BRAND THE UNBREAKABLE FRAME
UnbreakableFrame
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<strong>BRAND</strong>:<br />
<strong>THE</strong><br />
<strong>UNBREAKABLE</strong><br />
<strong>FRAME</strong><br />
BY RYAN SCHULZ
STORIES ARE GREAT<br />
TOOLS THAT ALLOW<br />
PEOPLE TO CONNECT<br />
WITH AND ASSIGN VALUE<br />
TO A MESSAGE OR IDEA.<br />
They have the power to influence behavior,<br />
inspire action and persuade perspectives.<br />
Telling stories about the brands we market<br />
is at the core of what we do as impactful<br />
communicators. We spend most of our time<br />
trying to protect the frame that others attempt<br />
to put around our organizations.<br />
We believe there are three levers of identity<br />
that people use when describing most<br />
B2B and professional services organizations:<br />
relationships, reputation and<br />
intellectual property.<br />
Failing to adequately frame the conversation<br />
around your brand surrenders your story to<br />
the competition and other stakeholders that<br />
try and frame it for you. The story becomes<br />
disjointed. Experiences that your audiences<br />
have with your brand, on or offline, greatly<br />
influence how others perceive you. However,<br />
these messages don’t always consistently<br />
reflect your organization’s true essence.<br />
IN SHORT: It creates an unclear and<br />
complicated mess.<br />
It takes a well-articulated and differentiated<br />
brand to frame the conversation around these<br />
three levers, and an even stronger one to do<br />
that when you’re not in the room to speak<br />
for it.<br />
2
SO <strong>THE</strong> INEVITABLE QUESTION THAT IS ON YOUR MIND IS:<br />
WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?<br />
“<br />
WHY ISN’T<br />
MY <strong>BRAND</strong><br />
WORKING<br />
FOR ME?<br />
“<br />
We believe it is largely because of a<br />
misunderstanding around positioning and<br />
value propositions. When positioning isn’t<br />
clear, organizations typically have a broken<br />
view of their competitive or comparative<br />
set. And in our experience, marketers have<br />
too narrow a view of their value proposition,<br />
resulting in brands with very similar core<br />
messages (see such bland terms as<br />
trustworthy, client-focused, results-driven<br />
or collaborative). These core messages<br />
simply do not serve to differentiate.<br />
A truly differentiated<br />
brand is an<br />
unbreakable<br />
frame built from<br />
the consistent use<br />
of identity and<br />
character across<br />
all communications<br />
channels.<br />
It is a lens through which all of your<br />
communications flow, and it gives context to<br />
who you are as an organization. We’d like to<br />
take an in-depth look into how to construct<br />
this unbreakable frame and highlight the<br />
importance of digital-first thinking within<br />
your marketing efforts. In doing so, we will<br />
further explore how true brand differentiation<br />
is key to telling the compelling story your<br />
organization needs.<br />
3
TABLE OF CONTENTS<br />
SECTION I<br />
5 | Defining Brand & True Differentiation<br />
6 | An Authentic Point of View<br />
7 | The Brand Plan Pyramid<br />
SECTION II<br />
8 | A New Standard for Brand Engagement<br />
9 | Thinking Digitally<br />
10 | The Self-Directed Buyer<br />
11 | Marketing Technology for Brand Marketers<br />
SECTION III<br />
12 | Define Your Direction: IBM<br />
14 | Find Engaging Visuals: CBRE<br />
15 | Express Your Organizational Character Through Social Media: Gartner<br />
SIDEBARS<br />
8 | The Rise of the CXO<br />
11 | A New Generation of Decision Makers<br />
13 | 5 Signs You Need a Brand Refresh<br />
CONCLUSION<br />
17 | Conclusion<br />
4
DEFINING <strong>BRAND</strong> &<br />
TRUE DIFFERENTIATION<br />
SECTION I<br />
Many executives think of their brand as being limited to a logo, tagline or<br />
color palette. Although these elements are important, they are actually just<br />
components of your brand; verbal and visual signifiers for your organization.<br />
They are representations of your brand; cues to help audiences remember<br />
their experiences with you. They are not, however, your brand.<br />
A more holistic way of thinking<br />
about Brand is as the “sticky glue”<br />
that connects business strategy and<br />
