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January 6, 2021

How to launch and build a strong brand

By Susanne Pingree, Wellness Connection of Maine

Being successful in a creative endeavor can sometimes feel like flipping a coin — creative work is like art, and art is subjective. One person loves it, while another might not. So how do businesses overcome that subjectivity and really nail their branding?

COURTESY / SUSANNE PINGREE
Susanne Pingree is the director of marketing at Wellness Connection of Maine, the state’s largest medical cannabis provider.  

It won’t come in a formula, it won’t happen because you really like your product, and it certainly won’t work just because you come up with a cool logo and tagline. 

In my 20-year career as a marketing manager, I’ve worked at Fortune 500 companies, small New England businesses and now for a cannabis company where regulation, competition and customer demographics change every six to 12 months. Without a doubt, I’ve learned that great brands are born from three things: a deep understanding of your target market, knowing your competition inside and out and truly believing in your value proposition.  

So forget the logo and the savvy taglines (for now). And let’s explore how to build a successful, defendable and indisputably strong brand. 

First, develop a strategy 

This is a roadmap that will guide you from concept to completion. Your brand is defined by the customer’s overall perception of your business or product — essentially, it is your reputation. And the most important first step is mapping out how to convey your purpose, promise, and your ability to solve for your customers’ needs. To develop that strategy:  

  • Define your target audience and tailor a mission, message and product to meet their exact needs
  • Analyze your competition to uncover the whitespace in the market
  • Roll it out with a budget and a timeline. Define what marketing channels to use, set aside some money, and define a short, medium and long-term timeline for your marketing efforts
  • Set success metrics to analyze your efforts and performance at multiple points in the process.

Develop the personas

Making knowledge-based choices for your brand will make it defendable. It helps to understand your audiences’ likes and dislikes, habits and hangouts, sources of news and information, desired price points, the industry influencers and current trends. If you have this information, you can specifically tailor a product that meets those precise needs. In some cases, you might even be one step ahead of them. You know they need you, but they might not yet.

Fill the whitespace

The whitespace is vacant space where unmet needs and problems exist within an existing industry — and it’s also where smart brand strategists, entrepreneurs and business leaders look toward for their greatest innovative opportunities. Figuring out all facets of your competition, matched up against your audience research will always show you where opportunities lie. Once you uncover the details on how to occupy the whitespace and solve for your customers’ unmet needs and problems, the creative aspect of your branding will naturally follow. 

Shout it from the rooftops: tactical rollout

You’ve got an internal audience and an external audience, which includes current and prospective customers. And while there is no shortage of ways to share your story, here are a few of our tried-and-true tactics:

  • Use your assets: Your internal audience is often your strongest resource for referrals. Ask your employees and existing customers to refer friends and develop user-generated content and reward them for doing it
  • Content is king, and video is having a moment: This content is outperforming all others in terms of success metrics right now. 95% of people say they retain a message if they see it via video, but only 10% say they’ll remember it via text only. Video content is the fastest, most portable way to tell your brand story  
  • Social media has transformed traditional marketing efforts forever and it must be a part of your rollout. Create a robust social media strategy that includes the use of user-generated content, influencers, digital advertising, and remarketing efforts
  • Earned media remains the fastest and most influential way to share your story. If a reporter is writing about you, it adds third-party credibility and raises brand awareness to the masses.

If you are lacking in a particular marketing skill or are not achieving the results you were hoping for, consider hiring an intern or a consultant. That money will go a long way and save you hours of frustration.

Lather, rinse and repeat

Launching a new brand takes a lot of repetition. Measure your success at every step of the way and be flexible enough to pivot accordingly. Having a concrete, well-developed marketing strategy to support your launch will keep you on track and deliver a clear message throughout the entire journey. Every successful brand has a powerful purpose behind it.

About the author

Susanne Pingree is the director of marketing at Wellness Connection of Maine, the state’s largest medical cannabis provider. She can be reached at spingree@mainewellness.org

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1 Comments

Anonymous
January 6, 2021
That is an amazing article and can be used in all forms of business and promotion of the arts. great job Susanne
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