Non-profit organizations, although directly not pitted against one another in a competitive battle, have their own specific online marketing objectives to meet. Increasing awareness and recognition, growing memberships, boosting non-due revenues, donations and advocacy response are just a few.

The concept of the marketing savvy website design and interactive marketing for non-profit organizations is governed by each specific organization’s objectives and obviously starts with settling each organization’s specific goals. In order to determine them and range them in degree of importance, the following questions have to answered:

• From the point of the organization, what are the areas of best and least value in the programs and information provided by the association?
• What strengths and weaknesses are there in the organization’s process that advance or stifle the organization’s goals?
• How have the organization’s tactical and strategic goals changed over the last five years, and what was the reason for the alteration?

The final step before turning the strategy into fruition through the devised set of marketing tactics including search engine optimization, is figuring out what measurable results of non-profit organization’s development, efficiency, and relationships with its members are to be tracked and what methods of obtaining and comparing information are to be used. Apart from direct deliverables like membership or donations increase, these can be indirect like measuring website traffic, popularity of your online community or even profitability of your members’businesses (they often use non-profit memberships for their brand development and public relations campaigns).

Two dentists have won a second legal battle with French fashion giant Lacoste over the right to use a toothy crocodile on the sign outside their surgery, the government trademark body said on Thursday. Dentists Dr Simon Moore and Dr Tim Rumney said they chose a crocodile for their logo because the reptile is famous for having a mouth full of teeth.

But Lacoste argued that the dentists’ sign was too similar to their own emblem, a green crocodile that adorns millions of polo shirts around the world.  After losing the first round of its trademark fight last year, Lacoste appealed to London’s UK Intellectual Property Office, the official body responsible for patents, trademarks and copyright issues.

The office upheld the original decision, saying that consumers were unlikely to confuse the dental practice and the clothing company. The dentists’ logo includes the words “The Dental Practice” and does not share the Lacoste crocodile’s knobbly back and red tongue.

The Lacoste logo comes from the French tennis player Rene Lacoste, who was nicknamed “The Alligator” or “The Crocodile” in the 1920s. He struck a deal with a manufacturer to make clothes with a crocodile logo.  Good to see the little guy beating up on corporate America once-in-a-while.