customer/client experiences. Brand<br />
stickiness emanates from a clear<br />
understanding of what story is at<br />
the heart of your organization.<br />
That story is your Brand Essence:<br />
an intangible feeling one gets in<br />
the presence of your brand.<br />
This is defined and reinforced<br />
by what makes you different,<br />
memorable and unique.<br />
Collaborative. Responsive.<br />
Client-focused. Innovative. Far from<br />
being memorable or unique, these<br />
are some of the most commonly<br />
used go-to-market messages for<br />
B2B and professional services<br />
organizations. Nearly identical value<br />
propositions like these create a<br />
dangerous “sea of sameness.”<br />
Besides being uninteresting, this<br />
environment also puts undue<br />
pressure and emphasis on the<br />
professionals of these seemingly<br />
identical organizations to be the<br />
differentiators themselves.<br />
As marketers, we must dig deeper.<br />
We need to find a point of view<br />
that is authentic to the character<br />
of our organization and unique to<br />
our competitive set and vertical.<br />
Without this, it’s impossible to<br />
separate from the pack and present<br />
your clients and customers with a<br />
brand experience that is more than<br />
just your snappy color palette or<br />
slick logo.<br />
<strong>BRAND</strong> ESSENCE:<br />
an intangible feeling one gets<br />
in the presence of your brand.<br />
5
SECTION I<br />
AN AU<strong>THE</strong>NTIC POINT<br />
OF VIEW<br />
True differentiation, and understanding what that means, is key to client<br />
identification, loyalty and a proper flow of brand equity. So how do you find<br />
that unique point of view that is interesting and differentiated enough to define<br />
your brand in a productive way? We find it helpful to continue thinking in terms<br />
of frameworks.<br />
The segment for whom the<br />
positioning is focused on.<br />
The category of services in<br />
the competitive set.<br />
What the brand delivers to<br />
the market that is credible,<br />
differentiated and relevant.<br />
Activities, technologies and<br />
capabilities that prove the<br />
brand is capable of delivering.<br />
Target Audience<br />
Frame of Reference<br />
Key Benefit<br />
Reasons to Believe<br />
For<br />
who are looking for<br />
there is ,<br />
the<br />
because only<br />
is .<br />
This positioning framework can<br />
help evaluate the language your<br />
organization uses to describe its<br />
point of view. Overly common<br />
descriptors like collaboration or<br />
innovation can be understood in<br />
this framework as the “reasons to<br />
believe” in your organization. They<br />
help prove your brand is capable of<br />
delivering.<br />
Here, the key benefit of your<br />
organization is your differentiator;<br />
what you bring to the market that is<br />
unique, ownable and interesting.<br />
6
<strong>THE</strong> <strong>BRAND</strong> PLAN PYRAMID<br />
SECTION I<br />
Starting with a strongly differentiated brand essence and purpose and working<br />
downward, we find this diagram helpful when understanding and prioritizing<br />
the key components of your Brand Plan.<br />
1<br />
DEFINE A PLATFORM<br />
<strong>BRAND</strong><br />
IDEA<br />
<strong>BRAND</strong> PERSONA<br />
2<br />
MAKE A PLAN<br />
<strong>BRAND</strong> STRATEGY<br />
COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGY<br />
3<br />
EXECUTE <strong>THE</strong> STRATEGY<br />
TACTICS<br />
4<br />
CREATE <strong>THE</strong> EXPERIENCE<br />
OVERALL CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE<br />
1 Your Essence and Purpose<br />
define why you do what you do,<br />
and what makes you inherently<br />
you. This is what requires true<br />
differentiation. Your Brand<br />
Persona is what your company<br />
is doing and saying about what<br />
they do. These building blocks<br />
uncover true Corporate Character<br />
and help set the stage for the<br />
meat of your Brand Plan.<br />
2 Next, we have Brand<br />
Strategy. This is about bringing<br />
your persona to life in order<br />
to achieve a set of goals<br />
or specified outcome. Your<br />
Communications Strategy covers<br />
what you want to say, and how<br />
your company should say it.<br />
These are fundamental to ensure<br />
you are aligning Brand building<br />
blocks with the capabilities, goals<br />
