Marketing is a key component in having a successful business. If you are not active and using the proper tools and resources, then your marketing can fall short and prevent your business from growing. If you fall into one of these categories, then it’s important to reflect and make the proper adjustments to re-strategize your marketing approach.
By: SHAY HARBAUGH, Jr. Art Director, Veugeler Design Group
1. Inconsistencies in Your Brand
When establishing your brand it’s important to have a strong mission statement. Your mission statement is a clear description of your company’s values and purpose. It is a tool that effectively communicates your product or service and how your company is unique. Sometimes your statement can get lost in your marketing, or is inconsistent with your products. People need to see consistency in a brand. It builds that customer relationship and makes the brand experience stronger on all platforms. If your visual content, such as your logo and images, don’t relate to your mission then it can cause confusion and become more of a distraction for customers. Every single component of your brand needs to be harmonious and work together to build trust.
2. No Message Architecture Set in Place
If a building doesn’t have a strong foundation and framework, then it falls apart. The same goes for content and messaging – it must be aligned. Message architecture is an organized structure of words and phrases that are prioritized to deliver a clear message. It begins with a positioning statement that defines your company and niche audience, then establishes your value propositions and key messages. Creating and implementing your message architecture can be tricky to do on your own, and even trickier when employees are not aligned. Therefore, we recommend bringing in a marketing professional to walk you through the process.
3. Marketing Materials Are Not up to Date
The images that are used in your marketing help to tell your brand’s story visually. The visual and creative designs are what get the audience’s attention to draw them in. Using outdated designs are not only ineffective, but can actually damage your brand. Just because something used to be successful doesn’t mean it will work now. Every so often you need to review your creative and make sure that it’s current. With the abundance of ads everywhere, in print and digital, your imagery and graphic design need to be attention grabbing and “click” worthy. By not updating your creative, your message will get lost and instead of making money, it could end up costing you money and possibly losing customers to your competition.
4. You Aren’t Assessing Your Weaknesses
The word weakness can have a huge negative connotation, but if we are always focusing on our strengths then how can we ever grow? It’s hard for us to reflect and take a look at areas that need improving, but it’s also necessary in order to be successful. By analyzing weaknesses, it gives you a chance to see opportunities and avoid making mistakes. Make sure to look at your weaknesses from both an internal and external point of view. Internal weaknesses could stem from everyone in the company having different priorities. External weaknesses could come from how the audience receives your message or an issue with a competitor. If you are unsure as to exactly what your weakness is then start looking at your brand as a whole. Look at your mission statement, message architecture and your current visual campaigns side by side to see if there are any leaks. Turn your weakness into a win for your company.
5. Misinformed on Your Marketing Strategy
There is tons of information available with just the click of a button, but a lot of it can be confusing and misleading. Advice that you receive may have worked for someone else, but might not be right for your type of business and products. Instead, reach out to a marketing and design firm that understands how brand strategy works. They can help create and implement a plan of action that works best for your company. Don’t risk your company’s success on misinformation, instead place it in the hands of marketing professionals.
For more information about improving your marketing, contact Veugeler Design Group at 678-482-2270 or VDGatl.com.
