Opening the right doors.   

July, 2011

One of the key components of any branding or marketing campaign is whether or not your initiative is opening the right doors to business development and sales success.   If you've done your due diligence and uncovered, defined and communicated your key brand assets and why you should be selected over your competition, you're only part of the way home.

The creative developed as part of your branding program must be an accurate reflection of your positioning and brand value.  At several recent industry gatherings the conversations often drifted to the perceived lack of great creative.  The consensus seemed to be that the concentration on SEO, SEM, and social media has compromised the level of creativity being produced.  Marketers seem to be having a hard time driving the implementation of new digital media and a high level of creative execution at the same time. 

The best media plan will reap few rewards if the level of creativity is not allowing your advertising to garner the level of awareness and response that you're looking for.   The greater shift to digital media is no excuse for creative that fails to grab attention and inspire the audience to take action. 

One of the solutions to maintaining a higher level of creative is nothing new - establishing up front, the expectations and desired results from your advertising campaign.   One of the key advantages of digital media is the ability to measure your results and ROI.  If your campaign is successful, look to both the media mix and the creative execution.  If results aren't what you are looking for, again, evaluate the creative as well as the media recommendations.

Just a few things to remember:  

• A different media approach doesn't mean that your creative becomes a secondary consideration
•  It's the client's responsibility to push the agency to produce amazing creative
•  While creative can be subjective, if it's on brand message, it's done its job
•  Measure the effectiveness of your messaging as well as your strategy
•  The best response will come from the ideal blend of media and creative

Sometimes, developing the best campaign possible is simply having the right frame of mind.  And, that is not just thinking about your new media tactics but the creative that they deliver.

brandwerks3 is a brand development firm that helps companies increase the success of their marketing and business development initiatives by helping them properly position the organization, its products and services in the marketplace.  We do so by uncovering and defining their true brand assets, establishing key market differentiators and creating brand communications strategies that resonate with their target markets.