Brand Assessment: You can’t get where you’re going until you know where you stand.
Brand Assessment starts with understanding your technology customer at the heart, mind and gut level. Where are they? Who are they? What keeps them up at night? How and why do they make buying decisions?
The first step in getting more customers to love you is studying those who already do (and sometimes a few who have fallen out of love). Brand Assessment always starts with your clients. Most effectively performed by a third party with a healthy outside perspective, Brand Assessment can get your customers to share why they love you, why they’re loyal, why they care. From there, buyer personas are developed and the customer journey is mapped out. This critical research serves as the foundation for all branding work to come.
Here is what’s accomplished in the Brand Assessment phase.
Marketing MindJam: The start of a beautiful relationship
Through this relationship-building discovery workshop, Toolbox gathers information to establish branding and messaging criteria. We take a look at where you’ve been, the immediate road ahead and your dream destination. From there, we analyze the competitive situation, strengths and weaknesses, current perceptions in the organization and existing brand communications. Learn more about MindJams here.
Brand equity analysis: Know where you stand
You can't get where you're going until you know where you stand. Brand Assessment always starts with your clients. As a third-party with a healthy outside perspective, we dig in and interview your key customers, enabling them to open up, share why they love you, why they’re loyal, why they care. We'll also interview key staff to gain a deeper understanding of your core solution, value proposition, audiences and how you connect with these audiences. This research codifies your current brand position and establishes a baseline for the brand development work to come.
Competitive analysis: Know who you’re up against
Your big idea is better than the status quo, but without a slingshot, David does not beat Goliath. For innovative stage two technology companies, being better isn’t enough. We’ll conduct market research to determine your position in relation to your competitors. This analysis lays the foundation for articulating your unique brand position and taking on the big players in the space (and their big budgets).
Buyer personas: A portrait of your ideal client
Your distinct target buyers each have their own emotional triggers, value assessments and buying criteria. Buyer personas identify the real person who uses, or might use, your products or services. We’ll work with you to do the research and define your market-specific buyer personas that uncover how, when and why your customers make the decisions they do.
Toolbox tone-o-meter: Know when to say what
Determining the appropriate tone to strike is critical in turning prospects into customers. There are times when your message needs to be shouted from the rafters. There are times when your message should to be more buttoned down and direct. The tone-o-meter plots your communication pieces along a ten-scale — one being more direct and conservative, ten being more conceptual and provocative. We’ll determine the proper spot on the tone-o-meter for all branding messages moving forward.
Customer journey map: Know how your customers navigate the buying process
We’ll map out your entire customer engagement process. What triggers potential customers to assess their needs? What makes them think they might need what you sell? What initial investigative steps do they take: solicit peer referrals, attend trade shows, conduct web searches, post RFPs? What does their initial contact with you (and your competitors) look like: email inquiries, phone calls, white paper downloads, App trials? How does your initial conversation with customers go? How do you articulate your brand position? How do you stack up against competitors? What’s your close rate? What are the next steps to convert prospects to customers?