Tweak Your Biz » Marketing » Do or Die Marketing Plan: Begin With Your Brand

Do or Die Marketing Plan: Begin With Your Brand

by Paula Ronan on April 13th, 2011
24 Comments



This is the first in a series of 5 pieces on vital components of an effective marketing plan.

A good marketing strategy begins with a clear and precise understanding of your brand identity. Attempt to build your marketing without getting this absolutely right and you risk expensive failure.

1. Nail Down your Brand Values

What are the values that your organisation/business/brand treasures most? What values are so integral that, if removed, would change the brand completely? Examples could include innovation, localness, accessibility. Involve a wide variety of people in the organisation, and outside of it, too, in the process of identifying your brand values. You may be surprised to discover values inherent in your brand that you had never considered. Construct a long list with lots of input, but be sure to whittle it down to just two to four that you can focus on.

2. Set your Brand Personality in Stone

Assigning characteristics to your brand that your customers can relate to means that you can communicate more effectively, engage more meaningfully and have greater impact.  Think about your brand as though it were a person - what kind of person would it be? Chatty or serene, warm or clinical, fun or serious. Sometimes it helps to think about parallel category brands, e.g. if our brand were a chocolate brand, which would it be? Try that with cars, movies, singers, toys  or anything that provokes your thoughts in the right direction!

3. Define your Offering

Interestingly, this is where quite a lot of businesses have difficulty. They believe that they are selling one thing, while their customers are sure that they are buying another, e.g. some start ups think that they are selling technology when their market wants a service (ie they don’t give a damn about how it happens). This is a simple case of focusing firmly on the benefits of your brand, rather than on the features. What problem are you solving? Also, what is your competitive edge – what makes your brand offering different?

4. Get your Message Right

Articulating your brand promise in a succinct way takes brain-sweat! You need to have first established your brand’s tone of voice, then speak in your audience’s language, rather than using your industry’s jargon.

5. Walk the Walk

It is vital that you use the above brand identity elements in everything that the brand does or is associated with. This is how a good brand gets established and builds customer trust and loyalty. Your brand must live all of its values and promises e.g. if one of your values is innovation, then everything you do must be as innovative as possible, you should never copy anyone else in your category!

When you have your brand identity pinned down in words then, and only then, should you begin the process of designing your logo and developing your corporate guidelines. You will benefit from a much stronger and more competitive brand that will be a real asset to your business. Thoughts?



Category: Branding, market research, Marketing Strategy

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The Author:

Paula Ronan heads up Angel Marketing - an award-winning marketing agency in Ireland. Paula's experience in developing marketing stratgies, marketing plans and campaigns ranges from Coca-cola, BT, Sky TV to Today FM, Publishing Ireland, DoneDeal and lots of growing and start up businesses. Likes - strategy, creativity, integrity and straight-talking! http://www.angelireland.com

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  • http://www.tweakyourbiz.com Niall Devitt

    Hi Paula, Welcome to Bloggertone, love this post and great questions! “Think about your brand as though it were a person” I’ve never thought about it like that before but it’s so true, I’m already seeing the types of people many of the companies I work with would be, very interesting! Looking forward to part two already, thanks for sharing, Niall

  • http://twitter.com/fredchannel Fred

    Good post Paula. Welcome to Bloggertone.nTo point three I would definitely add John Jantsch’s words from our latest interview http://bit.ly/hDQ4VB : “Talk to your customers”. Basically, conducting proper short interviews (not surveys) and finding out what customers love about your product or service might be revealing to many business owners. The findings will massively contribute to the brand traits and strength.

  • http://www.seefincoaching.com/blog Elaine Rogers

    Welcome to Bloggertone Paula – great first post. I am always fascinated by branding, and how we portray ourselves out there in the land of the internet, as well as off line. I especially enjoyed point 2, lie Niall below. It makes sense that brands should have personalities :) nnLooking forward to part II already :)

  • Roisin Bell

    This is the first piece I’ve read for a long time that breaks down the basics of a brand. Very many companies I deal with are tired of hearing about the word ‘brand’ – they have a grasp of what it means and how important it is to their business, but they have no idea about how to begin to define it and build it. This is a really useful ‘back to brand basics’ that allows the reader to think about their brand and develop it piece by piece so I’ll be referring clients to it in the future!

  • http://xbs.ie Helen Cousins

    I too love the idea of treating the brand as if it were a person. This makes it easier to define and deliver consistency in all brand messages. Some companies lack consistency and confuse customers, even in little things like using several different font styles – sometimes even within the same business card. So, defining the brand as a personality will help to build consistency, ‘cos one wouldn’t wear brogues with a cocktail dress, (hopefully).nGreat first post Paula, I look forward to the rest of the series!

