.
It’s why my blog is called Words That Work.
It’s why my bylines say, “Written by Derek Scott” instead of “By Derek Scott.”
It’s why I use the handwriting emoji (✍🏻) in my newsletter subject lines.
The point is this: Using your brand strategy doesn’t have to be complex. You just have to find the product and naturally weave that word into your copy.
Easier said than done, right?
That’s why I unpacked how to find your brand’s product in a post I wrote a while back called Why Brand Essence Is Key to Writing Powerful Fundraising Copy.
Your brand strategy is a storytelling scaffold
The best fundraising is story-driven. But which stories?
Brand strategy gives you the framework.
If your brand belief is “freedom is found in the Gospel,” that’s your story arc.
If your core value is “every person matters,” that’s your character lens.
If your tone is “quiet conviction,” then even your strongest appeals will whisper truth, not shout it.
Neuroscience tells us that decision-making is shaped by narrative consistency.
So if your donor experiences one tone in your appeal and a different one on your giving page, the dissonance breaks trust—even if they can’t articulate why.
Good brand strategy ensures your stories, structure, and tone harmonize across every donor touchpoint.
Your brand strategy is your built-in brief
A lot of fundraising campaigns start with a mad scramble for clarity:
What are we saying?
Why are we saying it?
Who are we talking to?
You don’t need to guess. That’s what a good brand strategy is for:
Positioning? ✅ Already nailed.
Differentiators? ✅ Right there.
Audience? ✅ Already defined.
Tone of voice? ✅ Specified.
Knowing this, start every campaign with the same prompt:
“How does this connect to our brand strategy?”
Doing so will keep your message sharp, aligned, and faster to execute.
Final word
Your brand strategy isn’t a trophy—it’s a tool.
It’s not a slide deck to feel good about—it’s a playbook to write from.
So pull it off the drive. Write down your product, and stick it somewhere near your keyboard.
Because when your donor communications sound like your brand, you don’t just get better copy.
You get trust.
And trust gets you results.
