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If you had to summarize your brand identity in a sentence, could you do it? How can you create magic if you aren’t clear about who you are and what you stand for?
Key Takeaways:
- Your brand identity is the first thing customers connect with, so it’s crucial to know who you are as a brand.
- To connect with your customers, you must first find your verbal brand identity, which is your 3 Keys: Purpose, Values, and Story.
- Growth comes from customers, and to effectively market to them, you need to understand what they need from you, what they believe in, and who they are.
- Marketing plans are best developed using data vs. assumptions.
- The Catalyst Conversation can help you determine who you are and where growth comes from, so you can truly understand your customers and unlock the power of your brand.
Are you ready to become a marketing magician? Your first step is to clearly articulate your brand identity. Why? Because it’s your brand identity that customers connect with, and you only have one shot to make that connection.
You can only expect to make a connection with customers if you know who you are as a brand. That means the first step is to find your verbal identity – that’s your brand identity, or your 3 Keys: Purpose, Values, and Story.
Next, you must figure out where growth comes from – it’s the secret ingredient that is most often missed. The real truth is that growth comes from customers, no matter what. To truly maximize a plan, a powerful connection to potential customers and clients is critical to how long they stay in your funnel. You must understand who your customers are, what they believe in, and what they need that you can provide.
A business operating system (BOS) can help you solve these issues. A BOS is a framework for business operations and growth that encompasses most – if not all – aspects of your company, including your people, processes, systems, skills, and structure. And the right BOS helps your team align so you can gain clarity for your marketing plan.
Wave your wand – it’s time to put your marketing magic plan into action. But, before you do, take the time to make sure your plan is effective. It needs to be based on hard data, not just assumptions. Gather data on your products, customers, and operations, analyze it to understand your strengths and weaknesses, and make strategic decisions that drive your business forward. Your business objective is the most important measuring stick, so it’s imperative to have the big picture in mind the entire time – after all, it’s about achieving long-term results.
Know how you present to the world
First, ask yourself this question: Who do you want to be, as a company and a brand? What makes you take action? What’s the driving force behind everything you do as an organization?
If you can’t easily answer those questions, take time to figure it out – because your marketing magic depends on your verbal brand identity – your critical 3 Keys.
Verbal brand identity refers to the words and language a company uses to describe and communicate its brand to its target audience. This includes the brand’s messaging, tone of voice, and unique language style, and includes your 3 Keys.
Your verbal brand identity establishes and reinforces your brand’s visual identity or image, which, to your customers, is essentially your reputation. It’s a critical aspect of your brand and helps to create a clear, consistent, and memorable brand identity (verbal and visual) that sets you apart from the competition.
When you have clarity of your verbal brand – which informs your visual identity – you have the unity needed to make marketing magic.
Get clarity when you discover the 3 Keys
The best way to get clarity on your verbal brand identity is through your 3 Keys: Purpose, Values, and Story.
The 3 Keys are the building blocks of your brand foundation. They work together to unlock the power of your brand. The results are clear – you can drive profitability. Here’s what each Key entails:
Purpose is the fundamental reason your company exists, including its vision and mission. It also speaks to how your company aligns with your customers’ wants and beliefs. This Key is critical for you to create a strong, meaningful connection with your target audience.
Values are the shared principles that attract aligned customers and establish a healthy, winning culture within your company. This Key is essential to differentiate yourself from competitors and create a sense of community within your customer base – based on customer needs and insights.
Story is the way you communicate, both internally and externally, about what sets your company apart. This Key is about authenticity and the unique narrative that sets you apart. When your Story is communicated effectively, it can create a powerful bond with your customers.
The 3 Keys work together to create patterns that build strong connections and drive growth. When you have clarity on your Purpose, Values, and Story, you have the marketing foundation you need.
Know where growth comes from
Growth comes from customers – it’s as simple as that. Without customers, there’s nowhere to go.
To work that marketing magic and accelerate your profits, it’s crucial that you know who your customers are. This means you must understand who connects with your brand identity and verbal identity and who believes in what your brand does.
A thorough understanding of your customers allows you to create a connection with them that’s strong and authentic. When customers feel understood, they’re more likely to build a deep personal relationship with your brand. When you focus on them, you can build a brand synonymous with customer satisfaction, trust, and loyalty.
Unlock customer connection
To truly understand your customers, you must have a deeper conversation with them. And to do this, you must have a clear understanding of your 3 Keys, where growth comes from, how to achieve alignment, and what your brand is putting out into the world. With this information in your arsenal, you’ll walk away with a clear picture of what marketing magic looks like and what you have to do to get there.
If you don’t have all those answers, Advantages’ Catalyst Conversation diagnostic tool can help. This conversation delves into your organization with thoughtful questions backed by both data and industry expertise, which is how it finds new opportunities for growth and helps establish achievable objectives.
Through this consultation, you’ll gain valuable insights into what your marketing needs.
When you unlock your customer connection, you’ll have the information you need to make your brand truly resonate with your customers. And in turn, this will help you achieve explosive and sustainable growth.
Use data to inform your plan
Your plan must be based on metrics with purpose, not just assumptions. When you rely on gut feelings, it leads to missed opportunities and wasted resources.
Instead, your plan needs to be based on hard data, such as your product mix and efficiencies. This data can help you identify improvement areas and make strategic decisions that drive your business forward.
To start, gather data on your products, customers, and operations. Analyze this data to understand your strengths and weaknesses and identify areas that need improvement. Additionally, efficiency is a vital aspect of a data-driven plan. When you look at how your operations function, you can identify ways to streamline processes and reduce costs.
When you use data to inform your plan, you can make strategic decisions grounded in reality, which helps you achieve real results for your business.
Focus on long-term results
When it comes to strategic plans, it’s essential to focus on long-term results. A strategic growth plan is not a one-time project – it’s a constant process.
You need to maintain a long-term perspective and not get bogged down by short-term wins. Focus on long-term results so you’re automatically better equipped to handle short-term setbacks and stay on track toward your ultimate goals.
For instance, consider that you could track long-term KPIs that include:
- Return on invested capital (ROIC)
- Cost of capital
- Cumulative profit
- Revenue compounded annual growth rate (CAGR)
- Long-term sales growth
You can support long-term results if you set measurable goals that are also specific, actionable, and realistic. You also need to support long-term KPIs with certain short-term KPIs. Those include:
- Sales productivity
- Operating cost productivity
- Capital productivity
Set up a system that tracks performance so you can easily see where you are in relation to your goals. Yes, your plan needs to set you up for long-term success, but the only way to achieve that is to measure your short-term progress and adjust where you need to.
A great way to do this is to find a business operating system that works for you. A BOS is a standard for processes your company will follow that defines how your business operates and ensures alignment of everyone on your team with clarity of understanding of your 3 Keys.
Kickstart your brand identity and find explosive growth
Unlock the full potential of your marketing magic with the help of Advantages’ Catalyst Conversation. Our diagnostic tool, backed by data and expertise, uses in-depth questions to identify new opportunities and set achievable goals for your organization.
With the Catalyst Conversation, you understand what marketing needs to do to drive growth for your business, an idea of what a marketing program designed to address growth opportunities would look like, and key priorities to work on.
Let’s talk about how you can drive growth to new heights and work real marketing magic!
