5 steps to follow to stop wasting your marketing budget (and start getting great results)

At Making You Smile, we often get contacted by potential clients who are puzzled about why their marketing and sales actions are not bringing the results they want.

And most of the times, what we find out is that the real problem lies in their branding.

«Marketing is asking someone out on a date. Branding is the reason they say yes.»

I remember laughing over this brilliant statement during my breakfast time on a Friday morning in June last year. It was thanks to one of my friends who WhatsApped me the quote.
 
Her: "For your next blog post! "
Me: "Love it! What's the source?"
Her: "I have no idea"
Me: "So how was Fef's (her fiancé) branding when you guys first met?"
Her: “He had a pretty good strategy and a really attractive visual identity!” (She works in marketing)
Me: "Double love it! "

Okay now. Let me explain why that statement is such a great metaphor.

What is branding?

Branding is the strategy and process of building a brand. You elaborate a brand strategy and execute it with the goal of helping your target audiences identify your products or services.

Also, a well-defined brand strategy enables you to clearly express a reason, both rational and emotional, to your target customers for WHY they should buy from you.
 
In short, branding's role is to make your value proposition clear and attractive to the right people in continuity.

What is marketing?

Marketing is more tactical. It’s all about putting the right product at the right price, with the right communication, in the right place, at the right time (think about the famous 4P mix).

All marketing actions (asking someone out), IF DONE RIGHT, will reinforce the brand positioning.

Because they will give your brand more chances to express its identity to your target audience (making them want to say yes, whether it’s immediately or sooner or later).

To sum up, if you want to entice the right people and get them to say “yes”, first and foremost, you have to make sure your branding is attractive to their eyes.
 
Clearly and consistently, across all your customer touchpoints, and over time.

Because if you confuse them, you lose them.

Now, are you wondering where to begin?

Follow these 5 steps that guarantee great results.

Step 1. (Re)establish your vision upon how to differentiate your business

A. What sets you apart?

B. What is your specific “thing” and story that others do not do/have?

C. If you’ve been doing everything just like your competitors so far - what can you or want to do differently? How and why?
 
Step 2. Understand how to appeal to your target audience

A. What are your ideal customers’ pain points and desired results or experience?

B. What are their hidden wants beyond their needs?

C. How can YOU solve their problem in a way no one else does in your market?

D. How and where are you going to reach these people? With what message?

Step 3. Price your offer carefully to craft the right positioning
 
A. What’s the right pricing strategy you need to run a profitable activity?

B. Is it aligned with how you want your buyers to perceive your brand?
 
Step 4. Align your visual and verbal identity with your positioning

A. What are the right emotions to evoke?

B. What visual elements should be used to express your brand and evoke those emotions?
> shapes
> colors
> images
> fonts

C. And what verbal elements?
> tone
> vocabulary
> length of sentences

Step 5. Execute with CLARITY and CONSISTENCY
 
A. How to apply them to product development, design, copywriting, internal management, talent acquisition, and more?

B. How to express them on your website, social media (whatever the right platforms are for you), oral pitch, other marketing and sales tools?

Once you're done with this journey, there's no doubt you've turned your business into a unique and irresistible brand.

A brand to which your customers say "yes!" again and again.

Try it. You’ll be able to stop the guessing game and ditch fruitless marketing. Instead, you’ll enjoy winning the hearts and minds of the right people and seeing your business prosper.