As we start coming back to the market place and reopen businesses, it’s a perfect time to take a step back, and well, unfuck your business and marketing. Coming from a market feast to famine, how do we navigate uncertainty and give ourselves the best chance to succeed? As we have seen, many businesses got complacent. They were sure the easy times would never end. We cannot tell you the number of companies that limited their brand strategy and marketing, confident that they didn’t need much to continue into the future. Well, welcome to 2020, its bitch slap of reality. A reality that is sadly destroying many businesses woefully unprepared for the challenge, because they never built their branding, marketing nor infrastructures up properly. This failure to prepare is partially due to the complexity of creating an effective brand & business strategy and addressing all the associated variables. And partly to the assumption that people believe what has worked in the past for them, will work moving forward. That mentality is often the sign of failure on the horizon.

Branding & Marketing

Often times, people come to us convinced their branding is all about marketing. And that is not the case. You don’t only build a brand for growth. You build a brand to weather the storms, to build a powerful customer experience, that helps you stand out and stand for something. More often than not, to most business owners, marketing is based on selling when it should be based on branding. Marketing is not just selling. Marketing is building a brand in the mind of the prospect. If you can build an effective and distinct brand, only then can you have a powerful marketing program. If you cannot, then all the advertising, fancy packaging, sales promotion, web designs, and pr in the world won’t help you achieve your objective efficiently and effectively. You will just be spending money, hoping that you get sales. And you will have no plan or clarity on how you stand out and stand for something in the eyes of the consumer. Marketing needs to be about brand building. Marketing leads to sales, which is a business’s ultimate objective. Without sales, your business dies. That is why everyone who works in the company should be concerned with marketing, and specifically, with the brand strategy. Now is the time. The businesses that strengthen, develop, and optimize their brand will come through the ashes more robust than ever, and these brands will dominate the competition. Is your brand ready and able to weather the storm?

Business Strategy & Infrastructure and On Going Discussions

But what about government bailouts and other support? Don’t count on it. There is no real help. You need to help yourself, and you needed to start yesterday. But since we don’t have time machines yet, let’s start today. Let’s evaluate our business strategy, our brand strategy, and make sure everything is in alignment to optimize your marketing and sales. For many companies branding strategy and marketing alone aren’t going to be nearly enough, tough times call for drastic changes. And as much as we want to help everyone out, we need to also consider the survival of your business. To help through these tough times, we are creating a series of short blog posts and interviews discussing important topics such as: How to help your brand weather good and bad times? Does your business model have what it takes to survive to upcoming challenges and cuts? Why competitive intelligence matters now, more than ever, and how to proceed most effectively. Why fixed expenses can be a slow noose and how to mitigate the risks? How to renegotiate a lease? How and why to fire employees, and what should you outsource if anything? How is technology, your friend or your enemy? Is it a business, or is it a charity? What does this distinction matter? These topics are just starting points and will evolve. So please join us as we address our clients’ concerns, and feel free to reach out to us with any thoughts or questions you might have.