Marketing Tips from a Marketing Agency: Express your brand simply and visually

It would only stand to reason that a marketing & branding agency would be pretty good at branding and marketing itself.

So I thought it might be fun to explore some branding & marketing concepts using our own agency, McLellan Marketing Group, as the guinea pig.

Express your brand simply and visually

At MMG, we help clients discover their brand so they can create love affairs with their clients.

That's our brand in a sentence.

We understand that a powerful brand begets love affairs.  For our clients.  For the agency.  For MMG team members.  We call it a love affair in the round.

or....we can express our brand this way:  This is what we do and how we do it.

 

Which one is more memorable for you?  How could you do the same thing for your brand?

Comments

[Irene]

Nice tip. We surely don't want our brand to be sofisticated to avoid confusions. Making it simple wherein it is enough to present is sufficient to be recognized by the people.

[Steve Woodruff]

Drew,

I think what you're proposing above is trying to say too much. Too many words, and 5 distinct elements each containing messages. I don't think I could walk away from this with a memory of it.
Perhaps you could more simply focus on the 4 "Remarkable Experience" statements and save the details of the "how" (the center bullet point list) for later in the sales/marketing process.
My 2 cents...

[Drew McLellan]

Irene --

Exactly -- what's the old adage -- keep it simple stupid! (not calling you stupid!)

Drew

[Drew McLellan]

Steve,

Thanks for your input. It's not our intention that people remember all the details. I want them to remember the concept.

The details are really used to teach from, to educate clients and potential clients about what we're all about.

And to show them the "hows" to create the love affair.

Drew

[Steve Harper]

I have to disagree with Steve's comment. I think it is memorable and it speaks to me. I believe it tells a wonderful story without a bunch of salesy b.s. needed to explain it. It shows your firm's commitment and understanding of what it takes to deliver. I like it.

My 2 cents....I could be wrong.

Ripple On!!!

Steve

[Nancy]

I also like it. It's important to have a good relationship with your clients.

I agree. It doesn't matter if your brand is simple. What's important is the quality of products or services.

[David Armano]

Drew,

I like the visual! :)

[Jane Greer]

Drew, I like the visual but I LOVE, "At MMG, we help clients discover their brand so they can create love affairs with their clients." The sentence is evocative; the visual is so...square. What if you did something as simple and corny as changing that center blue box to a heart (and then made sure that your branding sentence was in plain sight)? Just a top-of-the-head thought.

[Drew McLellan]

Irene,

Keeping it simple means it is also memorable. That's good for brands and business.

Drew

[Drew McLellan]

Steve,

Well you can't be wrong, because we agree! :)

Seriously, thanks for the feedback. I don't expect people to be able to recite the "tactics" in the middle of the diamond. But...if they remember that it's about creating the love affair by creating remarkable experiences -- then I'm good.

It's all about the love.

Drew

[Drew McLellan]

Nancy,

Thanks -- glad you like it.

Keeping it simple means that you've boiled it down to the core message.

Which helps make it memorable, I think.

Drew

[Drew McLellan]

Jane,

Thanks for loving the words! As as writer, I gotta love that!

Adding the phrase to the graphic is a very good idea -- thank you. We'll pay with the shapes and see what happens.

Drew

[Tom Swartwood]

Great tip to try to portray our brand on paper. I believe it is harder than you made it look, but then you are a pro. I do agree with Steve that there was too much info...at first; it did draw me in and I think I understand what you were trying to illustrate. Also, you refer to a love affair in the round (now that image sticks with me)but you use a square.

[Drew McLellan]

Hi Tom,

Thanks for the feedback. Don't be fooled -- it took us a long time to mentally boil this all down to a simple graphic. We use it as a "teaching" aid with clients and prospects. It not only reflects our brand but it also demonstrates the power of branding.

As for the round versus square -- think conceptually. Although the lines are technically a diamond...the motion and the energy flow if you will, is in the round. There is no beginning and no end.

Drew