Brand strategy is not a pick-and-choose endeavor

Invest in consistency up front for long-term results

Clients sometimes ask if they can ignore one part of the strategy created for them so they can execute on another. Maybe the second strategy is less esoteric to them or sounds like it will “rocket them to the top of Google’s search results” — or so they have been told.

I get it. As a business owner, marketing has become a confusing morass of endless options to consider and decide upon — quick! before you get left out. It’s frustrating, confusing and takes too long.

Skipping over certain parts of strategy for others is a dangerous path because marketing today is more integrated than ever.

In a solid strategy, each piece of content or visual content or what-have-you is connected to another important piece.

Skipping over website development to send emails doesn’t allow any place for the recipients of those emails to return or to explore your brand further.

Sending an awesome email to a crappy website creates doubt in the mind of your audience because of its inconsistency.

Concentrating on social media without a healthy blog shortchanges your opportunity to display your thought leadership through a social post that sends your audience to a longer blog post.

And if your social voice is on point, but your blog is blah, your readers will not return.

A well-crafted book published by the leader of the company will fall flat without a solid digital promotion campaign and a PR effort to get the book in front of reviewers and media folks.

Here’s the ugly truth: omitting pieces or moving forward before everything is up to code will hurt your brand in the long run.

Yes, it takes time to put all of these integrated pieces in place. And business owners, who tend to be fast-moving, hard-driving folks, are not the most patient people. Particularly when it comes to marketing.

But those who are savvy and measured in getting all the pieces in place will benefit with a longstanding brand infrastructure that will continue to work day and night for the brand’s visibility. Investing the time up front will allow you to build a humming, beautiful machine that fires on all pistons, all the time.

Sort of like a rocket.