3 Things You Need To Have Before Investing In Marketing

This newsletter will take 2.5 minutes to read.

In this issue, I’ll be talking about the 3 things you need to set your marketing and ads for success.

I’ll be covering 3 things:

1. What your brand need to communicate trust so that you can close your ideal clients
2. How to make sure your team maintains your brand rather than destroying its image.
3. Why many burn $$$ through ads (and how to avoid this)

Let’s dive in 👇🏻

I recently spoke with a potential client who said she worked on her branding for  1 whole year.

For her, this meant:

• Getting certificates/upskilling
• Participating in speaking engagements
• Optimizing her social media

In a nutshell, she was trying to build her trust factor.

After “working on her brand”, she felt like she was ready to invest in marketing.

So… she approached my team to create her LinkedIn content.

But during our call, I found that her brand wasn’t ready for paid marketing (let alone, ads).

Here are 3 reasons why:

1. Her brand still doesn’t communicate trust

She spent a year building her trust factor, but she still couldn’t communicate why her ideal clients should choose her.

Her brand still didn’t have any defined promise, offer, or identity.

That’s because she hasn’t identified her brand’s positioning or even a clear target market.

And without this, her content won’t convert —let alone, attract the right people.

2. She has no clear brand guidelines

We had no reference on how to execute and maintain her brand.

And the lack of brand guidelines could mean constant back and forth about her…

• Brand Message
• Brand Personality
• Tone of Voice
• Visual Identity

Just like this email marketer’s experience I found on my FB feed

Instead of creating on-brand content, we’d spend the first few months creating her brand as we go.

Why is this a problem?

Her brand will risk looking and sounding inconsistent, confusing her audience in the process.

And a confused audience will never buy.

3. She has no messaging strategy or visual identity in place.

This client also plans to invest in paid ads.

The problem is, she doesn’t have these 2 things in place.

Yes, you can start doing ads without any branding but this will require trial-and-error…

But imagine spending $$$ on ads and a team of media buyers just so they could test what type of content would work.

And the most common risk this client might face?

She’ll most probably attract the wrong people and repel the right ones.

I can confidently say this because I’ve had many clients reach out to me after finding out that their lack of brand strategy was the reason for their ineffective ads.

That’s because their brand strategy failed to identify their…

• Positioning

• Target Market(s)

• Benefits

• Differentiators

• Messaging

Now…

Want to know if your brand is ready for paid marketing or ads?

Then here’s a checklist:

• You have clear guidelines for your team to consistently execute your brand

• You have a messaging strategy in place

• You have visual identity assets ready (logo, colors, fonts, key visuals)

• You have a clear positioning strategy

If you have these covered, then that’s great!

But if you don’t, then you have two choices:

1. Build these assets as you go (This will lead to trial-and-error, and this is completely fine if you don’t mind)
2. Work on your branding first