Look Inside Our NC IDEA Brand Strategy Workshop
Recently, Kepler & Wilde hosted a brand strategy workshop for one of our favorite organizations, NC IDEA.
If you’re not familiar with NC IDEA, here’s the elevator pitch -> Based in Durham, NC, NC IDEA is a private foundation that fosters economic development in the state of North Carolina by empowering and supporting entrepreneurs when they need it most.
While the companies attending this workshop were start-ups, the content was easily transferable to any size organization. Your company could have over 300 employees and generate millions in revenue, but if your brand is lacking a foundation, consistency, or seems outdated — you are missing the mark and, more importantly, missing out on valuable market share.
The foundation of your brand strategy is your brand platform.
Did you know only 60% of marketers think their brand is well aligned with their long–term goals (Source) and that brand loyalty is worth 10x more than a single purchase? (Source)
Many organizations do not realize their brand platform (or lack there-of) permeates everything they do. Branding today has moved past the art department; it is quantifiable and has a direct impact on stakeholder decision-making and revenue generation.
From case study development and website imagery to features sitting in the backlog, a shared vision of the future and what truly defines success is a company’s north star.
Does your company have a brand platform? Does it need a refresh?
Can your company easily answer these questions? If not, then it’s time for some self-reflection and realignment.
- What is our purpose?
- What is your reason for existing beyond money? What does your headline say on the cover of Forbes in 25 years?
- What is our vision?
- Where do you want to be in 15-20 years? What is the shared aspiration that is driving your company forward?
- What is our mission?
- What is your master plan for creating value in 5-10 years? How are you fulfilling your vision for the future?
- What is our onliness?
- What is the one thing that makes you stand out in the market? Are you the most affordable, do you have something no one else does, are you driven by a moral purpose?
- What is our core positioning statement?
- What is your primary value proposition? How are you positioning your brand in the marketplace?
Did you answer them easily? Yes! Wonderful, gold stars all-around. Make sure this platform is easily accessible to the rest of your company and is still the guiding light for your content development.
Having trouble with your answers? Engage your leadership team and figure out why.
Maybe your company strategically pivoted over the years, but your brand did not. Or your long-term goals are outdated, or you just never developed a brand strategy to begin with.
No matter what the answer is, you’re not alone. Let’s grab a coffee and discuss your company’s brand strategy together.
Explore the Edge of Marketing
Explore the Edge of Marketing
In our inaugural post, it seemed appropriate to headline our tagline, strip it down to the bare bones, and say hello world this is Kepler & Wilde.
What does this mean? This means, welcome to the edge. Some may describe it as cutting edge or bleeding-edge, but we at Kepler & Wilde focus on one thing, taking you to it, letting you look over, and empowering you to explore the possibilities of transforming the way you do, well — everything.
The edge is different for every organization, but here are a few of our favorite scenarios.
The classic B2B scenario.
Most B2B organizations claim they are investing in the latest digital marketing channels and content, but only 27% of the leads marketing passes over the wall will be qualified.
The Edge: Reevaluating lead qualification, the entire editorial calendar, and the infrastructure
[or lack thereof]
you have set up to align your sales and marketing teams. Think bringing an end to endless .csv email attachments, dirty data in Salesforce, improper use of marketing automation systems, sales sending assets with inconsistent branding, weekly meetings that provide little value to stakeholders, or worse KPIs that do not match organizational OKRs.
The edge is disrupting one dysfunctional environment to build a self-sustaining sales and marketing ecosystem focused on qualified leads, more wins, and continuously increasing customer LTV.
My marketing department is “data-driven”, but I can’t calculate ROI on SEO.
You might want to brace yourself; you are about to get a taste of what Kepler & Wilde will be known for, the uncensored, unabashed truth. NEWSFLASH: for you data-driven is simply a buzzword, you’ve built a smoke-screen of 1’s and 0’s so you can buy time to figure out what you’re doing or hire the people that can. We believe you, you have A LOT of data, so much of it that it’s overwhelming and you don’t know what to do with it or what to pay attention to.
It’s okay, believe me, you are not the only one. Did you know, 42% of B2B marketing executives say that can calculate the ROI of their marketing spend only some of the time, or not at all.
The edge: Revaluating your resources, auditing your marketing spend, and investing in the technologies that can help you work smarter. Ask yourself this: Do you have the in-house resources and tools you need to analyze the data you have. Do you know which channels are providing the lowest CPL? How are you notified of anomalies that could be marketing gold? That geofencing campaign you’re running, are those hits converting?
The edge is investing in the infrastructure you need to reduce waste and uncover untapped ROI.
I want my company to have the essence of Apple and have zero money to spend on branding.
Champagne taste on a beer budget. Start-ups you are not the only ones that fall into this well-known trap, corporations do it ALL. THE. TIME.
Also, if you want to be like Apple, we hate to tell you – so does everyone else. Yes, you too can have a clean, minimalist style, but take it from our co-founder with 15 years of design experience – there’s so much more.
As we approach the edge of brand development, consider this:
Start-ups we are talking to you: Have you proven product-market fit? Do you have a raw customer journey? Have you thought about your brand story, your purpose, mission, vision, core positioning? Is your brand ready to play in the big leagues?
The edge isn’t about the money, it’s about a state of mind. If you are ready to invest in your brand, don’t hire someone to design your logo, hire a team to tell your story.
Okay, companies making at least a million in revenue, here’s your stern talking to: If you’re questioning the look and feel of your brand, if you are finding inconsistencies in your social media images, pitch decks, or UI then it’s time to STEP UP YOUR GAME. This goes for B2B and B2C.
60% of millennial consumers expect a consistent brand across all channels. Millennials are now more than 25% of the population. They are purchasing BI software for your marketing department, and they make up 30% of retail sales.
The edge is your brand’s identity. If your brand is not emotionally connecting to the needs of your audience, then someone else is. Don’t get left behind, make the investment in an authentic, consistent, and relevant brand.
Keep going, don’t mind if we do…
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