and needs of your company.<br />
3 The logistics and the<br />
requirements to execute<br />
the strategy are your Tactics.<br />
There is often great pressure<br />
put on marketing departments<br />
to think tactically; and to<br />
make matters worse, most<br />
organizations are really good<br />
at doing so. The result is that<br />
they often jump straight to this<br />
step. Without understanding<br />
how your brand is defined at<br />
every stage of the pyramid, the<br />
resulting tactics will often feel<br />
as though they are coming from<br />
many different brands instead of<br />
one. It’s important to ensure your<br />
Brand Idea, Brand Persona, Brand<br />
Strategy and Communications<br />
Strategy are all building upon<br />
each other and working to inform<br />
your overall tactics.<br />
4 The only thing that really<br />
matters is the experience your<br />
clients and customers have<br />
with your brand. If there is<br />
misalignment between who<br />
think you are and the way your<br />
clients are feeling, your brand<br />
will only crumble. Allow everyone<br />
within your organization to tell<br />
a different story, and you’ve<br />
just made matters much worse.<br />
Proper flow of brand equity relies<br />
on a central narrative that is<br />
played out across every single<br />
touchpoint.<br />
7
SECTION II<br />
A NEW STANDARD FOR<br />
<strong>BRAND</strong> ENGAGEMENT<br />
Expectations on B2B brands have shifted.<br />
<strong>THE</strong> RISE<br />
OF <strong>THE</strong> CXO<br />
The way we engage with<br />
our clients, customers and<br />
employees has completely<br />
evolved. During the last 50 years,<br />
we’ve transitioned from purely<br />
face-to-face brand engagement<br />
that occurred in brick-andmortar<br />
storefronts, to<br />
customer experiences that<br />
now occur exclusively online.<br />
Today, all business is digital—<br />
even if you still operate out of<br />
brick-and-mortar headquarters.<br />
This digital shift often removes<br />
something very important from<br />
the equation: you.<br />
This evolution has also taken<br />
peer-to-peer communication<br />
about your brand to another<br />
level. Digital may make it<br />
easier for you to share your<br />
brand stories, but it also forces<br />
you to relinquish a lot of control<br />
as to how your stories are being<br />
shared and who exactly is on<br />
the receiving end. If you aren’t<br />
putting messages out there<br />
that are deeply rooted in the<br />
character of your organization—<br />
your brand essence—it will be<br />
done for you. You can, however,<br />
guide these conversations and<br />
constantly work to protect the<br />
frame around your organization<br />
by sharing authentic and<br />
consistent stories that highlight<br />
your brand essence in an<br />
unforgettable way.<br />
Delivering best-in-class, seamless<br />
online experiences is the new standard<br />
that has been set by customers.<br />
This shift has not only created the<br />
Self-Directed Buyer but a new executive<br />
position for some companies as well:<br />
Chief Experience Officers (CXO). These<br />
executives are charged with ensuring<br />
the customer experience is not only<br />
at the forefront of brand strategy, but<br />
carried out across every customer<br />
interaction before, during and after<br />
conversion.<br />
For companies without a CXO, the<br />
responsibilities of ensuring positive<br />
customer experiences throughout brand<br />
engagement fall on a variety of brand<br />
marketing roles.<br />
8
THINKING DIGITALLY<br />
SECTION II<br />
When it comes to utilizing digital, many organizations take a process-driven<br />
approach to brand planning and inevitably lump this tactic alongside all<br />
the others.<br />
This process will prove<br />
severely lacking, as digital is the<br />
medium through which all your<br />
communications flow. Applying a<br />
digital lens upfront helps dictate the<br />
intent behind your different tactics,<br />
whether online or off. It also makes<br />
examining audience behaviors much<br />
easier and data-rich. Knowing where<br />
your customers are active online,<br />
and how they want to engage and<br />
consume information, all contributes<br />
to a well-informed brand strategy.<br />
<strong>THE</strong> NEW “FACE-TO-FACE”<br />
