BRAND AWARENESS
AWARENESS Inserting your brand into an ever-increasing number of buying cycles with firms who fit your ideal client profile. This is the goal of building brand awareness. More than just brand recognition, brand awareness works almost invisibly in the background, persuading ideal clients that you understand them, that you have tailored solutions just for them, and that when the time is right, they should reach out to you. This is the power of awareness.
Brand Awareness Solutions That Impact Revenue And Growth Defining A Sound Strategy For Inserting Awareness Of Our Clients Brands Into The Right Buying Cycles Brand awareness is a key to growth. Ideal clients cannot buy services from firms that they are not aware of, and what s more, waiting to build awareness until an ideal client enters the search phase of the business-to-business (B2B) buying cycle is not a good practice. This means that other firms may already have shaped success criteria in their favor, leaving you to try to win the game using a competitor s rule-book. As much as Professional Services (PS) executives know they need to build brand awareness, they are also painfully aware of how difficult this can be. In conversations with PS executives across a number of different industries, we consistently hear the following: 1. Executives find it difficult to build awareness beyond their limited referral network of satisfied clients and partners. Firm principles recognize that this is simply not enough. 2. Too few decision-makers know about the firm, causing them to miss opportunities to enter the B2B buying cycle and compete for deals they could win. 3. Too often executives hear about deals that have already closed that would have been perfect for them. 4. Budgets are tight and the market is niche. Defining which awareness tactics are most effective has been difficult and results have been spotty at best. 5. Previous attempts to raise awareness about their brand did not result in deal-flow. While general awareness may have increased, no tangible business benefits were realized, which further eroded confidence in awareness techniques. Our Solution The Shattuck Group develops brand awareness campaigns that are rightsized for each unique client, based on cutting edge practices, and that impact entrance into an ever greater number of buying cycles. Value Proposition Our awareness solutions position our clients brands in front of their ideal clients, increase deal flow, empower our clients to enter the buying cycle early on and shape success criteria, and ultimately win more of the right deals. 3
The Results Of Our Brand Awareness Service Impacting Revenue And Firm Value By Advancing A Leadership Position When you engage The Shattuck Group to help your firm increase brand awareness with ideal clients, you can expect to receive the following results. Deal-Flow Your firm will increase deal-flow and customer acquisition over time as you enter an ever greater number of buying cycles. What s more, you ll enter those cycles earlier and have greater opportunity to shape success criteria in your favor. Prominence Your firm will become a recognized player in your arena and a source that ideal clients will contact as they encounter a need your firm can address. Expertise Your firm s principles will be sought out as experts by the media, journalists, and other professionals. Visibility Your firm s enhanced awareness will make it easy for ideal clients and prospects to find you and reach out to you when they are ready to buy. Status Your firm s status overall will be elevated as more and more of the right people become aware of your brand, your services, and the results you can deliver. When Professional Services Executives Need Strategies To Grow Brand Awareness, We Help Them See The Big Picture. 4
Our Brand Awareness Methodology Hypothesis We begin by interviewing key executives and asking them to estimate where they think brand awareness is today. We define brand awareness as the number of decision-makers, on a scale of 1 to 10, within the universe of total potential clients who actually recognize your brand name in a blind poll, have some sense of what you do, or can articulate your value proposition? Profile We create a profile of the ideal client, if one does not exist, and define up to 10 or more parameters associated with the ideal client. If the ideal client profile does exist but has not been updated within the last 12 months, we conduct research and amplify the profile. Research We conduct a small market research campaign (typically quantitative) with up to 1,000 individuals who match the ideal client profile and test brand awareness in a blind poll. In addition to examining brand name recognition, we also test awareness of our clients value proposition, leadership status, and perceived value. Create We create a brand awareness strategy that informs ideal clients while respecting budget parameters and the niche nature of the market. Typically our awareness strategies are a blend of several of the following campaign types: Thought leadership campaigns such as article writing, blogging, white papers, webinars, book publishing, electronic newsletters, and other tactics Public relations campaigns such as press releases, public appearances, citations of principles in major online or print journals, and when appropriate press conferences Print advertising in niche publications, usually paired with online advertising Public speaking for principles at seminars, conferences, and major industry events Search engine marketing including website optimization, pay-per-click, and pay-for-placement Email marketing campaigns typically paired with white papers and other value-based offers Social network campaigns targeted at ideal clients who have been aggregated inside professional networks and associations Execute We present the awareness strategy to our client and make final modifications as necessary. We always welcome alternative ideas and suggestions from our clients. Once we reach consensus on the strategy, we launch the campaigns. As part of our ongoing services, we usually project manage the campaigns and institute tracking systems to monitor results. 5
The Benefits You ll Realize From Increased Awareness Growing Your Brand While Increasing The Value Of Your Firm Revenue An increased level of awareness will increase your entrance into more buying cycles which will increase revenue over time as you win more and more deals. Control As ideal clients enter the buying cycle they will reach out to your firm early on. This will empower your firm to shape success criteria and control the cycle to your advantage. Whomever the client holds in high regard early in the buying cycle is likely to win the final deal. Access A higher profile will make it much easier for clients to find you and will also increase your access to the very top levels of industry players. Efficiency A greater level of awareness about your firm will increase the credibility of your brand and make it easier to win deals and move prospects through the buying cycle with greater efficiencies. Recognition Your firm s principals will become respected industry gurus and industry recognition will allow you to charger higher fees, impacting profitability. Increasing Brand Awareness Increases A Firm s Entrance Into An Ever Greater Number Of Buying Cycles. 6
The Deliverables Of This Service Document One This document contains the brand awareness projections of key executives and a profile of your ideal client across the 10 parameters. We ask clients to review this document and confirm the hypotheses we will test. Document Two This document outlines the methodology of the small research campaign we will conduct, including the questionnaire. We utilize a seven-step methodology for custom research and this document is step one of that methodology. Report This report details awareness statistics discovered in the research campaign across parameters such as overall brand recognition, rankings of recognition of your brand versus competitive brands, and the ability of individuals who fit your ideal client to articulate your value proposition. This report provides a benchmark of how aware your market is not only of your brand name but also of your leadership status, position, and perceived value. Presentation This presentation details the awareness strategies and objectives we ve identified and the campaigns we recommend. These will be mapped to specific timelines and budgets that your organization can afford and reasonably implement. As part of this presentation, we also provide project management Gantt charts. To Begin Improving Your Firm s Brand Awareness, Call 877-296-5301 Or Email info@theshattuckgroup.com 7
877-296-5301 www.theshattuckgroup.com