Nobody knows who the F*CK WE are :)
Being mentally and physically available in a market place is marketing task #1.
While reading through a brief sent by a client for an upcoming workshop, we had a little laugh while reading their description of the critical challenge that they are currently facing.
Without skirting around the issue the problem they have is that; 'Nobody know who the F*CK WE are 😄'
Surprise surprise this is not a situation unique to them. Even brands that are well-established can easily drop off the market place radar and miss out on opportunities if they slack of, or fail to consciously keep on advertising and evolving the brand. It happens in a heartbeat. Yes, research done by the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute in Australia broadly proves that if you stop advertising - you lose sales.
In the hierarchy of 'marketing jobs to be done' - leading the pack of the most important and impactful places where you can spend your time and budget is the function of building brand awareness. It's more important than aspects like design, or segmentation, or having a nice-looking website or any of the usual suspects that entrepreneurs think far too long about.
Being mentally and physically available in a market place is marketing task #1. And achieving that means that you need to actively build a brand that is distinctive, memorable and most importantly...everywhere for everyone all of the time (not just on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn).
You don't build awareness with campaigns that run in bursts or on short-term hype. You do it by showing up every single day...relentlessly being useful and contributing your unique message to the market place. It's not sexy; it's bloody hard work.
Small brands that are trying to break into a new market need a hellava lot of wind flowing swiftly under their wings if they hope to achieve any kind of take off. Lots of money and some very, very clever creative, focused thinking is needed to have a hope in hell of success. It really doesn't matter how good your product is or how much you deserve to make sales - all that matters is whether or not potential customers know who the F*CK YOU are.
Having a great 'shelf presense' in-store helps...for a while. But it'll only take you so far. To increase your brand altitude you need to be pointing in the right direction (strategy) and make sure that those engines are firing on all cylinders (advertising).
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Jon Cherry