Rachelle Kuramoto

You need to set ROI metrics regardless of the size of your budget. And you don't need a stack of cash for a stunning brand. (Look at early-stage rocketships like Dollar Shave Club.) FIRST, build ROI KPIs into your brand strategy to measure as the business grows. THEN build the tactics and tools you can afford. For example: > Brand Standards: Nail the visual and messaging identity concepts internally (i.e., logo, colors, positioning) and give them to a talented freelancer to produce. >> ROI = Working standards >> Market recognition > Brand Awareness: You might not be able to afford activations or digital ads, but you have a market. Tap and equip your raving fans to be force multipliers. >> ROI = Community >> Customers Be creative!

If you're in a growth phase that is evolving your brand strategy significantly, the most important things to do are: 1. Identify your core performance metrics so you can keep track of brand health 2. Align your team around the unchanging core brand elements so everyone is using them consistently The core performance metrics should help you to confirm your brand is retaining its most valuable audience. Track engagement, affinity, share of voice, and inbound metrics. By aligning your team around brand elements that won't change (primary visual ID elements, core messaging) you reinforce consistency in the marketplace. You'll also gain a consistent temp check for the impact of brand changes on company culture.

This is a million-dollar question for brand, marketing, and content strategists – especially in small companies. The answer comes down to discipline. The week should begin with a team meeting. Review brand health and how it is supporting the organization. Identify gaps and opportunities, then use them to set timely priorities (activations, content, etc.). Every team member should know their strategic and tactical contributions for the week/month/quarter and how they align with others on the team. Nest your priorities – brand work is macro; the efforts to support it are typically more micro. Both are important but some may be more urgent. Use a tool like an Eisenhower grid to map urgent and important work, and track it consistently.

A brand strategy project should be tremendously complex because it should enlist people from across the organization. If you accomplish that goal, you can't expect all of the people at the table to contribute equally. It is likely that you'll have some underperformers by virtue of the fact that this kind of work is so far outside the comfort zone for some people. Create space for listening first. Record each contributor's perspectives and priorities. Return to those points throughout the strategy work so people feel heard and valued. Doing so will encourage participation. At the end of the day, there should be one decision-maker. It will secure the brand so any underperformance doesn't have a bigger negative consequence.

Burnout is sneaky and it can look different for each person, so recognizing it should begin with knowing what motivates you and gives you a sense of satisfaction with your writing. Chances are, the quality of your output will drop. You may not recognize that has happened unless you have a trusted editor or content partner. (FWIW, having that person in your content ecosystem is always important.) You may also find yourself leaning too heavily on resources (like AI) to relieve some pressure and speed up outcomes. Cutting corners, satisfaction with low-quality output, and procrastination are all signs. If you notice them, step away for a bit, read something inspiring, and assess what content is actually necessary.

Maintaining brand messaging and consistency across channels requires that you have a concise set of messaging standards in place. Ideally, they are the result of collaboration across teams. Keep the core messaging standards to the fundamentals: - Positioning (Full, Elevator Pitch, One-sentence) - Differentiation Statement - Core Values - Key Benefits - Boilerplate - Vision Statement Once they're set, educate. Make sure everyone in the organization knows them, understands them, has a reference guide, and is bought in and willing to use them. The brand owner should monitor channels to see that the messages are consistently used and to measure which messages work best in each channel. Iterate as needed, but keep the core identity firm.