Is this you?
Your sales are up and you’re expanding. In fact, you are seeing exponential growth. Revenue is increasing, yet you are not substantially increasing resources. But growing pains are real, and your brand and marketing are out of sync.
Over the last several years, we have worked with companies that are scaling to $1 million, $10 million, and beyond. We’ve seen start-ups who quickly found themselves scaling from growth beyond their wildest dreams and companies who needed to ramp up because the competition at this level was a lot more savvy when it came to branding and marketing.
We have a list of 6 areas to address when it comes to your branding and marketing if you are scaling your business or experiencing exponential growth.
- Target Audience – Growth might include adding a new audience or shifting your current focus. Is your primary audience still the main target? As your company has grown, are you still attracting the right people? Do you need to create customer personas to segment your marketing further as your product offering exands?
- Brand Positioning – When the competition gets tougher, it’s important to be clear on your unique solution. How can you carve out your niche? Are you being clear about how you are the solution to your customer’s pain points?
- Visual Brand – Our experience shows that more you scale, the more sophisticated the competition is when it comes to their brand. Your visual brand gets noticed first in the marketplace. Make sure it’s adequately representing your company. Does your current brand match the level your company is competing at today? Have you clearly defined EVERY aspect of your visual brand (colors, fonts, photo style, usage, online guidelines, etc.)?
- Website – Your company website is your storefront. It’s up 365 days a year, 24 hours a day. If you have plans to scale your operation, don’t try to do it with the wrong website. Does your website have the bandwidth to handle your anticipated traffic needs? Can your current e-commerce solution support the amount of inventory/sales you are forecasting? Do you have the right website to be a serious contender in your category?
- Marketing/Social Media – Companies with plans to scale operations work hard on financial forecasts. But we’ll let you in on a little secret. Do you know what part of the recipe is for meeting those metrics? A solid marketing plan with thoughtful content, campaign strategy, and sales funnels. Marketing creates leads for a scaling business. Do you have a 90-day plan for digital? A sales funnel with a lead magnet on your website? A 12-month plan with marketing goals and tactics?
- Processes – Anybody who has scaled a business knows that operations and process are key. Why are processes crucial to the success of your marketing? What does it have to do with branding and marketing? Everything. As you create plans and strategies around your branding and marketing, be sure to develop processes that you and your team can implement over and over. Be sure to test to see what’s working and what needs to be tweaked.
