I see it all the time: marketing teams or individuals are on the hamster wheels, spinning out the same messaging and creative repeatedly because they had some initial success with it. Makes sense, right? But what should you do when that doesn’t work anymore?

When things start to get sluggish with your marketing, it’s often related to your brand efforts. Unfortunately, most marketing teams are also under enormous pressure to deliver leads and results and won’t take the time to dive deep into their branding.

Enter the Brand Messaging Sprint.

It’s a 5-day challenge I’ve designed that you can do entirely in-house to get those sparks flying again.

This sprint helps you quickly identify what truly makes your brand stand out, enabling you to shift gears and capture your audience’s attention more effectively.

Whether you’re struggling with inspiration or simply need a fresh perspective, this exercise is your gateway to innovative and impactful marketing.

Here’s how to run it:

Day 1 (90 minutes): Brainstorm

Gather your team and brainstorm all potential differentiators for your company (excluding price). You’ll want to consider everything from your process and approach, product benefits, team size, services offered, mission, give-back programs – anything. When you’ve done that, narrow the list down to your Top 3-5 Ideas.

Day 2: Customer Insights

Deploy a 48-hour survey to capture customer insights. Build a short survey (there are various free platforms if you don’t already use one) and offer your audience the option to win a $50 Amazon giftcard to entice more customers to participate.

• Question 1: Ask True/False: “In your opinion, do these [insert 3-5 Top Ideas] set us apart from our competitors?”
• Question 2: Provide an open-ended short answer to “Is there anything else you believe makes us different from others who offer [insert your flagship offering].”

Bonus: Engage your various social media audiences by asking them what they think sets you apart from others in your space. Make sure you actually engage too, don’t just mine them!

Day 3: Research Competitors

Analyze 4-8 competitors that are similar in size and scope of your company. You’re looking for the following information:

• High-level messaging that talks about their company, benefits, and differentiators
• Visual Firepower (what is their look and feel – what kind of vibe do you get from them)
• Specific products and services they offer
• Their process and approach
• How big are they? Company size and geographical footprint
• Accolades
• Community involvement – sponsorships, causes, etc
• Digital presence – SEO, website, social media channels, etc
• Customer Reviews
• News/PR coverage

Day 4: Compile findings for analysis

• Column 1: Your Top 3-5 Ideas (+ anything that jumped out from the Open-ended or social media questions).
• Column 2: Yes or No marks for whether your customers agree with these
• Columns 3-8: One column per competitor. Score -1 for each overlap your competitors have with you. Score a 0 if there is none.
• Column 9: Tally scores. Zero indicates a true differentiator; negative scores indicate common claims. The farther your negative number from zero becomes, the harder it becomes to lean on this as a differentiator.

Day 5: Review results with your team.

Come back together as a group to review your findings and decide what to push in your messaging next. You’ll want to start with any zero-scored Top Ideas first, as those are your true differentiators. Anything with a score of -1 or -2 is up for grabs also but may take some creative messaging in order to stand out.

And if you don’t have anything above a -2? You’ll need to dig deeper. Better yet, email me and we’ll set up a Spark Session to dig through your results and brainstorm together.

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And that’s it! A five-day sprint designed to quickly break through creative blocks and market saturation, giving you actionable insights that you can begin using immediately.

Let me know if you try this and the results you get!

Questions? Send ‘em my way. And if you love the idea of this sprint but just don’t have the time, let me know and we’ll find a way to workshop this together!

The post Is Your Marketing Feeling Sluggish? Try a Brand Messaging Sprint. appeared first on Olio Branding.

Let’s break it down into three phases:

1. Awareness (Top of Funnel)
2. Consideration (Middle of Funnel)
3. Decision (Bottom of Funnel)

Ensuring your brand’s visuals, tone, messaging, personality, and customer experience are consistent across these phases is essential to higher sales.

But what happens if, along the way, your brand becomes inconsistent? Does it really matter?

The short answer is Yes, it absolutely matters.

Because your brand should be building authority, trust, and emotional connection at every stage, any deviant in your brand will break this process for your prospect. And if that happens, you’ll either have to work twice as hard to rebuild or you’ll lose the sale altogether.

Navigating the Customer Journey 

The most common issue I see are brands that focus consistency efforts on only a few high-level (Awareness) channels.

Doing this creates missed opportunities and lost sales. Gone are the days where customers would purchase after one or two interactions with your brand.

In today’s world, their journey will lead them to encounter your brand across any number of touch points. Not just in the Awareness phase, but in the Consideration and Decision phases also. A comprehensive brand guide that covers tone of voice, how to use your visuals, and an overview of your brand strategy will really help here. 

