Tips, Tricks & Best Practices

logogetic
Miembro

Request for guidance on practical branding and marketing strategies

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Hello everyone,

I am a beginner in the field of branding and marketing, and I am seeking guidance on practical strategies that I can implement. I have taken courses on platforms like edx.org, but I find it difficult to apply the theoretical knowledge to real-world scenarios.

I am hoping that someone can suggest the best ways for me to learn and implement branding and marketing strategies, and help me understand how to make effective brand strategies. If possible, I would appreciate it if someone could explain their own approach to creating brand strategies and marketing plans.

Thank you in advance for your help and support. I look forward to hearing your insights.

Best regards, Azfar

3 Soluciones aceptadas
Jake_Lett
Solución
Guía | Partner
Guía | Partner

Request for guidance on practical branding and marketing strategies

resolver

Hi Azfar,

Below is a brief overview of how to approach branding and marketing strategy. It is very similar to sports or battle strategy. You look at your own strengths/weaknesses, your competition, and the game you are playing, and then develop your best plan to beat/join your competition in serving the market.

 

Sports and war battles are good analogies for approaching a strategy but fall short on who the real competition is. You are trying to solve a problem for a person, and you need to be way more concerned about the people you are trying to help vs. what your competition is doing. Your competition might actually be doing it wrong. In some cases, you could even partner with your competition in order to better serve your customer.

 

Look Inward

  • What are your business strengths
  • Who are you serving and what problems are you solving
  • Why should people buy from you and not your competition?
  • What strategic advantages do you have that your competition does not?
  • What do your customers like about your business?

Look Outward

  • What does your competition do better than you?
  • How are you different?
  • How are you visually distinct in terms of visual branding? Colors, imagery, fonts, etc. 
  • Are there industry trends you should adapt to?

Define a Strategy

  • What are opportunities you see to amplify your strengths?
  • How can you best position your business to communicate your USP - unique selling proposition

 

Resources to learn more about positioning, branding, and marketing strategy.

  • Purple Cow, Seth Godin
  • Building a StoryBrand, Donald Miller
  • 1-page Marketing Plan, Allan Dib
  • The Brand Gap, Marty Neumeier
  • The Secrets of Closing the Sale, Zig Ziglar

Ver la solución en mensaje original publicado

danmoyle
Solución
Miembro estimable | Partner nivel Elite
Miembro estimable | Partner nivel Elite

Request for guidance on practical branding and marketing strategies

resolver

Hi @logogetic and welcome to the community! Appreciate the tag @PamCotton!

 

Azfar, yhour question is a big one. A lot of folks devote years of study in college to this, or years of practical work in careers. There isn't an easy one-size-fits-all answer. But I'm happy to share a few things from my experience. 

 

First, if I may offer something from where I work, here's a branding guide we offer. It's a good resource with helpful ideas. 

 

For me, thinking about brand as your company's reputation helps. Brand isn't just logo, colors, tone of voice, fonts, etc. It's how people think of your company when you aren't in the room. 

 

It's their expectations, which are built over time and through various channels. It's marketing, customer service, reviews, social media voice... it's a lit of things. 

 

And marketing is the communications, promotions, go-to-market strategy based on research, and other efforts to get your company's message into the attention of your intended audience. 

 

All this to say resources like HubSpot, AdWeek, MarketingTwitter, and many others will help you hone your skills over time. 

 

One place I'd definitely recommend you hang out is HubSpot Academy. There are a lot of lessons and courses there on marketing & branding. I'm especially fond of the HubSpot philosophy, so Academy is my jam. 

 

Go forward with curiosity and a willingness to try new things. You won't always get it right, but if you're willing to test your efforts and learn along the way, you're on the right track. 

 

Did my answer help? Please "mark as a solution" to help others find answers. Plus I really appreciate it!


Dan Moyle

HubSpot Advisor

LearningOps | Impulse Creative

emailAddress
dan@impulsecreative.com
website
https://impulsecreative.com/

Ver la solución en mensaje original publicado

Jnix284
Solución
Miembro estimable | Partner nivel Diamond
Miembro estimable | Partner nivel Diamond

Request for guidance on practical branding and marketing strategies

resolver

Thanks for the tag @PamCotton!

