From “Just Do It” to Getting It Done

A guide to developing a tool kit to leverage the communication channels to grow your brand and business

By Jean-Pierre Veilleux

Section 1: Crafting Your Brand Messaging

How are you different?

Can people easily distinguish between you and your competitors? Even if your product or service is not exactly unique, you must work diligently to identify the characteristics of your offering that make your brand, if not unique, at least different from others in ways that matter to customers. This is the foundation on which they will form opinions and make decisions.

Consider for instance, how your customers shop, how you present yourself, the suite of services you offer, the convenience you provide, the value you add at every turn, the nature and quality of the experience you deliver, even the flexibility of your pricing and membership packages.

Finding a differentiating factor in a crowded market is never easy. In this case, aim to be just a little bit different — but different enough that people will notice. Your ability to see things from their perspective will help you hone in on what you can do to stand out. It will also go a long way in helping to craft messages that will be relevant to them and that will authentically speak to their needs and expectations.

In summary, to differentiate yourself from the competition, you must be able to express what your company does best by focusing on a variety of factors, such as:

• your pricing model

• flexible membership/subscription structure

• your location

• your reputation in the sector

• a unique or proprietary program, training methodology, technology, or convenience

• how you customize and personalize your services

• any other factor that influences customers’ purchasing decisions and increases their likelihood of signing up with you

Do you have a story to tell?

Being able to connect to one’s story is one approach that appeals to people. If you come from a particular background, have an interesting backstory, or had to overcome significant obstacles, this can be great fodder for a compelling brand story. People often relate to and empathise with the brand through the person behind it.

Your story, if authentic, can humanise your brand by defining its personality and help build relationships with customers. You can distill your message into concise and memorable statements that help people form an emotional connection with your brand.

With these two things in place, communicating with your audience will become easier.

Section 2: Think “Marketing Channels”

A marketing channel is a platform or medium that helps you reach your target audience. Ideal channels are the ones your audience uses most, or where it spends most of its time. There are four main types of marketing channels: Paid, free, digital, and traditional. Others you may be familiar with, like social media and digital advertising, fall under these categories. Here are some examples of popular marketing channels that may be most appropriate for you:

Traditional Marketing - defined as any marketing that is not online. Direct mail (flyers, brochures) broadcast (radio and television), print (newspaper advertising), and outdoor (billboards, transit, bus shelter ads) are examples of traditional channels.

Website and Blog - Your website is not just a tool; it is a channel. It is your business’s digital home on the internet. A blog is a regular publication on a website that brands use to educate or update their audience. It is an ideal medium to build your brand’s thought leadership and build your profile as an authority.

Email Marketing - Roughly half of the global population uses email, making it an excellent channel for marketing and maintaining relationships. If you have a large email list, this is an excellent option for you. Investigate ways to automate this channel.

Content Marketing - Content marketing entails creating and distributing original or curated content through the marketing channels used by a company’s target audience. It is one of the most effective ways to build links and traffic to your website. Blogs and Vlogs, podcasts, and books can all be considered as part of a content marketing strategy.

Social Media - Adults spend on average 1.5 hours per day on social media, making it an excellent tool for increasing brand awareness. You must decide which platform(s) (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, etc.) are best for your brand to build a community of brand advocates and engage in social selling.

Online or Web Advertising - This channel uses the internet to promote products/ services using online ads. You can run ads on Google, Facebook, and banner ads on social media channels, including YouTube and others.

Video - Video has become the most effective format to reach and engage with one’s target audience, outperforming almost every other format. They can range in nature from promotional to educational to entertainment, and everything in between.

Small business should also not neglect some of the simpler offline forms of marketing, including Word-of-Mouth Marketing, Networking and Events.

It is debatable which channels may be the best to build traffic and generate prospects for you. Your brand communications tool kit is intended to give you the necessary elements to create content and messaging for these different marketing channels.

Section 3: Build Your Brand Communications Tool Kit Select your brand touchpoints and tools

Touchpoints are ways in which your brand intersects with people’s lives. Businesses require several touchpoints across various channels. Which ones you need depends on your offering and on the purchasing and media habits of your customers.

In today’s landscape, attracting consumers’ attention is the top priority. For a new brand, this is often challenging, so you must choose your approach to help ensure this can be nominally achieved. A mix of tactical tools will therefore be important.

Let us talk about the basic ones.

Your website – This is the hub for all information about your company. Whether used as an ecommerce site to sell memberships or merchandise and for downloadable content, or simply as an information resource, your site is the nerve center of your marketing program. This is where your brand identity and unique voice come through in full force. Remember to communicate in clear language and to organize content from the perspective of the user.

