It works. They loved it.
And it wasn’t a simple problem, but it was a simple solution.
A company in Houston booked a 24 Hour Brand. We had several conversations. They sent me everything they could on competitors, their marketing problem, their history and their goals. I spent a week thinking about the problem and set a meeting with the executive team on Monday.
These guys manage data.
I know. Who cares. Data. Other than oxygen, the most ubiquitous matter in existence.
BUT… These guys do it better than most. They’ve been doing it for almost 20 years and specialize in marketing database issues. Doing a DM campaign? They can clean up your data to make it more effective. Looking to open another store? They can find you the exact right location based on your data. Anything you want to do will be better once they unlock the magic inside your data.
There are few companies that can do what they can and they’re all great folks.
But what was the problem?
1. The message was… Well, it wasn’t. They do so many things that a visitor to the site got mired down in industry-speak and got lost.
2. Their top prospects were marketers, not dababase managers. So we built out personas that clearly showed how they need to be communicated with.
3. The Name. The name of the company was boring. And besides that, there were multiple companies with the same name in multiple countries so they had to add USA to the URL. Ouch.
4. Education. I quickly realized that their top buyer persona was barely hanging on with the technology. They are marketers in organizations that process huge amounts of data. They’re marketers, not data analysts. So we had to do a great job of simplifying the message and educate our audience on how to accomplish great marketing deeds with mountains of data.
We spent the afternoon talking about this. Everyone had their say and I got to ask a lot of questions. I began to visualize exactly who our most important prospect was and what kinds of messages would appeal to them. Around 5:30, I let everyone go and went back to the hotel to start my work.
After a dip in the pool and a great dinner, I got to work. It turned out to be a long night and half the next morning, but I solved it.
The problem was simple, once I boiled peeled back all the noise.
Their offering was a laundry list. I grouped everything they did into four simple steps and named the four steps based on the new name (which, once it’s all up live, I’ll reveal). I actually found a name that utilizes some of the old name, but shortens it and works with the four steps.
AND, the URL was open. A web search brought up nothing that could confuse a buyer OR a lawyer.
It was wide open, simple, elegant, unique and memorable.
I developed our top user personas and a plan to reach them with message map and touch tactics. And I developed a full messaging campaign, wireframe sketches of new web site, basic navigation, internal pages and video demo outline.
And I delivered it all the next day at 2:00.
I admitted that for anyone to walk into a company that’s had the same name for nearly 20 years and suggest they change it was suicide. Angry villagers with sticks. A lynchable offense.
But they loved it. They saw how this elegantly simple approach would change their brand forever. By 4:30 we were done. Everyone agreed on the new direction and I shook hands and bid everyone adieu.
Today I’ll meet with one of my creative agencies to give them the outlines of everything we’d done and get a proposal for a new corporate ID, new site, short demo animations etc.
Now a company that’s had the same problem for many years has a totally unique and fresh communication tool, an elevator pitch, a new name, new marketing plan and an excited executive team.
A lot can happen in 24 hours.
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