HOW TO WORK WITH US
Get in touch. From there, we can work on an ad hoc basis or we can be a part of your team, helping tackle brand and marketing opportunities as they come along.
scroll. scroll. scroll.
WHAT IS BRAND STRATEGY?
Your Brand Strategy is a comprehensive blueprint for all of your brand and marketing activities. The execution of your brand strategy occurs in the form of your marketing. This encompasses all of your business decisions related to but not limited to: what you sell, how you sell it, where you sell it and to whom. Your marketing efforts must be aligned with your brand strategy or else your marketing dollars are being spent errantly and almost assuredly wastefully.
Once you have a strategy, it’s time to think about your Creative Direction.
WHAT IS CREATIVE DIRECTION?
Just like Strategy, Creative Direction is a sensibility or a well-considered “approach.” It’s an elevated approach to visually telling your brand story. All of our marketing services are underpinned by the aesthetic that we will develop for you as our client. First, during our brand identity development and then later in its expression which is in the form of marketing.
WHAT IS 360° MARKETING?
Your brand and strategy are your bow and quiver; your marketing is your arrow.
360 degree marketing refers to a comprehensive plan informing how you reach customers at every point of contact. For our purposes, 360 degree marketing also refers to our ability to execute in an isolated “a la carte” fashion on any specific area of your marketing plan.
JUST HAND OVER YOUR PROBLEMS AND NOBODY GETS HURT.
PROBLEM 1: “We don’t know how to attract younger customers.”
At one hundred million strong, Millennials represent the largest generational cohort in American history. It’s good you’re interested in connecting with this rising generation. Many businesses fail to confront the fact that their customer base is “greying.”
Attracting younger customers requires a strategy - not gimmicks or tactics. For instance,
creating promotions to attract younger people without taking an honest inventory of their entire user experience won’t work. Are they willing to pay offline if you don’t accept payment through your website? Who is your competition with this demographic? Have you priced out your customer acquisition costs and are they worth the price? Maybe you should
rope them in now and patiently wait until they can afford your product?
When you want to explore a new customer base, it’s critical that you develop a unique psychographic strategy and make sure it also aligns with your foundational brand strategy.
PROBLEM 2: “Clients are complaining about my website.”
Assuming that all of your potential customers are going to go to your website is practically a conservative assumption these days. According to a recent study, 90 percent of Americans use the internet and the ten percent left offline below to the lowest income and education brackets in the country (Pew Research 2019). Your online presence has never been more important and will continue to matter more as time goes on.
The good news is that thanks to innovations in web development, the cost of a beautiful professional site has practically collapsed. The rails or the infrastructure are easily customized from elegant-looking and easy-to-use templates.
These days, the difference between a great website and a mediocre website is the quality of the underlying strategy and creative elements. The latter includes all “copy,” or words used on the site, as well as any photos or brand elements like your logo or colors. If your branding isn’t strong, your website will be weak. “Garbage in, garbage out.”
Once you have a sound brand strategy and creative direction, you’re ready to create your website as a part of a larger 360 marketing plan. We’re happy to build you a beautiful website and any other digital marketing elements you need such as an email marketing or social media program. It all needs to fit together like gears in a machine. Otherwise, you’re leaving money on the table.
PROBLEM 3: “I don’t know where to begin with social media.”
Congratulations. The first step is admitting that you have a problem. Social media presents an incredible opportunity for reaching new and existing customers. It’s important to understand what it can do for your specific business.
If you sell a low-cost product, you may be able to inexpensively acquire new customers by selling on Instagram or Facebook. If you are looking for warm sales leads, you need to consider who your target customer is and where they hang out online.
Hint: If you are a law firm you might get better results on LinkedIn than Pinterest. Social media is also great from inexpensively increasing brand recognition among your target audience. But this is a long game brand play and not for the faint of heart. It’s courage and patience to focus on long-term strategic goals. Short-term mindsets are common among business executives that just “can’t go to the next level.” They don’t realize they aren’t aiming high enough to get there.
How can we help? We can develop your social media brand strategy and creative direction. From this solid foundation, we can execute your social media on an ongoing basis. Want to drive growth? We can handle your ad-buying to and provide robust reporting to demonstrate healthy returns.
PROBLEM 4: “My advertising isn’t working like it used to.”
In the early 1900’s, John Wannamaker famously said: “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don't know which half.” Today with digital advertising it’s much easier to measure, but the ephemeral nature of brands remain.
Why do some ad campaigns work brilliantly and others flop? It could be the ad itself (the creative), where it appeared (the placement), or it could be timing (Christmas sweaters in July). But often it’s that hard to define quality of freshness or humor that comes from the attic of the creative mind.
We can help you put together a comprehensive media plan to reach your target audience, in the right way, at the right time. The keys to success are simplicity, repetition and repetition. We can also negotiate on your behalf to secure better rates whether we’re getting you on air, in print online.
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Please reach out. We can help.
PROBLEM 5: “My brand needs an update.”
Old is good. Our insta-culture is starting to distrust overnight sensations and heritage brands like Patagonia and LLBean are experiencing a Renaissance. That’s because these brands are storied - not stale.
We will treasure your brand story and pull it into the present. Like a careful renovation (or a historical dig), we will restore your brand to it’s best and brightest, protecting the integrity of your brand story.
So how does this work? Just drop us a line and we’ll explain the process. Your first session is on us. What are you waiting for?