Too many communication services providers today want you to believe that marketing is a series of activities, not a discipline. Of course, marketers have a plethora of new tools available (Instagram anyone?) but that does not mean you should use all of them.
Instead, the trick is to use the ones that make sense for your brand. And the way to do that is by developing the discipline to make the "which tool or tactic" question the seventh question.
Here, then, are the first 6 questions you have to have answered before you ever answer the 7th:
1. Can you describe your brand promise in 7 seconds?
2. Have you created an Internal Brand Statement (your big, category trumping idea) for your brand that clearly frames the brand promise, story and experience?
3. Do you know where you want your brand to be 10 years from now?
4. Have you decided on whether you want your customers to think, feel or act differently?
5. Have you decided if you’re going to focus on gaining new customers or getting current customers to use more?
6. Have you narrowed down your target to those who are the most motivated by what you have to offer?
If you answered “no” to ANY of the 6 questions, then you need to forget about the 7th question – the one about marketing tools and tactics and design and copy – and discipline yourself to build your brand foundation first.
And most importantly, be leery of those who keep saying “marketing has changed”, because the fundamentals still matter most and it is usually non-marketers who are saying it who are trying to sell you something.
Instead, the trick is to use the ones that make sense for your brand. And the way to do that is by developing the discipline to make the "which tool or tactic" question the seventh question.
Here, then, are the first 6 questions you have to have answered before you ever answer the 7th:
1. Can you describe your brand promise in 7 seconds?
2. Have you created an Internal Brand Statement (your big, category trumping idea) for your brand that clearly frames the brand promise, story and experience?
3. Do you know where you want your brand to be 10 years from now?
4. Have you decided on whether you want your customers to think, feel or act differently?
5. Have you decided if you’re going to focus on gaining new customers or getting current customers to use more?
6. Have you narrowed down your target to those who are the most motivated by what you have to offer?
If you answered “no” to ANY of the 6 questions, then you need to forget about the 7th question – the one about marketing tools and tactics and design and copy – and discipline yourself to build your brand foundation first.
And most importantly, be leery of those who keep saying “marketing has changed”, because the fundamentals still matter most and it is usually non-marketers who are saying it who are trying to sell you something.
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