1. Corporate Branding and Positioning
Creative Brand Strategies' approach to corporate branding and positioning focuses on a realistic assessment of the manner in which your organization actually creates value, and on specific recommendations to communicate this in the most effective manner.
The process begins with a diagnostic audit, both internal and external, that cuts to the core of what does and does-not make up your company's unique value proposition. The audit consists of an extensive series of one-on-one interviews, focus groups or quantitative surveys with key stakeholders, internal management and influencer employees, as well as external clients, customers, prospects, suppliers and vendors. This information is gathered, combined with a comprehensive audit of the competitive landscape, and analyzed to create a true 360-degree view of your brand.
Based on this analysis, Creative Brand Strategies works with management to develop a powerful corporate brand positioning - an encapsulation of the organization's unique ability to generate value and grow.
Once developed, the corporate brand is then brought to life and conveyed through communications initiatives. Sometimes this involves presenting the company in a new light, sometimes doing a better job conveying market potential and strategy, sometimes finding ways to make competitive advantages "real," and sometimes it simply involves improving communications tactics.
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2. Advertising and Marketing Communications
Creative Brand Strategies views marketing communications not as an end in itself, but as a means to an end - helping companies achieve their business goals and increase sales. We develop an understanding of our client's business and marketing environments: the product and service offering, the competition, how the company goes to market, external customer and supplier perceptions of the company, and customer decision criteria. This enables us to design sophisticated marketing communications programs that address real business needs.
With extensive experience in all elements of the marketing communications mix - from direct mail to advertising to online marketing - Creative Brand Strategies can offer truly integrated marketing communications programs that are tailored specifically to client needs.
Advertising and Marketing Communications Services:
- Qualitative and quantitative marketing research
- Branding programs and brand identity systems
- Marketing communications strategy and marketing plan development
- Website design and production
- Online advertising and e-mail campaigns
- Online marketing strategy, media buying and analytics
- Creative development and production of print and broadcast advertising
- Creative development and production of direct mail and marketing collateral
- Direct mail database management and list purchasing
- Marketing and Sales team training
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3. Sales and Marketing Integration
In theory, sales and marketing work together hand in glove to win business and grow revenue, with marketing and marketing communications providing context and helping to condition the marketplace for the sales people, and the sales department generating leads, closing deals, and providing the feedback necessary to focus marketing efforts where they will have the greatest return on investment.
In reality, nothing could be further from the truth. In the vast majority of companies, marketing and sales each pursue the goal of growing revenue from different perspectives and with disparate, disconnected tactics. The result is inefficient and often ineffective efforts, and lost sales and profits.
Creative Brand Strategies provides companies with an innovative and actionable solution to this problem, helping companies increase revenue and reduce inefficiencies and costs by better integrating their sales and marketing functions.
Drawing on in-depth knowledge of marketing, marketing communications and sales, and a commitment to integrated communications, Creative Brand Strategies provides companies with expert, third-party assessment of where the breakdowns between sales and marketing are occurring, what the impact is, why the breakdowns are occurring, and what needs to be done to overcome them.
Some of the benefits of properly integrated sales and marketing include:
- Improved marketing effectiveness, with input from the sales teams leading to marketing initiatives that are more likely to reflect customer needs and are well-planned and coordinated with sales, reducing costly mistakes in marketing materials
- Improved sales effectiveness, with more focused marketing initiatives helping to increase the closing ratio and the average sale per customer as well as to improve customer satisfaction
- Enhanced employee satisfaction, as sales and marketing employees who are involved in the entire process are likely to show higher levels of job satisfaction and potentially lower turnover
The end result is fully integrated sales and marketing efforts that help generate more sales from the same investment, significantly improving the ROI of the go-to-market efforts.
Sales and Marketing Integration Services:
- Audit of existing sales and marketing functions and a detailed Sales & Marketing Global Integration Plan to improve coordination
- Cross-training sales and marketing teams on working together
- Development of sales-oriented marketing materials
- Development of marketing-based sales materials
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4. Employee Communications
Employee Communications Services:
- Research to determine employee perceptions of the current corporate brand, reputation, or strategy
- Research to test how employees are likely to perceive a new corporate strategy or initiative
- Development of programs that communicate the corporate brand or strategy in a way that resonates with employees
- Programs to refine or improve employee perceptions of management
Employees are the most important - and often the most overlooked - audience for the corporate brand. Creative Brand Strategies works with companies to develop effective communications programs designed to make employees powerful advocates of the corporate brand and strategy. These programs are designed to ensure that employees are aware of the brand and strategy, that they understand what both mean for the company, customers and employees themselves, and that they buy into and support the brand and strategy.
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