When I was a kid, my brother David fell off the top bunk and broke his collarbone. In the hectic moments following the collision, my Dad, in his great wisdom, picked up my brother, sat him down on the chair in the corner of the room, and put a Flintstones themed band-aid around his finger.
Okay, not really. Because that would be totally ridiculous!
When it comes to children and people we love, we instinctively know that when something serious happens we need serious help, and often a professional will get involved to offer their insight into the situation. My parents took my brother to the doctor, and the doctor determined he broke his collarbone… needless to say they let him do whatever it is doctors do to fix that kind of injury!
Unfortunately, as we Resounders survey the branding and marketing landscape before us, it seems our beloved brands are being treated with flimsy band-aids.
They’re being treated with brand-aids.
The Brand-Aid
The landscape is bad, people. Marketers are hurting. There are some serious broken collarbones in the strategies and systems of many marketing departments. And you know what kind of treatments we’re hearing about?
- Slap a new logo on it.
- OPTIMIZE FOR SEO!
- Go viral.
- Build an app!
- Put your entire web presence on Pinterest
- Put forth more content!
- Integrate the optimized global functionality concepts! (Whatever the heck that means.)
Seriously? Businesses are bleeding out and that’s not helping.
And it’s not just internal marketing departments. Marketing agencies are doing it too. One of our recent clients confided in us about her disappointment as she shopped around for an agency to help lead her company through a rebranding journey. Most agencies thought “rebrand = new logo.” But that’s not what our client wanted and it’s not what the company needed.
Don’t Medicate Your Marketing
Marketers, we need to learn how to diagnose the real problem. And we need to prescribe the right fix — the solutions and strategies that actually heal the real problem.
Let’s start by simply asking, “Where are you hurting?” We’ll probably start hearing things like:
“My brand lacks of engagement.”
“Our brand is dead in the water — no momentum.”
“We’ve got no direction.”
“Our numbers look so bad I wish they were my golf score.”
“People say our messages are confusing.”
“We’re not seeing much repeat business.”
“It takes too long to form messages and distribute them.”
“Our open rates are downright crummy.”
“I don’t think Google knows we’re out there.”
Get to the heart of the problem. Don’t settle for a brand-aid solution. If you aren’t sure how to get there, give us a call and we can help guide your brand through its journey.
In a lot of ways, Resound Creative is like a brand doctor. We take brands through our (patent pending) “Soundcheck” examination process and analyze all the symptoms before we make any recommendations. We want to know the real problem so we can offer the real solution. It takes a massive amount of work to diagnose the real problem, but any other way just doesn’t heal it.
You’ve got a remarkable story to tell! Don’t settle for quick fixes and cheap tricks!
Hit us up for a complete diagnosis!
