The sweet smell of success relies on relationships

The sweet smell of success relies on relationships

Marketing needs communications as the latter builds the relationships

While marketing is the strategy that lands audience and revenue, the most critical indicator for success will always be communication.

A brand is a conversation, it’s a relationship with an audience, and relationships are built on communication.

Communication is also the cornerstone of every great client relationship or, let’s be honest, business or pleasure, communication is the cornerstone of humanity.

Ultimately, creating a brand strategy for clients comes down to getting clarity on everything. 

It’s not only getting to know the product or service but knowing the deciders and key stakeholders, the zealots in the company looking for great work, and a partnership to take their brand into the stratosphere. 

Start with why?

It’s mission-critical that, in the very first meeting with a client, we get to know their why, we seek to understand.

Below are just some of the many questions one asks building a healthy relationship with clients

  • What’s the company’s history?
  • What are the product(s) or service(s) your company offers
  • Why do you offer those, and for whom?
  • What pain point, problem, or solution do you offer?
  • What’s been working or not working or, if it’s a pre-launch, what do you feel will work?
  • What’s your take on your competitive landscape?
  • What are your top-three biggest challenges or fears?
  • Who are your stakeholders, and how do they relate to the business?
  • What social or other online verticals are you in?
  • What’s your tech stack?
  • What’s your dream success story for this product or service?
  • Etc. Etc.

Note: By the time we’re having this meeting, if there’s an assured fit, I’ve personally probably already done extensive research using tools like Statista, SEMRush, Ahrefs, Moz, SpyFu, Google, Meltwater, social media, vertical networks, archive.org, and on and on and on dependent on the client and whatever introductory information was given.

While no two projects are the same, and each and every client deserves a customized growth strategy takes customization, at the very core of each and every success story was a carefully nurtured two-way relationship.

Build a relationship with any client and their project, the rest will fall into place.