Let’s dive into all the touch points within these phases: 

Awareness Phase (Top of Funnel)

During the Awareness phase, customers become familiar with your brand through several channels. Ensure consistency in the following touch points:

• Website: I call this your digital homebase and it needs to exude your brand, through and through
• Social Media: Your brand’s voice and visuals should be cohesive across all active platforms. It’s also a fabulous place to showcase your brand’s personality and authenticity 
• Digital Ads: Consistent messaging and visuals catch their eye and reinforce your purpose
• Blogs: Informative content that aligns with your brand’s tone and builds trust
• Print and Traditional Advertising: A unified message with customized designs so the channel you’re creating for is optimized

Consideration Phase (Middle of Funnel)

In the Consideration phase, customers evaluate your brand more closely. Consistency is crucial in these areas:

• Email Marketing: If it’s not personalized messages that reflect your brand, you’re just cluttering their inbox
• Tradeshows: The physical representation of your brand can go miles for brand experience
• Webinars: Educational content that showcases your brand’s expertise and also maps back to your brand messaging and purpose
• Review Sites: Future customers will care more about other customer’s feedback than anything you have to say. See Post-Purchase below for ideas on how to make this a stellar piece
• Community: How you engage with your community can reinforce your brand values

Decision Phase (Bottom of Funnel)

As customers reach the Decision phase, they need to trust that your company can not only get the job they need done, but that your brand is one they’re genuinely happy to work with. Key touch points include:

• Demo Calls: Your internal brand and employee satisfaction is going to be on display through personalized presentations
• Sales Rep Touchpoints: How often and the manner in which your sales reps ping customers sets the tone your customer will expect. If you’re delighting them now, they’ll believe your brand will do so long-term
• Signing Up: Of course pricing will factor in but at the end of this process, your brand needs to make it as easy and attractive as possible for your customer to sign on the dotted line

Post-Purchase Phase (Building Loyalty)

Here’s a bonus consideration: After the customer signs on, maintaining brand consistency is crucial. Don’t be that company who drops focus and leaves customers feeling like they’re nothing more than a sales number! Not only do these keep you Top of Mind but they help ensure positive referrals to future prospective customers. Focus on these areas:

• Post-Purchase Follow-ups: Regular touchpoints with consistent messaging will reinforce brand loyalty
• Loyalty Programs: Show your customer you value them through rewards that align with your brand’s personality and overarching purpose.

Once you have consistency, you’ll need to maintain it. 

Once you have consistency, the best way to maintain everything is to assign someone to oversee future messages and materials. Of course, the more channels you’re in and wider your brand, the more time consuming this becomes. Rather than saddle one person on your team who is already wearing a few hats, consider outsourcing this to a fractional brand manager (this is something I offer!) who can dedicate a couple hours each week – or month, depending on your needs.

Schedule a Discovery call today and let’s ensure your brand is being consistently implemented across all of these touch points. We can also explore whether it makes sense to bring a fractional brand manager who can maintain your consistency as you add new materials and communications.

The post Three Phases in Your Customer’s Journey That Require Brand Consistency appeared first on Olio Branding.

The Trilogy of Branding Success

Imagine your brand strategy as a three-piece puzzle, where each piece is crucial to the complete picture:

• Springboard: Think of it as the DNA of your brand—promise, positioning, purpose, vision, mission, attributes, and guiding principles. These are the immutable truths that define who you are.
  
  
• Identity: This is how your brand dresses for the occasion—logo, fonts, colors, patterns, imagery. It’s your visual handshake in both digital and physical realms.
  
  
• Story: Here lies the magic—the messaging. More than an elevator pitch, it’s the narrative that stitches your WHY together and resonates among your target audience.

Why Your Brand Story Matters (More Than You Think)

Did you know people are 22x more likely to remember your brand story than mere facts about your company? That’s not just impressive; it’s a clarion call to action. Your brand story shouldn’t complicate things; it should enrich your connection with your audience through context, authenticity, and relatability.

The Art of Storytelling: Crafting Your Narrative

Every great story needs an outline:

• Provide Context: Share the origins, the who, the why. It’s the heartbeat of your narrative.
  
  
• Be Authentically You: Authenticity isn’t just a buzzword; it’s your story’s soul. Ditch the fluff for the real stuff.
  
  
• Principles as Pillars: Your brand’s promises and principles are the storyline that supports your narrative arc.
  
  
• Speak Human: Drop the jargon. Your story should feel like a coffee chat, not a corporate memo.
  
  
• Empathy is Everything: Relate, resonate, connect. Aim to create the feeling of a shared journey, not a monologue.

   

The Narrative Mosaic: Short Stories of Your Brand

You have more than one story to share. Consider the mosaic of mico-narratives you can craft based on your company’s specific details: 

• Origin Story: The why, the when, the who. The spark that ignited your brand’s flame.
  
