Explain Your Brand Strategy A brand is your customer’s entire experience with your company. It’s not a logo or a slogan; it’s a promise that the customer expects to be delivered. And it encompasses every interaction that the customer has with you. Branding in the business-‐to-‐business world doesn’t need to be complex, but it does need to be consistent. Every time you touch a prospect or customer, you’re conveying a message. A consistent brand strategy ensures that those touches are as efficient and effective as possible. In this section, you’ll address your brand strategy. If you’ve already completed Brand Strategy, pull these results from exercises 24 and 25. If you haven’t developed a brand strategy and just need a quick summary, estimate your responses and then address Brand Strategy in detail when you have more time. It’s important.
Summary EXERCISE SUMMARY When to Address Who Should Participate Where to Use the Results
While you’re working on your marketing plan & budget Marketing and sales leaders Throughout the rest of the Marketing Plan & Budget section
Why it’s Important
Your brand should bring your competitive positioning to life and capture the mindshare of your slice of the market. It’s challenging to do well, but immensely valuable when done so. Strong brands create tremendous economic goodwill on company balance sheets.
What Builds Upon it
The rest of the elements of your marketing plan
Timeframe to Completion Potential Business Impact
15 minutes to a few hours or days, depending on the work you’ve already completed and the level of detail you’re seeking
Medium to High – for all Marketing Plan exercises
Marketing Plan Explain Your Brand Strategy
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Deliverable
You’ll explain your brand strategy for your marketing plan.
Next Steps
Define your brand strategy.
Target Completion Date
PARTICIPANTS TASKS
PERSON RESPONSIBLE
DUE DATE
Notes
Marketing Plan Explain Your Brand Strategy
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Explain Your Brand Strategy
What to Complete
1. EXPLAIN YOUR BRAND STRATEGY
Where it Fits in Marketing Plan & Budget Determine Marketing Plan Scope Establish Strategic Goals Establish Numeric Goals Define Competitive Positioning Define Brand Strategy Explain Product and Pricing Strategies Input Numeric Goals by Category Calculate Number of Leads Required Describe Distribution Strategy Outline a Direct Sales Plan Identify Sales Tools & Literature Outline Strategic Partnerships to Pursue Create Customer Retention Plan Identify and Describe Marketing Campaigns Develop Marketing Budget Create Marketing Management Plan Write Final Marketing Plan Document
1. EXPLAIN YOUR BRAND STRATEGY
OUR BRAND ARCHITECTURE AND PERSONALITY TRAITS The human personality traits that represent our brand are as follows: BRAND PERSONALITY TRAITS 1
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2 3 4 5
Our brand architecture is as follows: OUR ARCHITECTURE RESULT OUR VALUE PROPOSITION THE STRONGEST EMOTIONAL BENEFITS WE DELIVER
WHAT OUR BRAND MEANS OUR MARKET SEGMENTS’ GREATEST PAIN OUR HUMAN PERSONALITY TRAITS BRAND THEME OUR BRAND PROMISE The promise our brand delivers to the marketplace is: OUR BRAND PROMISE
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OUR BRAND STRATEGY Our current brand positioning in the marketplace is: Our long-‐term brand positioning goal is to: Our strategy to get there is to: To execute our strategy, we’re going to need to:
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POSITIONING BASED ON BRAND STRATEGY Our Market Mindshare Map as of _____________________ for the ________ market: à à à ABILITY TO DELIVER ON PROMISE à à
à à à VALUE OF PROMISE à à à
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2 3
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