Marketing and Brand Strategy are the New Business Strategy

Living in A World of Constant Change.

For every company, every brand, and every business from startups to Fortune 500s, the marketing plan is often seen as driven by the business strategy. This idea is a traditional view from business management practices of the last century. Actually, they’re one strategy in this constant world of change. We live in a time of immediate data and immediate responses that require marketing and business strategies to be synergistically aligned and adapt to the market.

With Sales Growth You Also Must Build Loyalty.

Think of Netflix. They made a decision based on robust success in growing their online subscription base throughout the pandemic by just adding more and more undifferentiated content. Yes, they also created unique shows, movies, and productions at great cost to add value and proprietary ownership over assets, but while they were doing this the rest of the streaming world was adding more and more streaming channels, such as Pluto, Tubi, and Crackle featuring licensed content, old shows and movies, supported by advertising and all for free. How do you compete with this? Well, they couldn’t; they lost 200,000 subscribers in the first quarter of 2022 and their stock dropped by a whopping 35%.

Netflix lost 200,000 customers because they didn’t see the competition coming.

Their latest option is to build a free model with advertising, which will only cannibalize existing users. This would be a road to the bottom for them. Where is the brand and marketing strategy that differentiates Netflix and gives them unique value?

Marketing and Customers are Critical Influencers.

When Ford brought back the offroad original, the Bronco, they planned it carefully, using both customer interviews and engagement to literally design the vehicle from the ground up. Starting with a concept of “we can do it better” they looked at the loyalty and success of the Jeep Wrangler Unlimited and built a new Bronco that did everything the customer wanted and more. Also, they were careful to clearly differentiate it from the competition. By the time the Bronco launched, all be it late because of the pandemic, there were 250,000 pre-orders, all customized by their customers, not to mention hundreds of Youtube customer reviews. The marketing, design, and strategy all involved a close connection to the actual user. Need I say more about how to build brand loyalty with a core customer base?

By the time the Ford Bronco launched, slowed by the pandemic, there were 250,000 pre-orders, all customized by customers

When Marketing Agencies are Change Agents with A Company Brand.

The goal of a marketing agency relationship should be way more than to push advertising. The agency must be a key influencer in how their client understands their own products and services and positions them for core customers and audiences. This should exist throughout the company. The understanding of personas and customer profiles and how they are defined should be a critical part of how a company operates at all levels. What is the customer’s journey in engaging with the brand — how does this happen? What are the touchpoints of the brand? Why is there loyalty to the brand?

Marketing and the brand must be an integral part of a company’s understanding of itself in order to create unique and proprietary value that customers want.

An Integrated Approach to Business and Marketing Operations.

As brands and companies, both B2C and B2B, face this data-driven, always-on competitive market, they must constantly look at customers and their world. The experiences they have shift their perceptions daily and brands must respond, with marketing ready to shift gears to show their unique value to those important customers or they will be passed by and left behind at the side of the road.