  
• Process Story: Your secret sauce. The unique HOW that sets you apart.
  
  
• People Story: The heroes behind the logo. The minds and hearts that fuel your mission.

Together, These stories celebrate your uniqueness and build an emotional bridge to your audience.

Fine-Tuning Your Brand’s Voice: The Litmus Test

Are your stories hitting home, or are they echoing in an empty hall? Testing and refining your narrative is key:

• Know Your Audience: Understand their perception of your brand. Align your stories with their expectations and interests.
  
  
• Engagement Is Everything: Deploy, observe, tweak. Look for leads, conversations, and engagement as markers of resonance.

Pro Tip: A talented copywriter can make all the difference here, weaving emotion and authenticity into every word while keeping jargon at bay.

Your Story, Your Brand’s Legacy

Crafting your brand’s story is an invitation to your audience to embark on a journey of discovery, connection, and growth. It’s about creating a legacy that resonates, engages, and transforms. Remember, in the heart of your brand lies a story waiting to be told. Make it one that not only captures imaginations but also encapsulates the essence of who you are and why you matter.

So, what’s your story?

The post How to Write a Brand Story That Will Resonate appeared first on Olio Branding.

First, let’s break each strategy down: 

Marketing Strategy: Reaching Your Target Audience

Think of a marketing strategy as your roadmap to success. It’s all about reaching your target audience, spreading the word about your products or services, and driving sales. A good marketing strategy defines where, how, and when to deploy promotions for your product.

Choosing the Right Channels: Determining which marketing channels, such as social media, search engines, or industry events, will help you connect with your target audience effectively.

Crafting Compelling Messages: Developing clear and persuasive messages that communicate the unique benefits and value your products bring to your customers’ businesses.

Creating CTAs (Call to Actions): Including specific instructions or prompts that encourage your target audience to take a desired action, such as making a purchase, subscribing to a newsletter, or requesting a demo. CTAs serve as a bridge between your marketing efforts and the next step you want your audience to take.

Brand Strategy: Creating an Emotional Connection

Now, let’s shift gears and dive into brand strategy. It’s about more than just selling products—it’s about creating a lasting impression and building meaningful connections with your customers. A strong brand strategy defines who you are, what you stand for, and how you want people to perceive you.

Defining Your Messaging Framework: Determining who you are as a company, what values you stand for, and the personality you want to portray. This includes elements like your brand story, promise, positioning, and persona.

Identifying Your Target Audience: Who are the individuals or businesses that would find the most value in your offerings? Understanding their needs, pain points, and aspirations is crucial.

Creating Emotional Connections: Going beyond the functional aspects of your offerings and forging emotional connections with your customers. This involves understanding their aspirations and aligning your brand values with theirs.

The Overlap: Where Marketing and Branding Align

While marketing strategy and brand strategy have distinct focuses, they do intersect in various ways. Let’s explore the areas where they overlap:

Consistent Messaging: Both strategies rely on clear and consistent messaging. Your marketing messages need to align with your brand’s values and promises, ensuring a unified voice across all customer touchpoints.

Customer Experience: Both strategies aim to create positive experiences for your customers. A well-executed marketing strategy enhances the customer journey, while a strong brand strategy shapes the overall experience, leaving a memorable impression.

Differentiation: Both strategies contribute to setting your business apart from competitors. Your marketing strategy highlights the unique features and benefits of your solutions, while your brand strategy emphasizes what makes your company special and distinguishes it from others.

Key Differences: Targeted Reach vs. Emotional Connection

Now, let’s pinpoint the key differences between marketing strategy and brand strategy:

Focus: A marketing strategy primarily focuses on reaching and engaging your target audience, while a brand strategy centers around cultivating a strong brand identity and building emotional connections with your customers.

Goals: The goal of a marketing strategy is to drive awareness, generate leads, and ultimately convert them into customers. On the other hand, a brand strategy aims to foster loyalty, create brand advocates, and establish a long-term relationship with customers.

Longevity: Marketing strategies often have a shorter-term focus, with campaigns and tactics designed to achieve immediate or semi-immediate results. Brand strategies, on the other hand, take a long-term perspective, aiming to build a solid foundation and maintain a consistent brand presence over time.

Tangibility: Marketing strategies tend to be more tangible and measurable, as they involve specific tactics, such as online advertising, content marketing, or email campaigns. Brand strategies are more intangible, focusing on shaping perceptions, emotions, and the overall customer experience. 

As you can see – while marketing strategy and brand strategy have distinct objectives and approaches, they are interconnected and crucial for the success of your business growth. By understanding the nuances of both strategies and leveraging them effectively, you can create a powerful and differentiated presence among your intended audience.

The post Marketing and Brand Strategies: Understanding the Difference to Fuel Your Growth appeared first on Olio Branding.