Gary Vaynerchuk once said, “This is the time of summer when you can separate from the pack.”
He’s right.
But how, exactly?
Well, it’s safe to say that most brands are investing time and budget on content creation. However, when it’s not clear who the content is for, why it’s being created, and perhaps most importantly, how and where our target market expects to see that content – it loses its effectiveness and becomes content for content’s sake.
This often leads to low engagement and a lack of confidence in the effectiveness in those marketing efforts.
In the day-to-day hustle, there are only so many hours in a day – and, sometimes, taking stock of your brand form and focus can take a backseat. You’ve got your messages out there, in many channels and many ways. Your brand is out there so, it’s probably working..right?
The common Rule of Seven shows that repetition in marketing is absolutely important. Be visible often to build up the repetition that creates recognition.
However, blasting content across every possible channel, hoping the right customer finds the right message at the right time, is not the most effective way to do this. Essentially, that’s throwing spaghetti at the wall. It’s like closing your eyes, swinging a bat, and just hoping for a connection (which, ironically, used to be my own batting style!) – you might not miss every time, but your odds of working hard and still striking out get dramatically higher.
This approach creates a lot of noise, forcing your customer to work harder than they should (or want to) to understand why you’re perfect for them. We want your marketing to work hard for you, not your audience.
Consider these insights:
- The average person makes about 35,000 decisions a day.
- 50% of daily decisions made by CEOs are made within 9 minutes.
- 90% of consumers expect a consistent experience across all touchpoints with a brand—aesthetic, service, online, and offline.
- Consistent brand presence can increase revenue by an average of 23%.
In a world where we all are already facing growing decision fatigue, it’s critical to remove as much friction as possible between your buyer and their decision to choose you.
For a lot of industries, summer is what we call OOO Season. “Out Of Office” to some, “Open to Opportunities” for others.
If this is a slow-down season for your business, it’s the perfect time to fine-tune your approach.
Clear Brand + Market Focus = Consistent Presence
A clear brand, aligned with a focused market, creates a more consistent presence. This isn’t about copy/pasting the exact same message everywhere, but rather showing up with the same intent, tailored to the audience in that specific connection point. This builds brand trust, which in turn leads to a growing base of loyal customers, increased sales, and invaluable insights into how your market wants to engage with you. Without this framework, you’re swinging with your eyes closed. With it, you’re locked in on the prize and swinging for the fences.
There are three easy ways you can use OOO Season to your advantage and make the most of your marketing.
So, where do you start? Begin with where you’re headed: a consistent presence.
1. Audit Your Brand Presence
Is your business consistent in its:
- Aesthetic?
- Language?
- Content?
- Audience focus?
- Service?
Examine every brand-owned channel. While you don’t need carbon copies, reliable consistency is paramount. Even minor internal differences in interpretation can lead to larger breakdowns externally.
Not sure how to spot the gaps? Download our free Brand Audit Checklist as a handy starting point.
2. Define (or Realign) Your Brand
When we talk about marketing foundations, it starts with brand.
There are two important building blocks that shape your brand strategy:
- Clearly and concisely knowing what you want to say: Why are you great, and what do you want the world to know?
- Understanding what your customers expect to hear: This is arguably even more important.
Do you have a brand guide or manual? If so, pull it out and review it. Identify what’s no longer relevant, what’s unclear, and what’s working well. This will provide clarity for realignment or confirm your current focus. Your market is always evolving so this is a good way to make sure your brand naturally, and proactively, evolves too.
If you don’t have one, start by documenting how you, as the owner or leader, perceive the brand. It sounds simple, but a slight discrepancy in how different team members describe your core value can create foundational cracks that weaken brand trust. If it’s more complex, a brainstorming session can be invaluable to identify potential gaps and realign before challenges grow. While a structured process with external guidance can be quick and effective (something we do with a lot of our clients), it’s also something you can tackle as an internal exercise.
3. Understand Who Your Brand Matters To (and Why)
Remember: your target customer is not everybody.
Your brand can be for a lot of somebodies, but without a focused view of who those ideal ‘somebodies’ are – you’re trying to be something for everyone and diluting the ways you can be the right thing for the right ones.
Before we know who we want to talk to, we need to know what we want to say. That means you need to understand:
- The content your brand can create.
- The story your brand wants to tell.
- The behavior your brand is known for.
Then you can define your ideal buyer. Start by asking:
- Who does your brand matter to the most?
- If you had five customers and could only pick three, who would they be?
Having a tough time knowing who the right three should be?
You probably already have a head start; your existing customer database can be a goldmine of insight. The 80/20 rule says that about 80% of revenue can come from 20% of your current customers. So, to understand your market and define your segments, begin at home with your own database.
Your first step here is a database hygiene check. Analyse your current database metrics to understand:
- What do you already know about your customers?
- What do you still need to know?
- What else would be nice to know?
Then start mapping out your key targets. Create buyer profiles to understand their needs, and then map your customer journey to match (or test) what content means the most to them and when.
Creating strong marketing should be an evolution, not a rebuild.
There’s no need to overhaul your entire strategy every two years if you have the foundations in place to a) identify trends, b) capture trends, and c) act on trends.
Regularly maintaining these three checkpoints will help keep your marketing solid, aligned and equipped to help your business continue to grow:
- Assessing your presence: Where are you on track? Where are you consistent, and where are you different?
- Defining your brand: Why do you matter? Is this still true? Is this information only in your head, requiring you to explain it every time you onboard a new partner or hire?
- Understanding who you matter to…starting at home: How clean is your data? What story does it tell? What do you need to know, and what’s nice to know?
If you tackle just one of these foundational steps in the next three or four weeks, you’ll gain immense clarity on your marketing’s potential and direction which will strengthen your brand position, campaign decisions, content strategy and, ultimately, help your business succeed more, at scale.
