Over the past few months, the TopRight blog has focused on the topic of brand strategy. Our team of writers did the research and the deep thinking, exploring a set of issues we believe are vital. The central question: How can brands better translate an authentic brand story into a truly productive strategy?
After months of articles on this—the best of which are linked below for your convenience—we concluded the topic off with a live webinar event. If you missed it you can watch it here. Along the way, a few good things happened: TopRight made the Inc. 5000 list for the third year in a row and the Clutch 100 list for the second year in a row. Right on!
Up next, our writers, researchers, and experts will immerse themselves in Branding that Strengthens Place and Community. Until the end of the year, our partners and writers will discuss community and how marketing makes a difference. Writers will touch on place branding, nonprofit branding, diversity or social sentiments in marketing, making the customer the hero, and ideas of audience and how marketing impacts them and their cohorts.
To find out more about what we offer, please contact us directly. If you missed some of our work on brand strategy, you can read the full articles at the links below.
TOPRIGHT’S STRATEGY ROUNDUP
Chair Dave Sutton wrote about the five pillars of CX strategy and the four enablers of digital strategy.
“From the positioning of a product, to the development of digital strategy, advertising, public relations, and branding, the new concept of customer experience includes being part of their online and social life. Functional and emotional connections must be a priority to every strategy. The Customer BuyWay is designed to map the interactions that customers have with brands today, then identify and address any areas of weakness. At every level, brands should adapt and meet customers across channels.”
CEO Bill Fasig wrote about common issues and solutions on brand strategy.
“With the wrong or inconsistent strategy, even the best sales and marketing campaigns, product development and management roadmaps will fail. Even a compelling story with great creative, absent the right strategy to deliver it within a specific competitive framework, will fail if the strategy fails to deliver with ruthless consistency.”
Partner Judi Friedman wrote about the strategic importance of diversity in storytelling.
“We talk about storytelling quite a bit as marketers, but diversity in storytelling can be a compelling and important compliment to the brand story. Your story isn’t just about communicating the essentials, it’s really about community and diversity of perspective and thought, an expanding process that builds depth to your brand.”
CMO Chris Weissman wrote about Gen Z, what they want, and how to approach them strategically.
“I can recall listening to marketers talk about Gen X as an afterthought: they were cynics and slackers, their numbers were millions less than boomers and millennials, and they were “the Jan Brady” of generations. Today, I’m hearing the same thing about Gen Z. They too are cast in the shadow of a behemoth generation and while not quite ignored the way Gen Xers were, they certainly are not getting the kind of love millennials enjoy. Just as it was the case in the 90s, ignoring Gen Z is a mistake.”
Partner Natalie Ross wrote about where digital strategy really begins.
“An effective online strategy is just an extension of your core brand proposition, and any decent brander needs to accord digital strategy the same consistency, clarity, and alignment. Especially since the pandemic, people have been online a ton—I mean, way more than usual. Recent research shows that people are also buying more online and responding to online ads at higher rates than ever before. Powerful marketing execs need to see the digital world as being on par with their PR, direct mail, major media, and other strategies.”
There’s more!
Check out these fantastic supplementary essays and articles from around the web…
Forbes on how to rebuild your strategy.
“One of the first things to consider, is your brand’s story. Is it interesting and relevant? Does it inspire people to buy into and believe in it? The thing is, even if it once was or did, the world is constantly changing, and your story should too.”
Fast Company on unfortunate fads in design.
“We need to ask ourselves if [HMW is] truly improving design’s impact on making better products and services or if it’s just perpetuating bad habits or—even worse—exacerbating the problems that come with a lack of diversity and justice in the sector.”
Entrepreneur on digital strategy tips.
“During the Covid-19 pandemic, e-commerce experienced a massive boom as consumers and companies did business online with greater frequency. As a result, the internet is a more crowded shopping space than ever with the global digital ad spend projected to surpass $389 billion in 2021.”
Yahoo on diversity in branding.
“Ultimately, [Patrick] Starrr says One/Size means that “beauty is one-size-fits-all,” and having fun with makeup should be a safe and inclusive experience for everyone. His own success can serve as an inspiration to others who are from marginalized communities or, like him, exist at the intersection of many identities.”
Salesforce‘s blockbuster report on service strategy.
“In the midst of dual health and economic crises, the strategic role of customer service cannot be overstated. New research from the fourth edition of the Salesforce “State of Service” report reveals just how much stock customers put in quality customer service and support today.”
Sign up for our blog! Then follow Chair Dave Sutton , CEO Bill Fasig, and CMO Chris Weissman on Twitter. Visit us on LinkedIn. And if you still need another fix, grab a copy of one of Dave’s new books, Marketing, Interrupted or HBR’s Strategic Analytics.
