Tag: brand

Stop to move forward

Want to grow your business? This is the one thing you must do now

If you want to grow your business, you need to stop everything and take a break. Not a vacation, a break, just so you have time to think about these 3 things.

I love working, and I always have. For years, I worked long hours, learning, meeting, writing, taking on more and more clients and projects, and my business kept growing and improving.

But the real kicker was once each year when I did the opposite. I just stopped everything and did nothing. So, here is what I can share with you from my experience of doing something so completely against my nature.

Sure, we all need a vacation or a break every once in a while, but I’m talking about stopping entirely. For years, I would fly to Berlin, Germany for 10-14 days and take some time off work. I would only do emergency stuff when my team needed my help, but everything else was personal. I would write my novels (I’ve had the pleasure of publishing 2) or listen to audio books and podcasts while roaming the streets.

Those days of wonder around the old buildings of berlin gave me time to think and build a strategy, a long-term idea of what I wanted to do, how my life could look and how I could structure my future.

When 2020 came around, we were all forced to stop for a while, but most did not think enough. We are probably living in the best time in our lifetimes to make some changes and live the life we want. Here are some things I have learned that might help you understand that taking a break is probably the best thing you could do for yourself and your work.

There is a saying that your business will grow when you start working on the business and not in the business. Most of us simply say, “That is so true,” and keep going.

Team

In order to actually make this saying a reality, I had to learn how to structure my company. We focused on finding the right people to help support the company. The main goal was to free myself from day-to-day operations while offering better service in my agency.

Time vs. pricing

The next step was to look at my schedule and the hours I work, and increase the rates for my time while reducing the number of hours I allocate to clients and consulting. Today I do very little consulting, and that for only a few very specific startups.

Time is key when you are looking to take the next step for your business. It was more than just meetings. We started to improve internal meetings, cut them short and ask clients to do as many online as possible instead of meeting face-to-face.

Clients

How much is enough? What type of clients and work do you want to do? I believe you can divide most of your work into 3 types:

Time consuming – you know the work and you took it because you need the money, but the profit margins are not as good as you had hoped and these projects suck up your or your team’s time.
The money – these are the clients you like. They help your business grow and pay the bills. You wish you had more of these (if you only had time for more business development or sales). They require attention, but you also need more like them.
Your future – sadly, you are probably not investing enough time in this since it’s usually hard work, pays less or has potential in the distant, rather than the immediate, future. You wish you could spend more time on projects like this, but you lack one of your two most precious resources: time or money.

While taking a break, ask yourself how many n.1’s you have. Can you drop one or two? What will this mean for your team? How can you replace them with another n.2?

We all have dreams of making it big, but we might make all the wrong choices when it comes to clients from n3. You see, I used to take the idea, the story, and fall in love. These days, we only focus on one project at a time.

You need to stop. Now.

You need to step away, become your own consultant and take a good hard look at where you are now and where you plan on being next year when you take another break. Create your own path and stop letting life happen to you. You got this.

Tags brand, marketing, running, stop to move forward, storytelling

Uncategorized

Nice to meet you, I’m your brand

Post author By nirzavar_admin
Post date September 14, 2021
No Comments on Nice to meet you, I’m your brand

The small branding fixes you need to make to take your marketing skyrocketing to the next level

Most people and companies are still using the word ‘brand’ in reference to their logo and color palette, but it’s much more than that. Marketing becomes better when you have a strong brand, with a good story and voice. A winning brand also back its up with an excellent product, customer service and everything else that brand stands for. But how can your brand stand for anything if you have no clue what it is?

For almost 20 years, I have worked as a sales manager, brand manager and marketing manager with a variety of companies and in the past decade, I have helped literally hundreds of companies improve their marketing. From coffee shops, to restaurants, to some of the most famous names you could imagine, they all have something in common: they do the best they can and not necessarily the best they should. Let me explain.

Companies have a brand, including a logo some other distinguishing attributes, but they rely on sales or marketing people to find clients instead of attracting the right clients by building a brand that is attractive.

Why? Because most of them are not consistent. Why? Because they do not have all the information they need. Why? Because their brand book is lacking.

At my agency, Streetwise, we offer outsourced marketing services. Basically, we have the unique ability to onboard a client and within 14 days (give or take), we can launch their entire marketing department. But to do that in the best possible way, we need to know what we are expected to do and how. So, we start with KPI, a plan, the platforms, the budget and anything else you can think of. Most startups will have some knowledge of these factors.

The tricky part is when we ask for their brand identity, like how it speaks, dresses and operates. You see, when we build a marketing plan, we are expected to wear the brand’s suit, like an actor – to learn and mimic everything about the visual and textual brand, their USP and the small ins and outs. In most cases however, the script still has to be written.

When a brand asks us to scream to the world they have arrived, we need to know what to say, how to sound and how to look. If not, consistency is lacking. The marketing manager and CEO are likely to have a different opinion about the brand’s marketing materials.

In meetings, when someone says, “I personally don’t like it,” or, “I would never click on it,” we know we have a problem. The world is subjective, and a coherent brand should be the only thing that matters. If the content is on brand and the message is relevant to the audience, who cares if a CMO would like or click. Most of the time, they are not the client.

When an issue arises, we ask the clients what their brand would do in that situation. Usually they have no clue, look at their CMO or CEO for decision, passing on the responsibility. If you make the right decision, it’s a brand decision. You will know you made the right call.

A potential client reached out to us asking for a meeting to see if we could help build their brand identity. During the call he asked if I am not making a mistake about the connection between story, brand and marketing. He kept going, explaining he was told these are separate things. I agreed, but….

