Building Solid Foundations For Successful Digital & Content Marketing Campaigns | Denver Marketing Agency
What does a tilting hot tub have to do with content marketing campaigns and marketing your business? That’s a very good question, right? I find that as I’m toiling through physical chores around my home, I make correlations between these projects and marketing principles that I teach to my clients. In this case, our crooked hot tub has reminded me of the importance of solid foundations in your marketing.
Our house never ceases to provide us with projects to tackle. The latest project that we are in the middle of, as I write this, is creating a solid foundation for our hot tub to sit on. We bought a home last fall that already had a small hot tub in the back yard. While not something I would have bought myself, I loved going out in it on a cold night! However, every time we used the hot tub, we noticed that water splashed out of one corner of the unit. We knew we would have to fix that problem come warmer months. Little did we know when we moved the hot tub out, but the base that was created for it was wood: wood that has been rotting for some time, causing the tub to tilt ever so slightly.
You see, the foundation, was not built right the first time. Wood is not meant to last forever, but a concrete or stone foundation would have lasted the lifetime of the unit. Similarly, when you are building a brand, you need to have the foundations in place first. Once you have the basics in place you can actually focus on growth. Too often, we see brands that are eager to get out there with their brand, but they haven’t spent the time setting themselves up for success.
There are a few basic things you need to have in place in order to set your business’ marketing up for success. Here are our first five items to have in place before you broadcast your brand:
- Mission Statement
- Solid brand name & Logo
- Website designed
- Business Cards
- Social Media Profiles
Now, after we moved our hot tub, we thought it would be a simple process of pouring gravel and pavers and moving the tub back in place. However, after moving the tub out of the way, we noticed that one of the support beams of our back porch was completely rotted through to the point that we could pull it out without the aid of any other tools. Yikes! That hot tub must have been uneven for a while for water to consistently fall and splash on that end of the beam. We now have to fix part of our porch too.
When you don’t have the foundations done right from the start, you have to play catch up. In marketing, we see this most often in brands that have to re-brand themselves. Any time you change something up, you run the risk of confusing your customers. Can you imagine if the “golden arches” changed to be orange? There might be some confusion on if the location was actually a true McDonald’s restaurant. It would take that restaurant chain a long time to reestablish themselves. Rebranding can be avoided if deep foresight is given from the beginning on the vision and direction for the business. Planning ahead saves you a ton of money and time too. If you are changing your brand’s image, that usually requires changing your website, creating new graphics, new business cards, and adjusting all social profiles.
Now, sometimes you find rotting wood in your marketing even when you’ve established the best foundation possible. It happens. However, solid foundations will minimize the amount of “repair” you need to do to keep your marketing moving forward the way you want it to.
Unfortunately, we’re not done with this project, nor with this house. As any homeowner knows, there are ALWAYS projects. Your marketing is the same in that it never ends! But just as we love our fixer upper, we love the process of sharing our brand with others. Here’s to solid foundations in brands, and in hot tub bases!