A successful brand strategy means your business' channels, digital experiences, and tone of voice need to home in on what your key customers want.

We've got marketing training to strengthen your branded consumer goods company's relationships with your target audiences. In order to build a loyal fan base, your brand strategy and style need to reflect your overall vision for the business. Having a brand strategy that jars with your product/service will put customers off and confuse them about who are and what you offer. However, integrating your marketing strategy can be hard, especially today in the age of digital disruption where every customer has an omnichannel experience. That's why our complete marketing training covers all the key elements you need to build a strong brand strategy.

The RACE Framework for consumer branded goods

Our popular RACE Framework is a simple, actionable planning structure for marketing leaders looking to streamline their omnichannel marketing strategies and…

Need a framework to help your brand stand out? Streamline your brand strategy framework with our tools and templates to cut through the noise

Right now, brands are going through an identity crisis like never before. In the age of digital disruption and bad omnichannel marketing, it can be tough for branding to unify marketing communications effectively. Like your customers, you need to refresh your approach to digital to keep your brand relevant today. But it's easier said than done. We recommend using a brand strategy framework, such as the RACE Framework, to streamline your branding and keep everyone on track. With a defined brand framework in place, you can strategically manage your brand with trusted data and processes in place to optimize your brand marketing and win more customers. Interested? Find out more about managing your brand with a brand strategy framework, plus our recommended tools to reach, convert…

What's the meaning of omnichannel today? Definitions and examples of good and bad omnichannel strategy

The promise of omnichannel was to connect brands and customers digitally, meaning they could continue to build their relationship in each subsequent interaction. For the most part, omnichannel hasn’t delivered that. To understand bad omnichannel marketing, picture yourself in a funhouse surrounded by mirrors. In every direction, you see your reflection in distorted shapes and sizes. The mirrors change appearances, not who you are and what you believe. But if you spend too much time in front of the mirrors – social networks, blogs, or which ever channels you use to present your brand – you can become disoriented and so can your customers. In these cases, the results of omnichannel marketing feels disjointed to the customer and unmanageable to the marketer. The whole point of ominchannel was to be wherever your potential buyers "hang out." Instead, these…

If you're planning to optimize your branding or rebranding, we have tools to support your brand development at every stage

Have you ever wondered how brands grow as large and as well known as they do? From companies like Google to Starbucks, their names are known, customers know exactly what services and products they provide, and satisfied customers keep coming back for more. Brand development is how this happens, and it is no small feat. It takes time to cultivate a brand, to the point that a company has universal recognition like Gillette and Coca-Cola.

What does brand development involve?

Now that you recognize the importance of branding, what do you need to create a good brand? In a nutshell, brand development means: Finding your brand’s voice and communicating your value proposition Implementing your voice and style consistently throughout…

Every step of international marketing needs to be considered carefully because your customers overseas have very different requirements

Proving a big success nationally can make business owners hungry to expand further and while approaching the international market is something many businesses have the capacity for, it is important to look at factors that influence the success of trying to "go global" too soon. The strategies and practices that were a huge success at home may not suit customers in a different country or countries, and therefore it is vital that business owners are fully prepared and ready to tackle any differences head-on before launching on a global scale. [si_guide_block id="150284" title="Download our Business Resource – Balancing global and local campaign development" description="This guide's goal is to help senior marketers toe the line between maintaining a global brand voice and tailoring content to local markets."/] Moving into new international markets has many…

Insights, tips and advice on personal branding from Rita Clifton CBE

For many people within the marketing world, Rita Clifton is regarded as one of the definitive ‘brand gurus’. Her authority in the field of branding is impressive, with previous roles including Vice Chairman at Saatchi & Saatchi and London CEO and Chairman of global brand consultancy Interbrand.  However, whilst Ms Clifton’s expertise has been dedicated to building corporate brands, I was interested to hear her talk recently about how these brand-building skills can be applied to ourselves.  As digital marketers, it’s becoming increasingly important to identify and exploit a point of difference. While some of us may specialize in a particular area, others may take on a broader, more overarching role. Whatever field we work in, it’s essential for us to make it clear to others what…

Following the Gillette and Nike controversies, is it possible to showcase your brand's attitudes to societal and political issues without backlash?

Consumer mindset has evolved and we are now more conscious of the things that we are buying and the brands we are buying from than ever before. With more than half of Britons thinking that brands have a responsibility to society, they can no longer simply rely on having a well-performing or cheap product offering to entice customers. Brands increasingly need to showcase their attitudes towards society in their marketing strategy, but is it easy to do without causing controversy and disrupting the status quo of your audience’s buying habits? [si_guide_block id="50995" title="Download our Business Resource – Brand storytelling guide" description="This guide helps you explore the fundamentals of developing powerful authentic brand stories. Narratives demonstrate product or service applications, strengthen loyalty, and establish your brand as a trusted…

Digital tactics can be a boon for bricks and mortar retailers

Within many multichannel retailers, digital teams work primarily to e-commerce KPIs – traffic, conversion, units per order, unit value and so on. As a consequence, digital activity that might benefit the physical store estate is often deprioritized or completely ignored. However, digital marketing presents some of the best opportunities to drive footfall and in-store sales. [si_guide_block id="30829" title="Multichannel retail proposition audit and competitor benchmarking template" description="Review and improve the effectiveness of your e-commerce site's capability, including how it integrates with the other channels that are part of today's omnichannel retail."] Here’s a checklist of 5 things you can do straight away:

1. Improve the store-related areas of your website

It’s likely that a large number of your visitors are already looking for store information on your website or app. First, make sure that your store locator is up to scratch, especially for mobile users, and make sure…

Co-branding offers a huge range of benefits but partnerships shouldn’t be formed overnight with half-baked ideas

If someone said Nike, Sony and Doritos went into a bar and fell for their respective branding partners Apple, Ericsson and Taco Bell overnight, they couldn’t be more wrong. Co-branding partnerships, in reality, are anything but casual. In a competitive market of homogenous products and services, brands are constantly vying for the spotlight, but it’s tough. Often brands lose out to new and innovative competitors, decreased brand equity, or simply disappear into obscurity. That’s why co-branding is such a coveted strategy, even for famous brands, as it can allow a company to maintain a strong brand identity, sustain customer loyalty and stay relevant. [si_guide_block id="146918" title="Channel and partner marketing improvement guide" description="Partner marketing is a fantastic opportunity, but only if your business is ready for it!…

Marketers should look to form more diverse, holistic strategies capable of operating on their own schedules rather than being subject to Google's short-term outages, bugs, and penalties

For SEO marketers, Google is an unpredictable ecosystem. One day, the sun is shining and you’re basking in its favour. The next, a hurricane hits and your carefully crafted content flies out the window and is nowhere to be found. Rumours of indexing issues are at the heart of the latest troubles. Google has admitted a certain amount of delay in indexing and displaying new content, but the extent of the current problem is a mystery at best — just like a lot of Google’s behind-the-scenes activity. [si_guide_block id="122303" title="Download our Business Resource – Omnichannel marketing planning guide" description="Our omnichannel planning guide will outline the differences between omni and multichannel marketing and then help you create a strategy and roadmap for achieving your own…