The Buck stops here (to discuss marketing strategy)
Marketing, for some, is a big hassle. It’s an investment. Sometimes, a pretty big one. And it’s not always clear what that investment is doing to build your brand, earn you new client opportunities, or increase your sales. Of course, digital marketing makes this process all the more complicated for many longtime business owners or those still in startup mode.
I’ll agree that the world of marketing can be confusing, but it should never be a mystery. Your marketing investments — whether managed by an in-house team or by an agency for hire — should be telling you a story. And the folks who are helping you manage your marketing should be able to clearly tell you that story while giving you strategic recommendations to adjust your campaigns or increase your investments.
Our Chief Marketing Officer, Buck Wise, has spent decades helping brands — pretty big ones, like Nike, Starbucks, Google, Adidas, Nestlé — continue their dominance in their respective markets. He wants to help our clients do that, too.
So, in order to help you make more strategic investments in the arenas that matter most to your brand, I’ve picked Buck’s brain and have some wonderful recommendations to share with you.
Build your Brand House and invite your entire team to live in it
It’s no secret that a lot of people who aren’t in marketing tend to look at branding, advertising, and marketing as smoke and mirrors. We work with too many businesses that feel like they’re just throwing money at the wall and hoping something sticks because they have zero understanding of their ROI.
This is exactly why we make the Brand House concept a foundational piece of their marketing strategy. It helps everyone in the organization speak the same language and focus on the right information.
We start by establishing key performance indicators that we can actually measure. You’d be surprised by how few businesses have established marketing KPIs. Remember, there’s a difference between marketing that is meant for branding vs. sales — you shouldn’t expect the same outcome!
Anyway, we also include a business’s purpose for existing —its purpose — as well as information that differentiates a business from its competitors. A lot of people skip this exercise but this is the exact sort of thing that will help align an entire business behind a brand strategy, because there’s finally a shared understanding of its purpose, value, and goals.
The brand house will help your customers, too!
Don’t sleep on the power of the brand house. Because if you need any outside marketing help from an agency, someone to help create a video package for you, anything at all, this guide creates brand alignment. This is your brand. You don’t want people trying to interpret things for themselves. You want brand clarity.
Think about your customers. Do you really want them receiving a muddled message that was created by people who don’t really understand what you’re trying to sell? That will sink a brand. Guaranteed. Get the strategy out of your head, onto the page, and into the mouths of your teams so it can enter into the hearts of your customers.
The stronger the house, the more strategic your investments
But going down this road does more than just create a strong brand identity. It allows you to focus your message. Digital marketing is powerful in its ability to hone in on very specific consumers. This gives you the power as a business owner to create on-brand messages that will resonate with different audiences. This helps you measure and understand your customer base in a whole new way!
This also helps you more strategically make marketing investments across different platforms so that your social media, paid ads, website, and other tactics are working together to increase awareness, sales opportunities, and conversions. But it all has to start with that sense of consistency that happens at the foundational level.
The Brand House is just the beginning
Building a Brand House with our clients is just the beginning of how we support our client’s marketing efforts. If you really want to get a taste of what Buck and the Cardone team can do to help you build your brand and 10X your life, then you need to attend a 10X360 and experience Marketing Essentials for yourself! Go to CardoneVentures.com/events right now to register for our next 10X360!