There is TOO MUCH GOING ON. Not just in the state of the world (because I could write a whole other blog on that….. wait should I?), but our options when it comes to the stuff we buy, and the stuff we use. We are inundated with choices, which used to be a good thing, but now it’s like fdsajfklsdjklsdjfas.

How do we decide which brands are supportable and which are not? And how do we, as creatives, as creators, and as marketers create and develop the kinds of brands that your audience genuinely wants to support?

Assessing the Current State of Your Brand

There’s a lottt that goes into running a business and building a brand. What do you need to look at to properly assess what you have going on from a marketing standpoint?

Visual Identity: Are your logo, color scheme, font choices, and print material visually consistent across all platforms? And more importantly, are they cute?
Brand Voice: Does your messaging resonate with the communities you want to connect with? Does it sound like it’s coming from the same voice across all platforms?
Customer Feedback: What do your customers and supporters think of your brand? Are there common themes in their feedback? Do you have a good ear for what they’re saying?
Market Position: How do you compare to your competitors? What sets you apart?

Developing a Comprehensive Marketing Strategy

You know the general current state of your brand, and where your strengths and pitfalls are. Now you can turn those burners on.

Define goals: Can you think of some short and long-term goals based off of the assessment of your brand? Whether you’re aiming to boost brand awareness, generate leads, or drive sales, having a clear objective is everything.
Know your people: If you’ve been in business for longer than 5 minutes, you know that you can’t appeal to everyone. Unless you’re Chappell Roan. Who are the people you want to help with your business? What do they act like, sound like, smell like? Where do they hang out? What makes them cry? Get super curious about who these people are and what they’re into. Conduct “market research” or whatever.
Craft your message: Now you’re going to come up with some kind of mission statement (this can stay internal, or you can publish it) that speaks to the heart of your brand. This should be a clear, specific statement about how your business solves your customers’ problems, delivers benefits, etc. And then refer to this mission statement every morning to remind yourself why you do what you do.
If you’re anything like me, you’re going to overthink this mission statement a lot, and maybe spend way too much time on this (did I mention that I’m a Procrastinator Perfectionist? Take this quiz to find out what kind of perfectionist you are lol). Maybe you’re just starting out, and want to leave wiggle room for possibilities down the line. Totally valid, but I want to challenge you to get really specific anyways. Nothing is real, and you can change anything you want at any time (finance bros call this “pivoting” — if they can do it, so can you). But you do need somewhere to start. It doesn’t need to be perfect, it just needs to get done. Be thoughtful about this but not too thoughtful, ya know?
Choose Your Channels: Good news! You don’t need to be everywhere, doing everything. You just need to be where your people, and potential customers, are. For example, if your audience is Gen Z, you get to stay off Facebook yay. But you do need to be on Tik Tok (which is also a yay imo. I’m not a regular millennial, I’m a cool millennial).
Allocate Your Budget: It doesn’t all need to get done at once. What can you budget for, within the next 3 months, that’ll help you to reach your goals?

The Role of Project Management in Brand Development

Getting thoughtful about your project management systems will literally save you time, money, and stress. Effective project management is burnout prevention!

Looking into methodologies (agile vs scrum vs waterfall… am I losing you? Or should I do a blog about these?), tools (Asana, Monday, etc), and getting serious about timelines and budgeting are some ways to boost productivity while maintaining your own sanity.

Implementing Marketing Campaigns

So you know the current state of your brand, you have some marketing goals in mind, and you’ve tidied up your project management system. Now we can cook.

The campaigns you run should have a unified brand voice, visual consistency, and most importantly, must be seamless across different platforms, from social media to blogs to email marketing (“cross-channel integration” if you’re nasty).

Measuring Growth

It can be hard to measure marketing success sometimes. Unlike sales, the impact you have isn’t always quantitative. The growth you make, the connections you build, and the individuals that you help can’t always be represented by numbers.

However, *pushes glasses up nose* there are some solid ways to get into the analytics.

Analytics tools, like Google Analytics and social media insights can be extremely helpful. Most platforms have their own analytics reports (ie. Instagram, Mailchimp) that are pretty intuitive to figure out the basics of. And of course there are more intense nerdy ones that track way more details than you’re probably ready to see, but there’s sooo much good information in those.

The important part is to check these and track them periodically and regularly. If you start mapping out your “key performance indicators” (metrics that you track that are important to your brand) every month, it’ll soon become obvious how you need to shift your efforts to reach your goals.

Partnering For Success

Transforming your brand from chaos to cohesion requires a strategic approach to marketing, and xeffective project management. By following the steps above, you can create a cohesive brand that stands out in no time. But hey, achieving this requires some know-how and experience.

If you’re ready to glow up your brand, consider partnering with a professional who can guide you through the process. Contact me today for a phone call or a lil coffee date and we can talk business or whatever. <3

Love,
Jamie

From Chaos to Cohesion: Transforming Your Brand with Impactful Marketing