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Strategic ideas and industry trends

An Exercise In Strategy

Caid Christiansen

A well-built, detailed strategy is the cornerstone of any successful marketing plan.

A great one–paired with rigorous, skilled execution–will put you on the path to success. A marketing strategy that’s poorly defined or off-target, though, can cause you to waste marketing dollars or even harm your brand.

If you’re unsure where you fall on that spectrum, try this simple exercise.

Gather up all your marketing materials. Your collateral, your social media posts, your emails, your radio spots–all of it.

Now remove all your branding. Cross out the name of your company. Remove your logo.

When you remove your branding from all of your marketing, can you still tell that it belongs to your company? Better yet, can someone from outside the company do the same?

If you can still tell, chances are, your strategy is on-point. The language you use and the style you’ve developed have created a strong enough ethos that it’s clear who and what you represent–even when your name isn’t used.

If you can’t? Back to the drawing board. You don’t want to be one of hundreds of companies claiming to be thought leaders in their space. You shouldn’t be able to take a competitor’s name, slap it on your marketing materials, and still have the messaging fit. From strategy to execution, your marketing should distinguish you from the competition, not blend you in with it.

This is why depth is so important. Knowing your buyers in and out will help you craft better unique messaging. Digging deeper in the initial strategy process strips away all of the fluff and leaves you with what really matters. This is tough, but absolutely necessary.

Think your marketing strategy may need work? Contact us today. We eat, breathe, and sleep strategy, and we would love to help get you back on track.

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