In today’s connected<br />
communications environment,<br />
digital is the medium through<br />
which all your communications<br />
should flow.<br />
SEAMLESS<br />
MARKETING<br />
CONTEXTUAL<br />
MARKETING<br />
PRINT<br />
<strong>BRAND</strong><br />
PLATFORM<br />
DIGITALLY<br />
CENTERED <strong>BRAND</strong><br />
&<br />
COMMUNICATIONS<br />
STRATEGY<br />
CAMPAIGN<br />
EVENTS<br />
INTERNAL<br />
PARTNERSHIPS<br />
PITCHES/PROPOSALS<br />
9
SECTION II<br />
<strong>THE</strong> SELF-DIRECTED BUYER<br />
Modern buyers have all the information they need about you literally at their<br />
fingertips. Better informed, connected and more skeptical than ever before,<br />
they crawl the Internet looking at your digital footprint. They explore and<br />
solicit comments and reviews written about you on every platform. A little<br />
freaky, right?<br />
The Corporate Executive Board<br />
acknowledges this shift. They found<br />
recently that the average B2B buyer<br />
is 57% through their purchase<br />
decision before engaging any<br />
representative of your organization. 1<br />
Today’s self-directed buyer will<br />
experience the character of your<br />
organization long before you even<br />
step in the door (assuming there’s<br />
one there to begin with). If you aren’t<br />
putting direct messages out there<br />
about your brand—or if your brand<br />
isn’t differentiated enough to stand<br />
on its own—the modern buyer is<br />
more than happy to build their own<br />
story for you based on everything<br />
else they’ve read or heard.<br />
<strong>THE</strong> AVERAGE B2B BUYER<br />
is 57% through their purchase<br />
decision before engaging<br />
any representative of your<br />
organization.<br />
A strong brand and communications<br />
strategy executed across all of your<br />
channels, online or off, allows you<br />
to communicate with the self-directed<br />
buyer in a way that exemplifies<br />
your brand story and essence<br />
while also meeting their information<br />
consumption needs.<br />
10 1<br />
https://salesandmarketing.com/content/mapping-buyer%E2%80%99s-journey
MARKETING TECHNOLOGY<br />
FOR <strong>BRAND</strong> MARKETERS<br />
SECTION II<br />
Dictating and controlling this brand and<br />
communications strategy is no small task.<br />
From demonstrating ROI and securing budget<br />
to attracting top talent and training employees,<br />
the demands on brand marketers are high in<br />
all areas of business. There’s little time to listen<br />
to your audiences and, therefore, limited room<br />
for agility or adaptation. What’s more, many<br />
B2B and professional services organizations<br />
lack the internal infrastructure needed to<br />
measure and monitor client experiences and<br />
gather feedback.<br />
A NEW<br />
GENERATION OF<br />
DECISION MAKERS<br />
Besides consumer brands’ influence<br />
on customer expectations, business<br />
marketers must now take into account<br />
the motivations, behaviors and buying<br />
habits of digital natives and, more<br />
specifically, millennials. A term loosely<br />
applied to those born after 1980, digital<br />
natives are the next generation of<br />
decision makers who are entering the<br />
C-suite, launching startups and buying<br />
professional services.<br />
Fortunately for all of us, the<br />
advancements in marketing<br />
technology have helped to<br />
overcome this hurdle. Although<br />
challenges can vary across<br />
industry or market, digital is an<br />
empowering tool that allows<br />
marketers to break down<br />
organizational silos, listen<br />
intelligently, respond quickly<br />
and adjust plans in a nimble<br />
way. This ultimately results in<br />
a unified experience for the<br />
customer by effectively closing<br />
the feedback loop.<br />
each group’s unique needs and<br />
expectations. In turn, they will<br />
uncover and understand the<br />
data at their fingertips, applying<br />
insights and finding the<br />
alignment between their<br />
audience(s), business strategy<br />
and industry opportunities.<br />
Millennials’ growing role in the<br />
workforce and marketplace is not a<br />
ground-breaking discussion; however,<br />
it’s important to note this group’s<br />
relevance in how brand continues to<br />
evolve. Knowingly or not, this group is<br />
demanding more out of B2B brands—<br />
