https://twelve12site.wpengine.com/blog/marketing/strategic-planning-gets-message-across/Full disclosure: there isn’t really a “secret sauce” or magic potion to make any marketing campaign successful. Sorry about that. What I can tell you about is a commonly overlooked aspect of brand identity that can have big implications for marketing strategy.
When a business is looking for a marketing agency in Orange County, they may have a general idea that they need help with their brand as well; at Twelve12, we go even further to fill in the picture. We offer three things our clients are usually in need of: strategy, branding, and marketing. These three concepts are separate but interrelated, and can helpfully be thought of as successive steps to address in your pursuit of your brand’s presence.
Start with strategy
This is the ground work, an essential step to any branding initiative. Strategy sets the path you’ll take, and fills out the concept of your brand in as many ways as possible. For more on the importance of strategy, take a look here.
The brand: where value comes from
Once you have a foundational plan of what you’d like to accomplish, it’s time to address branding. Your brand is where the discussion of value comes in. Branding allows you to create value in your company in the eyes of your target audience. The impression somebody gets when they see your logo for the first time; the feeling they get when they walk into your restaurant, or hold your product for the first time, or talk with you about your services over the phone—everything you do provides an opportunity for people to perceive your value, and that perception of value should obviously continue and deepen as they continue to get to know you.
In a sense, branding is the platform that makes marketing possible. Without a solid brand, each dollar you spend on marketing won’t go nearly as far—you may be an amazing baker, trained since birth to bake perfect muffins—absolutely perfect muffins. But if you take your perfect muffins to market without a solid brand, without making the value of the muffins able to be perceived, none of what you do on a marketing level will seem to stick, your Marketing ROI will be low, and Entenmann’s donuts will continue to steal your customers.
But even more than value, a brand with validation will really start to see the needle move.
Do you validate?
Once you’ve done everything possible to make your brand ooze value, the next thing you’ve got to think of is validation. You need to validate your brand in the eyes of your consumers. Anyone can show value—value just means you are getting what you pay for—think of a fast food value meal. Is it good? Well, it’s good for the money.
To get beyond value, you have to be validated. Validation is human. Validation is the people you’ve touched along the way, giving their impression of your product or service. This could be the word of industry experts, awards or accolades, testimonials from customers or clients, or other positive press that appears in books or articles.
If you can show value and validation in your marketing pieces, you’ve won. The brands with both will see the Marketing ROI for their efforts skyrocket, getting back far more than what they put in. No matter what it is your business offers, if you’re looking for a marketing agency in Orange County, be sure they can offer you validation with your value.