 

Hi @logogetic I'm late to join the conversation and not sure how much I can add after reading the excellent advice and insights from @danmoyle and @Jake_Lett .

 

As you build and grow your knowledge around branding, I would suggest doing these two things:

 

1 - pick a brand you love and admire, it can be any company, product, service, etc. that you have had personal interactions with and truly believe they are doing a great job - or you can browse the global brands on instagram to pick one randomly (like Nike or National Geographic) - and then you need to start a journal of observations. Look at the questions Jake listed out and see if you could answer them based on what you see in their marketing and know about the brand (logo, online, social, print, tv, reputation, friends, etc.)

 

Studying another brand in depth and understanding the why behind their messaging will help you to see how they create the voice that shares that message with the world, and then you can start to translate that into how you define your brand.

 

2 - open your eyes to the world around you, marketing is everywhere - the billboards on the highway, ads on tv, in your mailbox and inbox, in your social feeds. Start taking notes in your journal, you can list out things like who the brand is, what product/service they offer, what visuals they used, what words they used, what was the overall message, did you like it or dislike it, if you needed the product/service would you buy it, who is their target, etc. and eventually, you won't need the journal anymore and you'll start to see the story behind the ad itself.

 

Obviously branding is more than ads, but they are an extremely valuable source of information and insight into what a brand is trying to achieve, the more you observe, the more you can learn!

 

I hope this helps you on your journey!

 


If my reply answered your question please mark it as a solution to make it easier for others to find.



Jennifer Nixon - Delivery Lead at Aptitude 8

connect with Jen on Linkedin

Ver la solución en mensaje original publicado

6 Respuestas 6
Jnix284
Solución
Miembro estimable | Partner nivel Diamond
Miembro estimable | Partner nivel Diamond

Request for guidance on practical branding and marketing strategies

resolver

Thanks for the tag @PamCotton!

 

Hi @logogetic I'm late to join the conversation and not sure how much I can add after reading the excellent advice and insights from @danmoyle and @Jake_Lett .

 

As you build and grow your knowledge around branding, I would suggest doing these two things:

 

1 - pick a brand you love and admire, it can be any company, product, service, etc. that you have had personal interactions with and truly believe they are doing a great job - or you can browse the global brands on instagram to pick one randomly (like Nike or National Geographic) - and then you need to start a journal of observations. Look at the questions Jake listed out and see if you could answer them based on what you see in their marketing and know about the brand (logo, online, social, print, tv, reputation, friends, etc.)

 

Studying another brand in depth and understanding the why behind their messaging will help you to see how they create the voice that shares that message with the world, and then you can start to translate that into how you define your brand.

 

2 - open your eyes to the world around you, marketing is everywhere - the billboards on the highway, ads on tv, in your mailbox and inbox, in your social feeds. Start taking notes in your journal, you can list out things like who the brand is, what product/service they offer, what visuals they used, what words they used, what was the overall message, did you like it or dislike it, if you needed the product/service would you buy it, who is their target, etc. and eventually, you won't need the journal anymore and you'll start to see the story behind the ad itself.

 

Obviously branding is more than ads, but they are an extremely valuable source of information and insight into what a brand is trying to achieve, the more you observe, the more you can learn!

 

I hope this helps you on your journey!

 


If my reply answered your question please mark it as a solution to make it easier for others to find.



Jennifer Nixon - Delivery Lead at Aptitude 8

connect with Jen on Linkedin

danmoyle
Miembro estimable | Partner nivel Elite
Miembro estimable | Partner nivel Elite

Request for guidance on practical branding and marketing strategies

resolver

Great addition @Jnix284 - "Studying another brand in depth" is such a good move. It's like musicians who start by covering their favorite bands. You build your muscles through research and deep understanding. 😊  Love that! 

 

Did my answer help? Please "mark as a solution" to help others find answers. Plus I really appreciate it!


Dan Moyle

HubSpot Advisor

LearningOps | Impulse Creative

emailAddress
dan@impulsecreative.com
website
https://impulsecreative.com/
Jnix284
Miembro estimable | Partner nivel Diamond
Miembro estimable | Partner nivel Diamond

Request for guidance on practical branding and marketing strategies

resolver

Thanks @danmoyle, this was something I came up with when I got my first job in marketing, I didn't have anyone to turn to and I needed to learn from the best!

