Marketing can be one of the most fun aspects of running our businesses… until our usual tactics or messaging stops delivering results.
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!
