Look Before You Take a Marketing Leap

drawing of two men in office

Knowing your brand promise and knowing what to do with it are two completely separate things.

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You already know that smart marketing should embrace a “ready, aim, fire” approach. But too often in the haste of getting things done, marketing can look more like “ready, fire, aim”–or even worse–“fire, ready, aim,” which can result in shooting yourself in the proverbial foot.

So following in the footsteps of previous posts by Brian Dahl and Mike Dobies that applied ancient wisdom to modern marketing, here’s another wise word from Proverbs 19:2 for today’s busy Marketing Director:

“Desire without knowledge is not good, and whoever makes haste with his feet misses his way.”

Translation: look before you take a marketing leap. Yes, your desire to do great marketing is admirable and we fully support striving for excellence. But without the knowledge in place to lay a solid foundation upon which to build a rock solid marketing plan, all your efforts could fall terribly flat. And no marketing director wants their haste to make waste. There is a better way.

First, you need to clearly understand your brand. Who are you? What do you do? What differentiates you from your competitors? What are your unique value propositions? What is your brand promise? And does your perception of the brand promise align with your customers’ perception of the brand promise?

If you need help answering these questions, we can lead you through a brand development process. This disciplined approach to clarifying your brand promise is methodical, insightful and very purposeful. It can connect the dots between your core purpose, your positioning, your strategy, your employees, your network and ultimately your customer.

Armed with better knowledge of your brand, then you can go full speed ahead with your marketing communications efforts. Not so fast!

Knowing your brand promise and knowing what to do with it are two completely separate things.

Picture this: You find yourself with a terrible toothache. You brush, you floss, you apply some tooth desensitizing cream. But nothing helps. You finally go to the dentist and learn you have an abscess in the root. Whew! Now you know the cause, so you go happily about your day. Of course you don’t. Unfortunately you need to see an endodontist for a root canal. Not a very pleasant event. But if the abscessed tooth goes untreated it will result in more painful consequences demanding more extensive and costly treatment.

So how does this word picture relate to your brand promise and your marcom activities? Simply this: knowledge, without the wisdom of application, will still leave you in a world of pain.

Insert your integrated marketing agency here. The wisdom that is born out of the knowledge of your brand development session ideally begins with the collaboration of your internal marketing team and your external marketing agency. Together you can craft a sound marcom plan that will ring true to your brand promise.

Thankfully, the brand development process isn’t painful like a root canal. It’s typically a fun, enlightening, empowering and rewarding experience. Ultimately, it will provide you with a clear vision of your brand so you can say “Yes!” to the right, thoughtful marcom plans and “No!” to the wrong, reactive activities that waste your budget.

The bottom line: Don’t allow haste to derail your marketing way. Stay on a steady path based on sure knowledge and applied wisdom.

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