A strategic view for growth.
When preparing for new phases of growth, it’s critical to have a clear picture of your brand’s value to customers, what channels are best reaching them (or not), where your competitive advantage lies, and where there are gaps (growth opportunities) in what your customers want.
800-CEO-READ came to us at time when its competitive landscape was evolving quickly, and also had the challenge of serving two audiences with different needs: authors/publishers who create and sell books and corporate/event book buyers.
We recommended developing a Brand Communications Architecture to evaluate their various communications touchpoints and how they support the brand’s business goals and communications platforms to their key audiences.
Our company has multiple audiences with different needs, which has been a challenge for our messaging to date. We engaged Stauber Brand Studio to gain a strategic and detailed view of our customer segments and their complicated communications journey. This has helped us see more clearly what we were doing–and more importantly not doing—to meet the needs of clients and prospects. The brand communications platform they created will inform our marketing roadmap for the next 3 to 5 years.
— Blyth Meier, Marketing Director, 800-CEO-READ
The project consisted of 5 phases:
1. Key Audience Perceptions and Needs Report
One-on-one interviews were conducted where we discovered customer perceptions about the industry as well as the company.
2. Brand Communications Brief
This brief was designed to align brand goals against target audiences and their needs. This gave a foundation for understanding how communications can support these goals, and included a value proposition and messaging pillars.
3. Customer Journey Mapping
Detailed customer journey maps were created for key audience personas. These customer journey maps can guide the team in creating the right content, for the right audience, at the right time.
4. Communication Gap Analysis
A gap analysis determined where the brand communications messaging can connect more directly to the customer need state.
5. Strategic Recommendations
To help set priorities for action, we presented a range of strategic recommendations on how brand communications can strengthen the connection with customers throughout their journey.
Is your brand facing new competitive challenges or growth opportunities?
Photo courtesy of Dylan Schleicher