Your social media – Social platforms are an ideal way to connect with your audience personally and on their terms. Make sure your social media graphics as well as the content you share are “on-brand” and consistent with your brand voice and personality.

Determine your social media needs according to your marketing strategy. How will you address your audience and through which channel? This is a key part of your go-to-market strategy.

To cast a net where customers will find you, start producing content where your customer live:

• For information, thought leadership, announcements, and overall marketing content, this could mean Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

• For videos, tutorials, events, or visuals, this could mean TikTok, YouTube, or Instagram.

Your goal should be to grow your prospectlist by building links and increasing traffic to your website. Each platform has its advantages and specific utility. As you start to build an audience, you will recalibrate your priorities. Follow up to gather customer feedback and use the data to refine your approach and media strategy.

Your stationery – While physical business cards and other printed materials are being quickly replaced by digital alternatives, a well-designed stationery system that could include mailers and brochures offers one of the best ways to connect with local community members.

Aim for consistency The hallmark of an effective brand is consistency across all channels and touchpoints. From the largest billboard to the smallest social media post, staying true to your brand identity will do wonders for brand recall and growth.

Know where your audience is Your audience is made up of a variety of people. That is why you should distribute your message in various formats (audio, video, blog, etc.) and through multiple relevant channels (web, print and social).

Small businesses lack the resources to advertise across all marketing channels, but they can maximise their impact by understanding their customers’ needs, preferences, and habits. This knowledge allows one to choose the best channels and touchpoints for engaging with them.

Section 4: Resources You Will Need

1) Web Design Resources

Wix.com makes designing websites easier. You can move the elements around with a click of the mouse, dropping them right where you want them. All plans come with a wide range of design options.

SquareSpace.com works much the same way as Wix and is ideal for blogs and portfolio websites. You can set up an online store to sell merchandise or memberships without having to worry about transaction fees.

WordPress.com is, at its core, a content management system. It excels whether you want to create a custom blog or an online store. It is intuitive and comes with an array of graphical themes ready for use.

All offer tutorials, many templates, and include hosting and good technical support. The choices do not end there, so feel free to explore alternatives.

2) Creative Design Platforms

If hiring a professional designer is not for you, these DIY resources may be just the thing.

canva.com is a favorite for people with little to no design experience. With an intuitive interface and a selection of templates for several industries, it is used to design infographics, presentations, posters, social media graphics, and more.

create.vista.com is known for its professionally designed templates that let you create designs for social media, blogs, marketing materials, and other types of ads easily.

adobe.com/express users get to enjoy the entire royalty-free stock photo and font collection and thousands of templates. You can seamlessly use Photoshop, InDesign, and Premiere within one platform.

Other options exist in the form of online design services, such as designpickle. com, penji.co and manypixels.co which offer design services for a monthly fee. Whether these prove more affordable than hiring a designer will depend on your present and on-going creative needs.

3) Marketing with Videos

Video has emerged as the most powerful format to generate engagement with audiences, especially on social media. The good news is that they have never been easier, and cheaper to produce. Whether via short-form videos (e.g., five second TikTok videos) or long-form (e.g., 30-minute workout videos), you would do well to get your brand on video.

For those intent on the DIY approach, an ever-expanding array of tools, apps, and software can help any beginner become proficient. What is more, the technology at your immediate disposal is such that quality videos can be produced with not much more than a smartphone.

Where to start with video?

There are many tutorials on YouTube that cover the gamut: from entry-level filming and editing on a smartphone, to using all levels of professional equipment.

You can find step-by-step video tutorials on LinkedIn Learning. There are also software makers like Filmora, Visme, Canva (and others) that have video-making tutorials. Vimeo’s tutorials seem particularly well done. My friend and video producer, Tina Gladstone, is a heavy Vimeo Pro user, shooting everything on a smartphone, and producing amazing results. See her work at vimeo.com/tinagladstone.

For TikTok and Instagram users, the apps have their own built-in software or apps for video editing, so creators would use those and remain on the platform throughout the process. There are also built-in editing programs on smartphones. For more in depth, but still free editing, most computers come with built-in editing software. iMovie on Macs is one such solution. Finally, some of you may want to pay for professional software. The industry standards are Apple Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premiere and After Effects.

The pool of resources is seemingly unlimited, so I strongly suggest you look before you jump in and go with the one you will be most comfortable using.

Jean-Pierre Veilleux is a brand developer and creative strategist in Toronto. He is the co-founder and a principal of Retool Brand Counsel and Design retoolbrand.com and Retool Lab retoollab.com. Jean-Pierre has developed visual brand identities for large and small enterprises in a variety of sectors. His identity design work can be seen at jpveilleux.me/#/new-page-67/. Contact Jean-Pierre at jpveilleux@retoollab.com