How Well Do You Know Your Brand?

Here’s a quick test to see if you have a good handle on yours.  

Take these statements and quickly write out the answers for your business or primary product:

• For (target customer)
• Who (statement of need or opportunity)
• The (product / business) is a (product category)
• That (statement of benefit or compelling reason to buy)
• Unlike (primary competitive alternative)
• It is (statement of differentiation)

Here’s what it looks like for this newsletter

For business owners who handle their own marketing, It’s Friday is a weekly newsletter that delivers insight into digital marketing and content strategy.  Unlike other marketing newsletters, it only takes 2 minutes to read and is generally pretty entertaining.

It’s not perfect and it doesn’t cover everybody and everything but it’s close enough and I was able to produce it in about 5 minutes.

What does it look like for you?

If you can’t quickly create something similar for your business or products, it’s an indication that you don’t have a clear enough understanding of your position in the market.  

That lack of clarity will have a detrimental impact on the efficacy of your marketing efforts. 

I’m doing a lot of branding work at the moment, if you’d like to talk about yours, get in touch.

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Written while listening to: One two three Playlist by music2work2

Image Credit: Brand ‘em (2 of 3) by Steve Corey on Flickr

Why You Should Stop Worrying About Marketing

"Stop worrying about how your brand might look if you get marketing wrong!  The fact that you are trying and failing will do more for your small business' reputation than just about anything else."

When a big brand tries something and it doesn't work out - such as the Nationwide Superbowl ad or American Apparel's Challenger tweet (which just makes me feel old!) - there is a public outcry, their brand is damaged and they presumably lose sales as people decide not to buy from them.

However, when you put something out that doesn't work, not only is your audience vastly smaller (and therefore missing the macro affects that social media piles on the big brands,) people know that it's you - a human being trying something - and it's much easier to relate to and forgive a person than it is a brand.
 
I'm not saying you should go out and become a social media douche, publishing link bait crap just to grab people's attention, but I am recommending that you learn in public.

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Written while listening to:  Session 3 - 191 bpm playlist by music2work2

Image credit: What me worry by SL Snyder on Flickr