This video has made its way around the design and marketing circles of the last few weeks. If you have seen it, watch it again and ask yourself these question:

When was the last time I looked at my brand through new eyes? 

How is my brand perceived? 

Does my branding communicate what I want?

Why should consumers care?

If you can’t see the video, click here.

Enjoy this brilliant video from the Toronto based agency, John St.

If you can’t see the video, click here.

Begin with the end in mind when creating your marketing strategy.

But First!

Here are three questions to ask before you jump into the quick response (QR) trend.

1. Know your audience. Do they use smartphones and have QR readers?
2. Why?
3. What relevant and unique content or landing page are you going to send customers to who scan?

It’s not about pop culture, and it’s not about fooling people, and it’s not about convincing people that they want something they don’t. We figure out what we want. And I think we’re pretty good at having the right discipline to think through whether a lot of other people are going to want it, too. That’s what we get paid to do. – Steve Jobs

Product strategy isn’t hard. It just takes thought. We worked with a company recently that had to ask itself some very tough questions concerning a new brand launch. We helped them see that their launch needed to focus a lot more on the results of the product instead of its cool features.

Give them quality. That is the best kind of advertising. – Milton Hershey

My friend Todd reminded me the other day that you are only as good as your worst work. There are a lot of choices out there and average isn’t one that gets picked. Stop trying to be perfect and give people quality stuff that solves their problems and makes them happy.

I notice increasing reluctance on the part of marketing executives to use judgment; they are coming to rely too much on research, and they use it as a drunkard uses a lamp post for support, rather than for illumination. – David Ogilvy

I love data and research as much as anyone. You can’t improve upon things you don’t measure. However, I think you are smart enough and know your business well enough to listen to your instincts. Don’t underestimate them. Facts are facts and truth is truth. They are not always the same.

 In today’s markets fast is usually a higher priority than good, especially in cases like new categories where mistakes can be fixed with minimal consequence. First mover advantage is golden.  When you are developing medical equipment or financial software that is critical in nature, you need to make sure it is good.  If you are selling average or commodity products and services, then cheap is most likely the wise first choice.

Remember this project triangle next time you are preparing to launch. What are the risks and rewards of my decisions?

How do you choose your two?

Let’s tackle these concerns shall we?

Time:

We hear this one a lot. You are already have too far to go with too few and this is one more thing on the plate. Have you written a white paper, case study, or other  long form content? Have you given a presentation at an industry trade show? If so, you have a lot of the hard work done already. It doesn’t take too much time to edit and convert them to a series of sharable and SEO friendly blog posts or email marketing messages. You can even interview the authors and customers for a series of videos to post to Youtube. Not to mention, you can rip the audio from the video and use it for a podcast. These are just a few ideas. Ask yourself, what resources do you already have that can be used to create valuable content?

Fear:

One thing conventional wisdom and old school thinking will tell you is to keep things black box. Don’t let anything you do become public because someone might steal your idea and secrets. This strategy doesn’t work well these days. The climate has changed and your audience wants to trust you before they commit. Trust is earned by sharing informative and relevant information. There is a direct relationship between the level of trust and where someone is in the marketing/sales funnel.  I’m not advocating you give away proprietary information, but I am saying you should let people see how you think and what you do.

Doubt:

Doubt usually comes from not knowing what you want. You need to define what success is for you. Are you looking to build credibility and awareness, convert readers and visitors into leads , or increase retention? Begin with the end in mind and produce content that focuses on reaching your goals.

 Now what?

Ok, now that you have dispelled fear, doubt, and time concerns it’s time to start. Create content as often as possible but always follow the first rule of content marketing, create awesome content. Test long and short firm content as well as video and audio. See what type of things resonate with your audience and get the desired results to meet your goals. Start today. You are closer than you think.

photo credit: aeneastudio

If you can’t see the video, click [here].