Committing to a Brand Strategy: A Leap of Faith

Clients who hire companies like Core Strength Marketing (CSM) want help defining or refining their brand..but what does that really mean to them? What are they asking for and what do they hope to gain?

To me, it means the brand strategy must provide the following three deliverables:

1. De-Commoditize the Company.
Find, identify and characterize the one particular notion or concept that company can

a. Absolutely own in their category
b. Use to their competitive advantage

2. Provide Creative and Channel Direction
Guide strategic direction and adherence for all marketing communication and activity

3. Unify Employee Vision and Focus
Help define and communicate core values, commitments and priorities

The client who commits to this marketing path, demonstrates a great deal of courage and conviction and is perhaps even taking a leap of faith. That client is trusting that their company can stand for only one thing, one core central idea and be successful. They are giving up the comfort of trying to cover multiple message bases with varied claims of value, service and quality.

In addition, they are accepting the notion that one idea can be big enough to accomplish all three key deliverables:

1. Differentiate and De-Commoditize
2. Provide Marketing Direction and Consistency
3. Unify and Focus Employees

My colleagues and I are very thankful and respectful of the courage and conviction of our clients and the trust they put in us. They are committing serious resources in time, headspace and hard dollars. They are entrusting firms and consultants like CSM with their brand and the direction it will take their company. We don’t take the responsibility lightly.

Thank you for your trust and leap of faith. There are countless examples of companies large and small who have thrived beyond expectation after embarking on the same journey as you.