Brand Development is More Than a Marketing Plan

As a marketing process expert, let me share the steps involved in developing a brand. It’s a simple process, but requires thorough thinking to be successful.

Step One

The Marketing Plan

This contains all the product information (features, benefits, value proposition), competitive analysis, target market and market feasibility.

Step Two

The Creative Brief

A lot of people in the industry think this is part of the marketing plan. It is a secondary, and critical, document to augment the marketing plan. This is the document that prepares you for the customer approach or what used to be called Advertising. It answers the consumer’s question, “why do I want this product.” Properly executed, the creative brief can save you money when discussing the execution with your creative agency. No one knows the product as well as you.

Step Three

The Media Buy

Simply stated, how you reach your audience. There is a plethora of tools available online and with media planners to develop this plan. The challenge comes with the multitude of channels. The web has made this task very difficult. You will need to do a lot of homework to maximize your budget. Old and new media should be in your mix.

Step Four

The Financial Plan

Put your excitement about your product aside and remember your running a business. Everything should be based from a business perspective. As they say on the show Shark Tank, it’s all about “money”. A solid, and realistic, financial plan can help you secure funding and help you learn the realities of launching a new product. Most importantly, can you make money (profit)?

Step A

The Production Schedule

The entire process is driven by a schedule. Time can be your biggest asset or enemy. A production schedule will provide motivation and accountability. It should be realistic and fluid.

Branding is not one task, but a process. With due diligence, you can achieve developing a recognized brand in your category or even create a new category. These steps will also benefit the rebranding of an existing product.

Good Luck!

When to Fire Your Client

To keep things balanced on my "When to Fire Your Agency" series, here is the other view of the business. I have had the pleasure of serving on both sides of this industry.

When to Fire Your Client?
Answer: When you lose money on the account.

Explanation if needed:
You should have in place systems to evaluate the profitability of every client.

When To Fire Your Marketing/Advertsing Agency Part II

How often do you meet with your Account Representative? Who meets with them? Do you have a feedback loop in place?

In theory, there should be some contact everyday. In practice, there should be some contact everyday. Yes, I repeated myself. Go back and read it again.

Okay, there can be some factors that preclude daily contact:
    •    It a project based relationship
    •    The project schedule has specified touch points
    •    You're very smart and already have scheduled periodic meetings
    •    Scope of relationship, including investment ($)

A standard agency practice is to provide "Call Reports". Each time someone in your company speaks with the agency, an email, or some other documentation is provided by the agency. Usually, this occurs within 24-48 hours of the contact. This report identifies the parties involved, the discussion points and action, if required.

Action is further detailed with deadline and who's responsible.

Finally, the most critical factor in good communication, I call it "Key Contact." Having a list of contacts  and responsibilities is great, but there should be a catch-all person, affectionately called the "Key Contact." Nothing is more frustrating than not being able to get someone, when you need them. Key Contacts are on both sides of the communication chain.

Oddly, our industry is communication and we seem to be just as guilty as most industries about it.

Part III will cover, "When to fire your client."

When To Fire Your Marketing/Advertising Agency Part I

Let's start with the old axiom, "Quality, Price, Time. Pick two."

The first step is to pick all three.

Second define these areas:
    •    Quality - What service are they providing? My primary reason is creative. I tell my agencies, "I buy creative. As long as they are creative, I keep buying." Feel free to replace creative with any term.
    •    Price - Are their rates competitive in your" marketplace. Rates vary by location, size of agency and level of team assigned to your account. Also, rates are only part of the equation. Are they billing reasonable number of hours per project? Rate x Hours = Cost. Rate and hours are directly related.
    •    Time - Is there a schedule at project start? Is it followed? What percent is on-time delivery? Is it their or your fault? You share responsibility in this area. Be honest.

Third, rate these areas. Be analytical. Rate each area on a scale of one to ten and take an average. If you feel one area is more important to you, use a weighted average (if you don't know how to do this, call me).

10	Tell them what a great job their doing!
8-9	Discuss concerns with agency
6-7	Put agency on review
4-5	Start agency shopping
2-3	Fire your agency
0-1	What are you thinking?

This is a simple process, but you can add areas beyond these three. The key is to communicate with your agency and they should be communicating with you. This will be the subject of "When to Fire Your Marketing/Advertising Agency, Part II.