tip 1: determine your long-term ambitions
What are your company's ambitions? What do you want to achieve? Where do you see your company in 3 to 5 years? By defining your ambitions, you can work strategically on branding and marketing, connecting both employees and customers to your organization's broader vision and dream. Do you identify with any of the following ambitions?
- Achieving growth
- Increasing market share
- Attracting the right customers
- Setting yourself apart from competitors
- Recruiting new employees
- Preparing the company for sale or the next generation's continuation
- Capitalizing on market changes
- Communicating an acquisition or merger
- Seizing opportunities offered by the 'online' realm
- Ensuring the right marketing approach
tip 2: focus on your customers
What are your customers' needs, dilemmas, or problems? What is their desired outcome? By placing your customers at the center of your communication and addressing their needs, you enhance your relevance and effectiveness. Customer needs can be approached from various perspectives:
- Functional needs: The task your customer wants to accomplish.
- Emotional needs: How your customer wants to feel in that situation.
- Social needs: How your customer wants to be perceived by others.
tip 3: make a promise to your customers
What do you promise your customers? How do you address their most significant need, dilemma, or problem? By formulating a clear brand promise, you provide an answer to your target audience's most significant need. You validate their feelings and desires, giving them the reason to choose your brand. A strong brand promise meets the following three criteria:
- States what you have to offer
- Addresses what your target audience needs
- Communicates what the market doesn't say/offer
tip 4: show that you can deliver on your promise
What evidence can your company provide to support your promise to customers? It's crucial to provide evidence for the promise you make. Show proof, not only when customers are already engaged in a conversation with you, but also when they aren't consciously aware of their needs or the solution, or when they are still in the researching phase. Examples of evidence (reasons to believe) include:
- Customer experiences/reviews
- Number of customers
- Business results
- Projects/case studies
- Brand awareness/authority
- Sustainability
- Organizational/people's experience
- Seals of approval/guarantees
tip 5: take ownership of marketing
Who is responsible for marketing? Can your current marketing team (& partners) achieve your ambitions? Define the responsibilities within your marketing team. Who does what and at what time? Consider involving partners/agencies when your team lacks the capacity to achieve your goals. Below is an example of an effective marketing team of four people:
- Marketing Manager (Overseeing/Implementing Positioning & Marketing Plan)
- Content Manager (Copywriting, Managing Social Media & Website)
- Online Marketing Specialist (SEO, SEA, Social Advertising)
- Content Creator (Designing Brand Materials, Ensuring Brand Identity)
Vandeez offers various services to support B2C and B2B companies. Step by step, we build a strong brand foundation. Read more about it here.
Christy van der Sman