  • Margaret

    Great post Paula, well said !

  • http://www.cgonlinemarketing.com/ Christina Giliberti

    Hi Paula and welcome to Bloggertone!nNice juicy marketing blog…..nnBranding is a powerful area that can be overlooked or not considered. A brand is the visual identity of a company and encapsulates personality. You can separate yourself from your competitors by using branding, but you must align all your activities, tone of voice, ideas etc with this branding in mind.nExactly as you say.nnYou mention ‘industry jargon’ in point 4. I always find that this one is a biggie. If I pocketed a euro for each time I said to a client ‘too technical, or make every word count as a business benefit to your customer’, I’d be a millionaire. Most feel that technical language shows their expertise and knowledge of the area. Thats all well and good, but the customer doesn’t know your area and its them who you’re selling too. nnWhat are the drawbacks of rebranding? How would a company adjust their branding? Do you ahve any examples of strong branding?

  • Betty Kehoe

    Excellent food for thought Paula. Thanks.

  • http://www.capitalsteelbuildings.com.au/ farmshed

    If I pocketed a euro for each time I said to a purchaser ‘too mechanical, or make every phrase enumerate as a enterprise advantage to your customer’, I’d be a millionaire. Most seem that mechanical dialect displays their know-how and information of the area. Thats all well and good, but the clientele doesn’t understand your locality and its them who you’re trading too.

  • paularonan

    Thanks for your kind comments Niall – I enjoyed writing this first post for you guys, will start thinking about part two now!

  • paularonan

    Thank you for your comment, Elaine. Well, they say that “people buy people” so the better a consumer can relate to your brand’s personality, the better :)

  • paularonan

    I appreciate that, Roisin – I too have found that in many organisations, there is an apprehension about brand-centred marketing, as brand is not perceived as an asset which will deliver a return. A lot of opportunities being missed out there!

  • paularonan

    Thanks for taking the time to read and comment, Helen! Had to laugh though because I’m pretty sure I’ve worn doc martins with a cocktail dress back in the day and I wouldn’t rule it out again :) You’re spot on about the importance of being consistent, ta!

  • paularonan

    cheers Margaret!

  • paularonan

    Hi Christina – there’s a whole other blog post in there on rebranding! nnRebranding is always a big risk because you are letting go of an asset that you’ve built up over time. However, if it needs to be done, it’s best done sooner rather than later. The important part is the transition process – getting current customers used to the idea of the new brand and letting them know WHY it’s happening. This communication of the WHY is almost always omitted from the rebranding process – resulting in a disengaged audience who feel almost insulted or betrayed! nnI’m probably showing my age now, but I will always call Jif Jif, never Cif – I mean, what’s that all about? Ditto with Oil of Ulay. That’s what my mother used – she would never have used that Oil of Olay muck!nnPhew! Thanks for your comments and for provoking the brain this fine morning!

  • paularonan

    Thanks Bettty!

  • paularonan

    You’re right there – that’s probably a good reason to get input from outside the organisation on a regular basis, to get a handle on the customer’s perspective and tailor your communications to that – thanks for the comment, farmshed :)

  • http://twitter.com/GetLocalShopprs Wishpond

    Great post! A brand’s values always shows in their image. Zappos is so successful in social media because they are a truly social company internally, and have been long before social media existed.

  • paularonan

    Thanks for the comment :) n

  • Sandy Barris

    nBy the way, if itu2019s OK with you Iu2019d like to add that no marketing plan or marketing calendar should be set in stone! nnIf history has taught us anything, no matter how effective your plan may be, chances are, it will have to be altered at a given time; due to what your competitor(s), clients, future clients or suppliers are doing. nnHereu2019s the kicker, donu2019t feel as if you have to be a psychic. nnDonu2019t feel overwhelmed at the thought of needing a business and marketing plan so flexible that it takes away from the overall aim and goals that made you u2018hungryu2019 to market your particular business, product, service or idea in the first place! nnNo doubt about it, thereu2019s an easy way to be sure that you can continue to have success in the future u2013 if you just start off with flexibility in mind! nnThe best way to do so is to have a marketing plan and marketing calendar that is flexible and built to adjust itself when the time comes to do so. nnRespectfully,nSandy BarrisnFast Marketing Plan.comnhttp://www.FastMarketingPlan.comn

  • paularonan

    Thanks Sandy!

  • http://www.biznextdoor.com/ johnmartin

    Hey the post is really amazing, it make me come back again and again to read it. The information here is very useful and interesting.

  • paularonan

    Thanks John, I’m glad you found it useful:)n

  • Ray Holland

    Great stuff Paula… I would add that the more people (of every level) in your organization that contributes to the identification of and the eventual expression of your brand values, the more likely it will be that your organization’s people will “walk the walk”.

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