A brand is more than just a logo. And “branding” is more than using consistent colors and fonts. Your brand identity embodies the persona of your organization; it sets the tone for your marketing strategy; it sets expectations and makes promises. Your name, your logo, your tagline, your colors, your typography should all work together to clearly establish a position in your market that is uniquely and authentically you.
In an age when most of your target customers carry the Internet in their pockets, expectations of websites have never been higher. Your prospective customers are on a self-guided tour of the web, skimming sites that might be relevant and pausing longer in places where they find valuable information. That’s why it pays to start your web project by thinking through the various types of users who will be engaging your site. Because it’s not about what you want to tell them…it’s about what they want to know.
The web may be the landing pad for most marketing initiatives, but many organizations have found that print is simply not going away. From business cards to brochures, sell sheets to posters, info packets to catalogs, print is alive and well. Most of our clients find that they need to round out their marketing infrastructure with some form of brand-aligned print collateral.
This is the web-based component of your marketing mix. Search engine optimization. Pay-per-click advertising. Remarketing. Content marketing. Blogging. Press release distribution. Banner ads. Social media.
This is the offline part of your marketing mix. Direct mail, billboards, print advertising, trade shows, television and radio. Some organizations would like to think “traditional advertising” is outdated and irrelevant, but for most businesses and nonprofits, an effective marketing mix is incomplete without this part of the strategy. Online alone is simply not enough. Prospective customers need to see your brand in multiple places and from multiple angles for the “big idea” to sink in.
Your marketing strategy is only as good as your capacity to execute the plan. This is where so many organizations lose their way. They drive marketing initiatives from their inboxes, whiteboards and PowerPoint slide decks rather than from a singular, web-based expression of the plan. Rarely is the information shared in real-time across the team. No one would know where to look if the CEO said, “Show me the marketing plan you’re implementing.”
If not, you’re not alone. Because regardless of their size, scope or objectives, many well-run businesses and nonprofits struggle to get their arms around marketing strategy and execution. In the absence of an overarching plan, marketing defaults to a series of loosely connected projects rather than a carefully implemented plan grounded in strategic thinking. It becomes more about hitting advertising deadlines and less about long-term, intentional positioning. Where no marketing framework exists, business owners, VPs, marketing managers and creative team members often feel like they’re having the same conversations time and time again, yielding little marketing traction.