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Just need a few pointers to get your brand strategy plan in place?
Designed by Catherine Warrilow at The Plot, this proprietary methodology helps you sort the messy middle of your brand strategy, unlock the power of situational relevance, activate trigger thinking, and uncover your brand’s understory.
This task sheet is your starting point to aligning and updating your brand strategy so that it connects with people, puts you in front of the right audiences and helps you to sell more tickets.
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Step 1: The Messy Middle
Objective: Identify gaps and confusion between what you do and what your customer actually wants and needs. This is where all of your best brand intentions get lost and confused
Intro: Every brand has a messy middle - that foggy space where what you offer and what your audience understands don’t quite line up. This step helps you spot and fix the disconnect so your messaging is meaningful and aligned.
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Why does it happen: usually because you've got too many messages, your sporadic or inconsistent with your marketing communications or you overlook the most obvious and basic information or questions visitors may have.
Tasks:
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List 3-5 things your brand says it does.
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List 3-5 things your ideal customer thinks you do - if you've got no data, it's survey time
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Really define the problem you solve - don't be generic or vague.
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Circle any mismatches or gaps.
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Look at questions from customers on recent social media posts
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Look at any negatives in your reviews
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What’s missing in your messaging or delivery?
Outcome: Clarity on your real value proposition and where it’s getting lost. This is a very basic format of a task I often spend half a day with clients on. With this questions you should be able to make a start with identifying where your messages aren't getting across.
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Inspiration: if you EVER needed confidence to define your message - who you are, what you do and who for, look no further than the epic Mariah Carey Hostelworld ad.
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Step 2: Situational Relevance
Objective: Match your brand offer to the real-world problems your audience is facing right now.
Intro: Relevance is everything. This step makes sure your brand isn't stuck in the past or speaking in generalities. You'll pinpoint the current challenges your customers face and match your message to their moment. It's not just about challenges, it's about relevant opinions, talking points, social moments and trends.
Tasks:
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What situations are your customers in when they find you? (list at least 3)
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What solution does your brand provide in each situation?
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Are your current messages reflecting this clearly?
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How does the problem you solve align with other things going on in the world for your audience right now? Look at popular culture, sports, lifestyle choices and habits
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Don't try to shoehorn your brand into situations everyone is talking about without good reason.
Outcome: Messaging that speaks to the moment and feels truly useful and relevant. It's great exposure to capitalise on relevant moments that engage or entertain your audience.
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Inspiration: I love the Heinz Baked Beans advert with the guy crying on holiday because his luggage went missing. Most of us wouldn't take a suitcase of beans with us on a trip, but pretty much everyone has at least one home comfort they love to have with them abroad.
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Step 3: Trigger Thinking
Objective: Focus on the moments that prompt action and build messaging around them.
Intro: People don’t take action randomly – they respond to specific emotional or situational triggers. This step helps you discover those moments and build your brand communication around what truly moves people. It's so important to understand the difference between a struggle - an annoyance that we largely ignore, versus a trigger - that moment when we're compelled to make a decision and act/buy.
Tasks:
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List 3-5 reasons your audience decides to act/book/buy.
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Are you marketing to these triggers? Or are you stuck on generic benefits?
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Write one powerful, trigger-based message.
Outcome: Messaging that moves people, not just informs them. Triggers are specific moments. Your audience won't all be experiencing them, but they will identify with them - think about the ad on the tube that last made you smile, or the messaging from a brand that just works.
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Inspiration: The genius series of holiday ads by British Airways titled 'take your holiday seriously' encourage us to leave work at work and switch off, the ultimate feeling we're all waiting for when we get a break and the perfect trigger to book an escape.
Step 4: The Understory
Objective: Reveal the nuances of the journey actual human beings take when they're moving through their awareness, consideration, decision, retention, advocacy journey.
Intro: Beneath every great brand is a deeper story – the beliefs, values and purpose that customers connect with. As much as we'd like to think customers move easily from a search to a few websites, to a shortlist, to a question to a booking, it rarely happens that way. The understory helps you to tap into the way a consumer actually explores before they make a purchasing decision.
Tasks:
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Why does your brand exist beyond profit?
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What’s a story only you can tell?
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What do customers feel after engaging with your brand?
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How do you make people feel at each touchpoint they have with you?
Outcome: A brand story that resonates and creates loyalty for the long term and makes people feel good, a hugely underappreciated part of building a brand.
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Inspiration: Love them or hate them, Airbnb are masters of emotive storytelling and are great at showing off the understory in their 'belong anywhere' ads.
Step 5: Candid Camera
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Objective: Capture the power of real people and real moments - this is about humanising your brand and bringing it to life - letting your guard down and taking people behind the scenes.
Intro: Because there's something really magical that happens when you drop the polished photo shoot for the wobbly phone, averagely lit candid moment when the boss is chatting about something she is entirely passionate about.
This isn't just about content creation, it's spotting the opportunities and acting fast. A quick video of staff getting ready for the day ahead over a brew. It's the moments that make people feel something.
Tasks:
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Get in the habit of spotting things that connect your audience with a moment
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Get everyone on board with being less perfect and polished
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Rally the troops to capture content as well so it comes from a diverse range of perspectives
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Use opportunities to demonstrate situational relevance and the values and purpose of the brand
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Don't over think it - it's often the least expected topics that go crazy
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Outcome: A far less curated social and visual feel, but it's real life and it resonates with people so much more.
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Inspiration: Surprisingly for such a big license, Warner Bros Making of Harry Potter Studio Tour do candid camera really well.