 

My first journal was about Tiffany & Co because their brand had been so well defined for nearly 175 years (at the time), I learned the ins & outs of the company and still follow them closely - in the last few years there has been a very big shift in their target audience and messaging, which I found to be very interesting to see how they adapted to social changes.

 


If my reply answered your question please mark it as a solution to make it easier for others to find.



Jennifer Nixon - Delivery Lead at Aptitude 8

connect with Jen on Linkedin

danmoyle
Solución
Miembro estimable | Partner nivel Elite
Miembro estimable | Partner nivel Elite

Request for guidance on practical branding and marketing strategies

resolver

Hi @logogetic and welcome to the community! Appreciate the tag @PamCotton!

 

Azfar, yhour question is a big one. A lot of folks devote years of study in college to this, or years of practical work in careers. There isn't an easy one-size-fits-all answer. But I'm happy to share a few things from my experience. 

 

First, if I may offer something from where I work, here's a branding guide we offer. It's a good resource with helpful ideas. 

 

For me, thinking about brand as your company's reputation helps. Brand isn't just logo, colors, tone of voice, fonts, etc. It's how people think of your company when you aren't in the room. 

 

It's their expectations, which are built over time and through various channels. It's marketing, customer service, reviews, social media voice... it's a lit of things. 

 

And marketing is the communications, promotions, go-to-market strategy based on research, and other efforts to get your company's message into the attention of your intended audience. 

 

All this to say resources like HubSpot, AdWeek, MarketingTwitter, and many others will help you hone your skills over time. 

 

One place I'd definitely recommend you hang out is HubSpot Academy. There are a lot of lessons and courses there on marketing & branding. I'm especially fond of the HubSpot philosophy, so Academy is my jam. 

 

Go forward with curiosity and a willingness to try new things. You won't always get it right, but if you're willing to test your efforts and learn along the way, you're on the right track. 

 

Did my answer help? Please "mark as a solution" to help others find answers. Plus I really appreciate it!


Dan Moyle

HubSpot Advisor

LearningOps | Impulse Creative

emailAddress
dan@impulsecreative.com
website
https://impulsecreative.com/
Jake_Lett
Solución
Guía | Partner
Guía | Partner

Request for guidance on practical branding and marketing strategies

resolver

Hi Azfar,

Below is a brief overview of how to approach branding and marketing strategy. It is very similar to sports or battle strategy. You look at your own strengths/weaknesses, your competition, and the game you are playing, and then develop your best plan to beat/join your competition in serving the market.

 

Sports and war battles are good analogies for approaching a strategy but fall short on who the real competition is. You are trying to solve a problem for a person, and you need to be way more concerned about the people you are trying to help vs. what your competition is doing. Your competition might actually be doing it wrong. In some cases, you could even partner with your competition in order to better serve your customer.

 

Look Inward

  • What are your business strengths
  • Who are you serving and what problems are you solving
  • Why should people buy from you and not your competition?
  • What strategic advantages do you have that your competition does not?
  • What do your customers like about your business?

Look Outward

  • What does your competition do better than you?
  • How are you different?
  • How are you visually distinct in terms of visual branding? Colors, imagery, fonts, etc. 
  • Are there industry trends you should adapt to?

Define a Strategy

  • What are opportunities you see to amplify your strengths?
  • How can you best position your business to communicate your USP - unique selling proposition

 

Resources to learn more about positioning, branding, and marketing strategy.

  • Purple Cow, Seth Godin
  • Building a StoryBrand, Donald Miller
  • 1-page Marketing Plan, Allan Dib
  • The Brand Gap, Marty Neumeier
  • The Secrets of Closing the Sale, Zig Ziglar
PamCotton
Administrador de la comunidad
Administrador de la comunidad

Request for guidance on practical branding and marketing strategies

resolver

Hello @logogetic thank you for posting all your questions in our Community!

I want to invite our top experts to this conversation to share their thoughts 

@Jnix284 @danmoyle @Jake_Lett any insights to @logogetic ?

 

Thank you,

Pam

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