Marketing can not survive a long successful run without a good brand and a strong story. The story includes all the answers that create a solid, well-rounded character that is the brand, like why it does certain things, how it makes decisions and what will happen when bad times hit, which they will at some point. Sorry, but that’s how the world works. Yes, a brand might have an amazing run for a long time, years even, but at some point, challenges will determine how the brand or management steers through the storm. Without a good brand we have nothing, like walking in the dark and guessing where the target audience might be.

When we have a good brand it’s like reading a story. We imagine how it might be, what it could be and we keep testing and improving. When we go out and start telling people about the brand, we are consistent and confident. We know why we should tweak small things, what should be fought for and what could be dropped. We become the brand ambassadors because we know the brand, we care about it and we are looking for the right audience, one that will feel the same as we feel.

In storytelling (this has become a washed-out word that means very little) a well-rounded character has history and attributes, skills and everything else it needs to be a complete person. This allows writers to push the plot using the character rather than just inventing stuff. When things have logic, we can enjoy the story as it’s consistent for us, the audience. As marketers, this helps us add content and know where the brand should go and how it will behave.

A book or a movie are pieces of art (I have written two novels and always wish I could fix some small things, but I can’t) but a brand is an evolving piece of art. It can grow, change, add new value and become a life force of its own.

Here are some tips that might help you improve your marketing today without having to do an extensive rebrand:

1. Your brand is a round character, so write it down. To make this easier for you I suggest you start with these:

2. What is your brand’s story? How did you come to meet, how did it all start?

3. What does your brand stand for?

4. If you met your brand in the street today, how would it be dressed? How would it behave?

5. How would your brand speak? What kind of words would it choose? How would it greet a new client coming into the office? Create your language. Make sure it’s consistent with everything you have written before. If the brand wears a suit, I doubt it would have the jargon of a surfer dude.

6. Pick 3 different dilemmas or decisions you had to make in the last few months. Look at what you wrote before. Would the brand behave the same? Would it be consistent? Sit with your team to debate these issues and to achieve a consensus on how the brand behaves and why. Some of these will serve you as a guide later, becoming your brand values.

Things change. Life is still happening while you work on your brand. Try being open to laying down the foundations. If you want to run a marathon, you need to have the right gear, training and help before you just go.

Every small tweak will help your marketing, sales and recruitment.

Tags brand, logo, marketing, storytelling, storytelling lecutre, tips, your brand

Uncategorized

Marketing is changing. Are you ready?

Post author By nirzavar_admin
Post date August 1, 2021
No Comments on Marketing is changing. Are you ready?

My agency just celebrated its 10-year anniversary. I remember in 2002 when I first started in marketing – it was so different back then.

Social media did not exist, mobile phones were far from being smart and things felt so simple. It actually makes me feel a little nostalgic. I loved and miss those days, when advertising on buses was the main way to get things done. Video billboards were just starting and Google ads were the big new thing.

It seems the world has progressed way more than just two decades since. Things are more complicated than ever, but at the same time, they are much more technical and data driven.

Now, if everyone does the same thing, if everyone is data driven and if all marketers look only at numbers and how to improve funnels with hard data, what will distinguish between them?

Yes, my dear friend, you are correct: their soul, or maybe we should say the brand’s soul. Companies can be amazing, grow, sell and scale, but only a few will outlast the rest – those that are running a brand and not just a business.

In my line or work I deal with lots of companies in various stages of growth and we offer services accordingly. Some small startups simply need to tell their story and build a 3–5-minute pitch to raise their next round. Others need a whole marketing team (we provide outsourced marketing services) and then there are those that need help with creative or performance marketing. No matter who they are, or what stage they’re at we ask for their brand book. Now, please let me specify something and be very, very clear: A brand book is not just your graphics!!

When we onboard a client, I like to have a one-hour session (of which I’ve probably done hundreds in the last 5 years) where I ask the client what is they do. It takes about 57 minutes or so and by the end they understand that what they thought they did or how they presented themselves is not who they want to be. Usually, this takes us down the rabbit hole where the fun starts:

1. We build the language, the wording that helps us write the creative.
2. We come to an understanding of how to service the audience and clients, and know what to say and how to behave.
3. We begin to think with the brand and not just to please a certain figure in the company.

Why?
Because we know the brand. Like any good actor, we go into character, create the persona, dress like the brand and talk like the brand.

This piece is crucial as it removes phrases like, “Well, I don’t think it will work,” or, “I would never click on that.” Good marketing needs a good brand to rely on. Magic happens when it’s not a matter of my or my client’s opinion, but rather the way their brand should behave.

The key is understanding that it’s all about building a well-rounded character that has its own ideas, feelings and values. We need to know where the brand is coming from and where it’s headed (story and vision).

I often meet people who are happy to share their brand book with me but, sadly, it only consists of graphics (how the brand should dress) and maybe some generic values or a story.

Language creates everything, so how can you build a brand without having all the pieces in place?

It’s always a work in progress, a never-ending task to keep improving and growing, an ever-changing commitment to ensure our brand is on point.

Good marketing is a combination of so many things but the most important in my opinion is a strong brand. Why?

It will be able to make tough decisions for us.
It will keep us in check and tell us where to go.
It will help us focus and move toward our vision.
It will keep the wrong people away.
It will always evolve and inspire us.

It is always a work in progress, never ending always changing concept and that Is also what makes it so exciting.

Keep working hard, feel free to reach out with thoughts, ideas or just to say hello.

Tags brand, branding, building a character, marketing, Marketing is changing, story, vision

Nir Zavaro

Nir Zavaro