Create an Effective Marketing Strategy for Your Brand: Day 20 of 21 Days to Build a Better Brand

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You’re almost at the end of your 21 days! You should have an awesome body of work completed by now. Today you’re going to take everything you’ve learned so far, put it all together, and create an effective marketing strategy for your brand.

Millions of Burritos

So what’s the best marketing strategy for your brand? You know the answer—it depends! There’s no one-size-fits-all when it comes to marketing your brand (and don’t let anybody tell you otherwise). There are just too many factors involved—your industry, your company size, your budget, your personality, your target market, your differentiator, your style, your taste, your goals, etc.

There are literally millions of possible combinations for your marketing strategy. If you think I’m exaggerating, consider the number of options available at Chipotle. There are 26 different ingredients (rice, beans, chicken, salsa, etc.) and containers (burrito, bowl, salad, etc.). With this small list of options, there are 6,294,456 different ways you can order your food. You could eat a different combination every single day for 17,237 years! You can check the math here.

Just like there’s not one Chipotle meal that works for everybody, there’s not one marketing plan that works for every brand either. You’ve got to try a few things and see what works and what doesn’t. The best marketing strategy is simply the one that works the best for you and your brand.

What to Do?

The big question then is, “What can I do right now?” How can you market your brand so you stand out and attract the right people? Here’s the good news—you’ve done most of the hard work already!

Everything you’ve done up to this point in this series has given you the insights and tools you need to create an effective marketing strategy for your brand. All of the work you’ve done so far all comes together here in your marketing strategy.

Here are a few ideas for using your work in your marketing strategy:

• Use your manifesto. One of the most effective ways to connect with your people is to share your values and beliefs. Grab your brand manifesto and start sharing what you believe and why you do what you do.
• Use your unique selling proposition. Your USP is a great resource for communicating how your brand is different and unique. You should be using it extensively in your marketing.
• Use your brand story. When writing your marketing copy use your brand’s story as a template. This is a great way to show the struggles your clients experience and the solution you provide.
• Use your value proposition. Grab your VP and pull out a few key phrases that convey the value, benefits, or results your customers will get after experiencing your brand.
• Use the right images. Consistency is key to your marketing strategy, so use images with the same look and feel. Remember that your images should reflect the happy outcome your clients can expect.
• Show your personality. Don’t forget your brand voice and personality. Refer back to your archetype and make sure you are staying true to your brand’s personality.
• Stand out from the crowd. Take a look at what your competitors are doing. What do their posts look like? What are they talking about? Make sure your brand stands out as radically different.
• Stick to your brand vision. With each marketing decision, ask yourself if you’re moving closer to—or further away from—your vision and your goals as a brand.

Start with 10 Things

The easiest way to get started creating your marketing strategy is to take the marketing channels you chose yesterday and jot down 10 ideas for each. Don’t think about it too much, just brainstorm 10 quick ideas for each of your preferred marketing channels.

For blogging, write down 10 blog post titles. For Facebook ads, come up with image and copy ideas for 10 ads. For email, write the email subject lines and a few bullet-points for 10 emails. If your marketing strategy includes local events, brainstorm 10 speaking opportunities, conferences, or tradeshows.

Examples

Productivity Consultant

Our productivity consultant chose blogging, email, and LinkedIn as their marketing channels of choice.

Marketing goals: Position me as the productivity expert, increase the number of blog subscribers.

Some blog post titles might include:

• 15 Habits That Will Transform Your Productivity at Work
• How the Internet Is Killing Your Productivity
• Why Emptying Your Brain Makes You More Productive

One email idea might look like this:

Email subject: 8 Ways Sleep Improves Your Productivity
Email body outline:

• Be less distracted
• Prevent burnout
• Make better decisions
• Improve memory
• Make fewer mistakes
• Include call to action to subscribe to blog

LinkedIn ideas:

• Join productivity groups on LinkedIn. Answer questions, offer tips, share your knowledge and experience. Start to develop your reputation as the expert in your niche. Be careful not to do too much self-promotion as this can be a turn-off and is often frowned upon in LinkedIn groups.
• Connect with people in your target market and comment on their posts.
• Share your blog posts. This is a great way to position yourself as an expert.
• Occasionally share a link to blog subscription page.
• Make an effort to spend 30 minutes each day on LinkedIn connecting, posting, and commenting.

Wedding Photographer

The wedding photographer will be using Pinterest, Instagram, Facebooks ads, and local bridal shows to start with.

Marketing goals: Gain visibility (brand awareness), stand out as different and unique, instill trust and credibility.

Instagram and Pinterest ideas:

• Photos of beautiful brides, smiling, happy, relaxed, and having fun.
• Photos of laughing brides with text overlays like “You deserve to feel this good”.
• Reviews from happy brides.

Facebook ad ideas:

• Combine amazing photos with quotes from our brand manifesto like “Every bride should laugh out loud on their wedding day.”
• Share testimonial videos from happy clients.
• Share links to website portfolio with call to action like “Let us capture all the fun of your perfect day.”

Bridal show ideas:

• Secure a booth at our big local Spring bridal show.
• Have a few of our best images blown up to be massive in size like 8 feet wide x 6 feet tall.
• Add quotes on the images from our manifesto, VP, and USP.
• Post positive reviews and testimonials on happy bride photos.
• Have a few large screen monitors displaying slideshows of our best work.

Day 20 Action Item—Create an Effective Marketing Strategy for Your Brand

Step 1. Open your 21 Days to Build a Better Brand Workbook and brainstorm 10 ideas for each of your marketing channels.

Step 2. Start implementing your marketing strategy today! Don’t wait until everything is perfect (it never will be). Write one blog post. Share one idea on social media. Post one photo. Send one email. Sign up for one conference. Join one online group. Post one review. Do one thing today that will move your brand forward. And then tomorrow, do one more.

Coming up: Tomorrow’s post is the last one in this series. 🙁 But fear not, I’ll leave you with plenty to work on over the coming days and weeks!

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