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Brand Strategy Basics


Move On: The Magic Quadrant Should Not Guide Your Brand

Move On: The Magic Quadrant Should Not Guide Your Brand

If you’re a startup CEO/Founder/Marketer, you might have read that headline and thought, “What do you mean I shouldn’t care about the Magic Quadrant? I’ll take a Vendor Briefing call on vacation if I have to!” Sure, tech companies strive for a mention in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant—or better yet—placement in the top right corner as a “Leader”. Gartner’s Magic Quadrant will tell you who’s product sits on the cutting edge of the technology, identify the ankle biters, show who’s falling behind, and identify the leaders in a category. That recognition matters as you develop your product. But, the...
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What Is a Brand Idea?

What Is a Brand Idea?

How do people make business decisions? Whether you’re debating a specific word choice or overhauling an entire brand, there’s always a tension between the rational and emotional, the aesthetic and strategic. It’s easy to have a gut instinct over the things that inflame your curiosity, but what about the minuscule? As decision fatigue sets in, how do you ensure your choices are aligned, consistent, and ultimately laddering up to something greater than the sum of its parts? This is where the concept of brand idea shines. A brand idea is an essence or embodiment of what you stand for. Think of...
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Aligning Business Strategy to Brand Strategy for Long-term Growth

Aligning Business Strategy to Brand Strategy for Long-term Growth

Planning for Tomorrow We’ve written a lot about the importance of aligning brand and business strategy. But many leaders dismiss the business strategy as something necessary for the brand strategy. However, without understanding where the business is going, the brand can’t help the business grow in strategic ways. Aligning Leadership It’s obvious to work with the marketing team when developing a brand strategy. But gaining clarity on the business strategy can’t happen in a silo. You can’t develop a coherent brand strategy without internal alignment around the business strategy. That means...
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Is it Time for a Brand Refresh?

Is it Time for a Brand Refresh?

What Got You Here Sometimes it’s hard to recognize that it’s time for a brand refresh. Why embark on a brand refresh if your business is successfully growing? Many high-growth companies grow organically, without any strategic direction. Things takeoff. Your team expands. New offices open. Your product line multiplies. And growth mode may happen without making plans for how the brand will accommodate and flex as the business develops. At these times, decisions are often made that help an internal team manage change. In many cases, this means that some of the key brand components end up...
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What Makes a Great Strategist?

What Makes a Great Strategist?

A Team of Strategists Lots of businesses use the title of strategist for roles within their organization. For us at Emotive Brand, we have a very clear and defined view of what makes a good brand strategist. We carefully curate our project teams of strategists with a focus on selecting the skill sets and experience that are best suited for our clients and our projects. The Need for a Great Strategist In today’s hyper competitive, interconnected, always shifting world, businesses need great strategists to really drive their business and brand forward. When recruiting and hiring strategists at...
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The Future of SEO Is Voice Search

The Future of SEO Is Voice Search

Between Siri, Alexa, Cortana, and Google Assistant, voice technology is quickly becoming a daily part of the modern landscape. Beyond creating grocery lists or sending texts, voice search is how many people are now discovering and connecting with brands. To remain relevant — and searchable — brands need to begin thinking about how to include voice search into their overall strategy. After all, whether someone is using their thumbs or their voice, don’t you want to be found? Voice Search Breaks the Rules of SEO Sometimes, the most advanced technology takes us right back to where we started....
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Brand Differentiation: Where Do You Even Start?

Brand Differentiation: Where Do You Even Start?

Brand Differentiation In B2B marketing, creating brand differentiation is a critical output of all marketers whether you are managing a B2B or B2C brand. When your brand is truly and meaningfully differentiated, it works as a magnet to attract new customers and employees, as a glue that keeps people loyal, and as a warm glow that means people always come back for more. So how do you differentiate your brand? The problem for most brands is that they have yet to find a distinct place in the whirlwind of modern commerce. These brands are being buffeted by the winds of change and the waves of...
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How to Make a Business and Brand Transformation Successful

How to Make a Business and Brand Transformation Successful

Emotive Brand hinges itself on the power of business transformation through brand strategy, and brand strategist, Jo Schull adds a honed strategic mind to our team. By working directly with clients to help understand the true essence of their business, she uncovers the necessary internal and external strategies needed to transform the potential of their brand into a reality. In this interview, Jo offers her thoughts and expertise on how to make a brand and business transformation successful. People are always talking about business transformation – what does that mean? Business...
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Six Secrets of Thriving Brands

Six Secrets of Thriving Brands

This is the second post in our “Brand Strategy 101” series. Last time, we discussed why a brand is so difficult to define. While a brand might mean different things to different people and different businesses, at Emotive Brand, we think of brand as a driver of business. When a brand connects with the people who matter to your business, the business is positioned to thrive. But, for a brand to connect with people, some important factors come into play. We have identified six of the most powerful attributes that thriving brands and businesses have in common:   1. Meaning Every moment a brand...
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