they desire to work for, and with,<br />
companies that feel authentic and<br />
real. The sea of sameness won’t cut it<br />
with these folks. As the B2B industry<br />
becomes increasingly commoditized,<br />
establishing a strong brand is<br />
paramount to achieving differentiation,<br />
which is key to building true customer<br />
loyalty, regardless of generation.<br />
The role of the Brand Marketer in<br />
this situation is to clearly identify<br />
audience sets and understand<br />
11
SECTION III<br />
DEFINE YOUR DIRECTION<br />
You may have come to the conclusion that your brand could use a bit of a<br />
facelift. As you begin considering how to tackle your brand strategy, you<br />
might find these suggestions helpful to refresh your brand and strengthen the<br />
framework that exists there. Included in this section are also some examples<br />
of B2B organizations who have done an impressive job demonstrating great<br />
brand work.<br />
The value in creating engaging and<br />
consistent guidelines for your brand<br />
cannot be understated. Having a<br />
resource for internal and external<br />
audiences that explains how your<br />
brand should be represented<br />
cross-channel can create a<br />
heightened level of consistency<br />
and, therefore, have a lasting impact<br />
on your audiences. Clearly defined<br />
and documented brand guidelines<br />
can also help solve an internal<br />
lack of clarity around your brand’s<br />
purpose, positioning and persona.<br />
Defining your organizational<br />
character for the world, as well<br />
as your colleague sitting across<br />
from your office, can go a long<br />
way in terms of brand recognition<br />
and protecting the framework of<br />
your brand.<br />
HOW IBM DID IT<br />
It’s nearly impossible to talk about<br />
great B2B brands without talking<br />
about IBM. Here’s a firm that has<br />
evolved many times over the<br />
years, from selling cheese cutters,<br />
to punch card machines, to<br />
computer mainframes and servers,<br />
to finally, today, selling the ability to<br />
deal with data. All the while, the firm<br />
has maintained its brand, sometimes<br />
with an iron fist. You can’t help but<br />
be impressed by the organization’s<br />
discipline. IBM has almost 400,000<br />
employees in 170 countries. Its<br />
marketing department is global<br />
and involves people from different<br />
cultures with great distances<br />
between them. And yet, go to<br />
any one of the firm’s social channels,<br />
and you will see a great amount<br />
of discipline in everything from the<br />
use of the logo and photography,<br />
to the voice and tone of the<br />
writing and the subjects covered.<br />
It’s impressive.<br />
12
DEFINE YOUR DIRECTION<br />
(CONT.)<br />
SECTION III<br />
SO, HOW HAS IBM<br />
DONE THIS?<br />
It didn’t happen magically, and it<br />
didn’t happen overnight. The firm,<br />
for a long time now, has invested<br />
in tools that make its marketers<br />
more empowered by giving them<br />
targets that they can hit over and<br />
over again. When thinking of<br />
successful brand guidelines, there<br />
really is no better example in the<br />
B2B market than IBM. IBM has<br />
photography guidelines, design<br />
guidelines, voice and tone<br />
guidelines, brand guidelines and<br />
video guidelines. It has also built<br />
a cadre of tools that explain to its<br />
enormous marketing team how<br />
to use those guidelines and<br />
create compelling (and consistent)<br />
marketing materials over and over<br />
again. More than that, they market<br />
those tools to the people who<br />
need them the most. Consider<br />
how far a little guidance and<br />
documentation at your<br />
organization could go knowing<br />
how impactful this was, and<br />
continues to be, for IBM.<br />
5 SIGNS YOU NEED A <strong>BRAND</strong> REFRESH<br />
1<br />
2<br />
3<br />
4<br />
5<br />
Your organization’s visual identity and/or digital experience<br />
is dated or neglected, making it difficult for customers to<br />
differentiate and create a personal connection with you.<br />
Your marketing and communications strategy isn’t<br />
clearly developed or aligned with core audiences.<br />
There’s a severe distance between your business<br />
strategy and audience needs.<br />
