Haha fair enough! I think you're right, I'll update the article with more of a definition of "Trough of Sorrow". This is my first blog project and I find it hard to know how much to include in one post vs. what to split out into several modules. It is not my intention to withhold info to drive subscriptions, I just haven't had time to write it all yet! Going with the launch fast, even though the product is not complete heh.

For now, the below is what I've laid out as the plan for the blog. So hopefully it will all be covered when you can click through the blogs, one after another:

1.01 - Objectives, KPIs and the effectiveness framework - Map how your marketing efforts will add commercial value to your balance sheet by driving behavioural change.

1.02 - Branding fundamentals - A quick overview that explains the basics of branding and brand positioning.

1.03 - Target Audience - How firms like Bain & McKinsey help Fortune 500 companies create a segmentation and find their ideal target customer.

1.04 - Research & the 4 C's of marketing - How to conduct research to form the basis of your brand positioning.

1.05 - Consumer - Dig deeper into your segments and develop an audience persona.

1.06 - Competition - How to conduct a robust competitor audit to reveal whitespaces in the market.

1.07 - Culture - An introduction into trends research - how to put your finger on the pulse of culture and discover micro, medio and macro trends in society.

1.08 - Company - There are always insights to gain from looking into the history of a company. What can we learn about the founding days?

1.09 - Positioning Statement - How to craft a unique brand or product positioning statement to keep your marketing activities consistent and clear.

1.10 - Manifesto, Visual Identity & TOV - Express what and who your brand represents by creating a manifesto, visual identity and tone-of-voice.

-

Brand Definition
2.01 - Defining a Brand - Learn how to structure your positioning work, expand it, simplify it and make it "production-ready" to be used as the foundation for all your marketing and communication efforts.

2.02 - Brand Architecture - We’ll define a system to organize your brand(s), product(s) and service(s) to help your audience access and relate to your portfolio.

2.03 - Brand Purpose - Define your brand's reason for being and what you stand for - allowing your brand to connect with consumers (and employees) on an emotional level.

2.04 - Values & Behaviours - Define a set of guiding principles to shape every aspect of your business and dictate your brand message and personality.

2.05 - Additional Brand Attributes - What other attributes and tools can we use to define our brand?

2.06 - RTBs & Proof Points - What are “Reasons-to-believe” and how do you choose which ones to prioritise?

2.07 - Brand Book & Visual Guidelines - How to create a document that sets distinct guidelines for maintaining brand identity across all aspects of your business.

-

Brand Campaign
3.01 - Introduction to advertising campaigns - How to create a strategy designed for a specific business objective (eg. to strengthen a brand, launch a product or steal market share).

3.02 - The Consumer Journey - Understand your customer’s purchase journey and the experiences they go through when interacting with your brand, from awareness to purchase and loyalty.

3.03 - Comms architecture - How to plan your marketing tactics and deliver comms to consumers at the right moment in their buying cycle.

3.04 - The Creative Brief - Create succinct documents outlining the strategy for a creative project which can be provided to partners such as copywriters, designers, film producers and web developers.

-

Brand Media Strategy
4.01 - Introduction to Media Strategy - Why it's important to choose the right marketing channels for your business and how to find the perfect ones for you in a sea of options.

4.02 - Media Plan - Create a campaign media plan to deliver your ad message via the right channels and increase conversions in an effective manner, at low cost.

4.03 - Channel strategy - Strategies for specific channels and approaches to figure them out (eg. TV, Google Ads, Billboards, SEO, Social Media, Apps, Email, PR).

4.04 - KPIs & measurement - Learn how to define KPIs and create a measurement strategy to understand campaign performance and inform adjustments to current tactics.

4.05 - Branding 101 Conclusion - Summary of what we've done and where to go next.