Our Take On: Making the Practice of Marketing a Habit

Our take on: Making the Practice of Marketing a Habit...

Effective Marketing is Like Constructing a Skyscraper: It Can’t be Achieved with One Brick

So you had a killer tweet or blog post and that was supposed to change everything. You were sure your customers would be beating down your door and sales would suddenly grow exponentially. What happened? Why didn't your brand take off and leave your competitors in its wake?

Here's the truth about marketing: You can't build a strong and viable brand with one brick. Rather, it takes a consistent, coordinated and well-orchestrated building process, bringing all the components together in one cohesive package. A strong and durable brand comes from a consistent push of marketing messaging, reiterating it over-and-over again through all touchpoints that make up the promise of your brand.

Brick Upon Brick Built on a Strong Foundation

The first step in building “a strong and durable brand” is to gain a deep understanding of what your brand offers and to whom. Essentially, you are defining your brand’s, personality and, as a result, zeroing in on the identities of your perfect customers-to-be. That process will provide the blueprint for the perfect brand messaging and provide a strong foundation for your ongoing brand marketing process. (We’ll look at the role brand personality plays in underscoring positive messaging in Your Brand’s Personality and What It Means to You and Your Company.)

Ongoing is the key word in the last sentence. Once you’ve developed the right messaging, it’s critical to ensure that it is consistent and always-present across all channels. Your customers should see the phrasing that defines you in every new campaign. (For example, Nike is sure to integrate "Just Do It" into every new campaign.) Straying from the familiar and successful edifice your messaging has built and can wipe out any common awareness that you've been building, creating chaotic messaging that can be devastating to a growing brand.

Patience With the Process

Building a resilient marketing structure demands an ongoing planning process that, at first blush, may seem redundant and unnecessary. But, in truth, it is critical to check in regularly to be sure your message is consistent and far-reaching and always resonating. A lack of this kind of disciplined habit of marketing could result in the following undesirable outcomes:

1. You’ll see a lack of loyalty among your customers, making them willing to try other brands.
2. There will be inconsistencies in growth vectors. For example, one month you’re driving more traffic and sales, and the next you are not.
3. There will be lots of turnover in your marketing team, interrupting consistent messaging is exhausting for creatives.

One final note: Great brands have marketing that is wrapped around consistent, relevant storytelling that is persistently presented through all channels to its target market. The big winners in business are going to be the people who understand that marketing has to become a habit.

Next up: Your Brand’s Personality and What It Means to You and Your Company. That will be followed up with a look at the unique process of developing your Brand Essence. This detailed and multi-faceted process uncovers a brand’s true personality and lore (history and ongoing story) and creates a marketing map for every corner of a company. Next month, learn how the process unfolds and plays out.