Internally, there’s a lack of clarity around your brand’s<br />
purpose, positioning and persona; organizational<br />
character is missing.<br />
You’ve experienced significant changes in capabilities<br />
and/or growth and your brand hasn’t kept up.<br />
13
SECTION III<br />
FIND ENGAGING VISUALS<br />
Expressing your brand with engaging visuals across your digital experience can<br />
really help refresh your brand. Whether on social, your website or promotional<br />
materials, expressing your brand story through impactful imagery helps tell the<br />
story of your brand in an impactful (read: sticky) way. Visuals that are stale and<br />
outdated make it difficult for audiences to connect to your organization.<br />
HOW CBRE DID IT<br />
CBRE is a great example of the<br />
power of good, brand consistent<br />
imagery. As king of the real estate<br />
market, the firm realized a few years<br />
ago that its brand story revolved<br />
around owning big real estate in<br />
major metropolitan areas. What’s a<br />
great way to showcase real estate in<br />
an engaging way? Photography.<br />
And where’s a better place to<br />
engage your audience with<br />
photography than the ever-popular<br />
Instagram? This tool has allowed<br />
for great brand recognition for B2C<br />
and B2B firms alike, and CBRE is<br />
no exception. CBRE doesn’t always<br />
shoot its own photos, but it is<br />
so consistent in the kinds of<br />
photography that it chooses, it<br />
doesn’t matter if the organization<br />
shot the images itself or not. Taking<br />
its passion for photography one step<br />
further, CBRE even sponsored an<br />
urban photography contest.<br />
This same approach can work<br />
for other professional services<br />
organizations. For example, say that<br />
you are a global law firm with offices<br />
in cities around the world. Why not<br />
pick a style of photography that suits<br />
your brand, and take photos of all<br />
of the cities you are in? Better than<br />
that, make it about your clients.<br />
Take pictures of all of the cities<br />
that you do work in around the<br />
world. Now you are telling a human,<br />
global, client-centered story<br />
without ever uttering even one<br />
of those words that lead you back<br />
to that sea of sameness.<br />
14
EXPRESS YOUR<br />
ORGANIZATIONAL CHARACTER<br />
THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA<br />
SECTION III<br />
A well-differentiated brand is no good without the power to express it<br />
cross-channel. One very effective method of doing so is through social media.<br />
In many ways, social media is the language of the web.<br />
Everything needs to be shareable<br />
and postable. Doing so exhibits<br />
that you are alive and active. It<br />
shows that you have real people<br />
who work for you and your real<br />
company. It may not be right for<br />
every communications challenge,<br />
but it can be especially helpful<br />
when it comes to specific<br />
goals like recruiting, promoting<br />
CSR initiatives, internal<br />
communications, character<br />
building, thought leadership<br />
or news and alerts. It also gives<br />
you a chance to make bits of<br />
your brand shareable.<br />
places. Highlight your insights<br />
in sharable posts; spread them<br />
around the web like proverbial<br />
breadcrumbs leading back to<br />
the mother-load of content and<br />
thought leadership.<br />
A short (but important) warning<br />
when it comes to social: prepare<br />
to be disciplined or prepare to<br />
be diluted. Social media was built<br />
for sharing. Don’t put big heavy<br />
pieces of thought leadership<br />
here. That’s what your blog(s) are<br />
for. Social media is a great way to<br />
drive people to those more robust<br />
1515
SECTION III<br />
EXPRESS YOUR<br />
ORGANIZATIONAL CHARACTER<br />
THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA<br />
HOW GARTNER DID IT<br />
Gartner, an information research and<br />
technology company, does a great<br />
job of promoting its brand while<br />
driving traffic and giving attention to<br />
the firm’s robust thought leadership<br />
at the same time. In this case,<br />
Gartner has a very similar social<br />
media strategy for all of its channels.<br />
It curates news from sources it knows<br />
will resonate with its audiences and<br />
reinforce the brands of the different<br />
sources (Forbes, Inc. etc.). Gartner<br />
also uses social to drive traffic to its<br />
thought leadership and to spread its<br />
insights around the web.<br />
Gartner has created a very specific<br />
and consistent look and feel for<br />
these social nuggets. Each one<br />
follows a similar design aesthetic and<br />
employs a similar photography style.<br />
The headlines are catchy and easy to<br />
read at a glance (more likely to grab<br />
you while you are scrolling), and the<br />
way that they are written reinforces<br />
the brand positioning of the firm.<br />
The result is a series of graphics<br />
that are worthy, most of the time, of<br />
being shared. Each item either links<br />
or displays a link back to a blog or a<br />
thought leadership piece. Social isn’t<br />
making its world harder and more<br />
complicated. Social has become a<br />
content engagement engine for<br />
the organization; an engine that it<br />
can measure, that tells a very rich<br />
brand story.<br />
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CONCLUSION<br />
<strong>BRAND</strong> is no longer simply a way to<br />
sell a product; it is an overall message,<br />
encouraging personal relationships<br />
between the business and the customer.<br />
Success today largely depends on<br />
communicating that message with a<br />
connected and coordinated marketing<br />
approach, led by digital. A well-defined,<br />
digitally-centered brand informs business<br />
and marketing strategy, and sets the stage for<br />
improved performance across all touch points,<br />
online or off. The evolution of technology has<br />
raised expectations for B2B and professional<br />
services brands, and continuing to evolve with<br />
that process will be what sets you apart from<br />
the rest.<br />
One of the most important takeaways here is the<br />
value of being different, unique and differentiated.<br />
And why is this so crucial? It makes customers pay<br />
more attention to you, making it easier for them<br />
to pick you out of this sea of sameness. This is<br />
innovation with a different slant or idea that<br />
connects directly to you. A plotline for your<br />
organization, even your pricing structure can have<br />
a better rationale with a clearly defined brand story.<br />
As a result, we’re left with a powerful framework<br />
of context—communicated through digital—that is<br />
impactful and resonates with your key audiences,<br />
asserting why you exist and how you can help.<br />
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CONCLUSION<br />
FIND ENGAGING VISUALS<br />
With a keen sense of storytelling and more than a decade of brand work<br />
to his name, Ryan Schulz is One North’s Director, Brand. He helps clients<br />
clearly identify, define and embrace their brand essence, purpose and value<br />
proposition. His goal is to advise clients so that they can communicate with<br />
their own clients more effectively. Previously, Ryan served as Vice President<br />
of Marketing and Communications for Vosges Haut-Chocolat and also as<br />
Director of Brand and Communications Strategy at VSA Partners.<br />
Ryan can be reached at rschulz@onenorth.com.<br />
If you like what you’ve read here<br />
and are interested in engaging<br />
in a conversation with One North<br />
to develop and/or harness a<br />
brand for your organization,<br />
contact Dawn Michalak at<br />
dmichalak@onenorth.com or<br />
+1 312.873.6889.<br />
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ABOUT<br />
One North is a digital agency dedicated to<br />
delivering compelling customer experiences for<br />
B2B organizations. One North has partnered with<br />
hundreds of businesses to produce digital solutions<br />
aimed at strengthening their most valuable asset:<br />
their relationships. From brand planning, digital<br />
strategy and creative services, to front and back-end<br />
development and technology support, One North’s<br />
team of 85+ innovative minds work collaboratively to<br />
create digital experiences that intelligently connect<br />
business strategy and marketing activities.<br />
For more information, visit www.onenorth.com.<br />
onenorth.com/ideas<br />
@OneNorth<br />
company/one-north-interactive<br />
OneNorthInteractive<br />
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