Building brand value and loyalty in the growing renewable energy industry
How do you differentiate your brand in a crowded market? As a full-service marketing agency focused 100% on the renewable energy industry, we often get asked this question. Our clients might sit within the same industry sector; they may be partners or potential competitors. Our ability to navigate this terrain sets us apart, and our answer is always the same.
No two companies are alike, no two cultures are alike, and no two solutions are alike. Our job is to help you craft that story, positioning you in a way that stands out from everyone else. We work tirelessly to dig into your ethos and DNA and pull out those nuggets that demonstrate your uniqueness to your customers and prospects. And we create the foundation for your brand to thrive through words, visuals, branding, and experiences that connect.
When I think about establishing value in the industry beyond the channels and tactics that come to mind, I also think about how integration plays such an essential part in the process. Focusing on the message, you can seamlessly integrate everything from your PR and social media to your graphics and campaigns. And with repetition, you can create authority across every channel where your customers or prospects engage with you.
Being deliberate, consistent, and showing up often will drive results. Research shows that integrated campaigns across more than four channels can outperform single or dual-channel campaigns by 300%. Why is this? You are building brand awareness and loyalty, as well as preventing budget waste through inconsistent messages and campaigns.
At twentytwo & brand, we’ve created a proprietary program that every client we onboard participates in. This ensures we hit the ground running from Day 1, digging into areas where we can make you shine. Here are the seven steps that take you from idea to launch.
Discovering Your Brand’s Unique Essence
The first step in our branded marketing program is Discovery. This phase is crucial as it lays the foundation for all subsequent marketing efforts. During discovery, we delve deep into understanding your business, industry, and target audiences. We conduct market research, competitor analysis, and create a persona matrix to identify opportunities for differentiation. This process involves engaging with key stakeholders - internal and external - through interviews to gather insights and perspectives. The goal is to crystallize your brand’s essential truth, ensuring your marketing stands out in a crowded market. We also look at where you want to go compared to how you communicate your brand value today to help evolve your messaging into the future.
Creating a Message that Resonates with Core Audiences
The next step in our process is focused on Messaging and Positioning Development. Now that we’ve heard from your stakeholders, we can translate their wants and needs into in-depth messaging that forms the foundation of all subsequent materials, from company overviews and flyers to website content and design. This may entail creating your messaging platform from scratch if you’re a new entrant to the industry or embarking on a rebrand for your company. If you’re pretty happy with how you’re positioned today but need to drive more clarity as the industry has grown, we can work with you to refine and evolve your messaging to meet these more subtle goals.
First, we begin with your tagline, vision, and mission. The vision is your aspirational north star, signaling to the industry where you plan to go in the future. The mission, also external facing, sets the stage for who you are, what you do, and how you’re different. It also highlights your brand's impact on customers, society, or the environment. Next, we formalize your unique selling propositions to solidify the story we want to tell. This helps with positioning, differentiation, and clearly articulating the value or benefits that your customers stand to gain when engaging as your partner. Because we have worked alongside brands in the renewable energy and climate tech sectors for decades, we understand the subtle nuances of what it takes to make you stand apart.
Crafting a Compelling Brand Identity that Connects
Once we have a clear understanding of your brand’s essence, we move on to the Branding phase. Branding is not just about creating a logo or choosing colors; it’s about developing a comprehensive identity that resonates with your target audiences. This includes creating a unique personality, voice, and tone for your brand to connect with your primary market, which could be consumers or other businesses. Our experienced designers and brand strategists work collaboratively to create an authentic, memorable identity that aligns with your business goals. A strong brand identity helps establish trust and credibility, build lasting relationships, and drive business decisions.
According to a Gartner study on business-to-business (B2B) brand positioning, 10-50% of consumers have an emotional connection with business-to-consumer (B2C) brands, and that number climbs to 40-70% of consumers having an emotional connection with a B2B brand. To ensure that emotional connection, we focus our efforts on authentic storytelling. By aligning your brand’s values and mission to those of your target audience, you can create more authentic communications, focus on impact, and begin to build the integrity of your brand. Consistency in what you communicate and how you communicate is key to creating that connection and long-term relationship.
Developing High-Impact Marketing Assets
With a solid brand identity in place, we move on to develop a suite of marketing assets designed to effectively communicate your brand’s message across various audiences, channels, and touchpoints. They include everything from business cards and brochures to social media graphics and video content. Our creative team ensures that all marketing materials are visually cohesive and deliver on consistently. As we approach RE+ 2024, many of our clients rely on us to create standout visuals that captivate among 1,500 booths and 40,000 attendees - driving in-person conversations and brochure pick-ups that can lead to revenue.
Building a User-Centric Website
As we move into the broader digital realm, developing a high-performing website is critical. It serves as the digital face of your brand and is often the first point of contact for potential customers. We focus on weaving together effective strategies with captivating visuals and impactful narratives to create best-in-class websites that go beyond aesthetics. Again, the key here is to create purposeful and compelling brand stories that will resonate and establish a connection with your audience.
Our award-winning web development team employs the latest technologies and best practices in UX/UI design to ensure an optimal user experience. We also elevate your online presence through strategic and thorough search engine optimization to drive rankings and stand out. Finally, we recognize that insights matter, so we harness the power of data with a proprietary analytics solution that provides insights to help inform decision-making.
Executing a Successful Launch
Launching your brand is a pivotal moment in any marketing program. A successful go-to-market plan involves a well-coordinated strategy that includes pre-launch, launch, and post-launch activities. During the pre-launch phase, we build anticipation and excitement through teaser campaigns, industry partnerships, and media outreach. On the launch day, we execute a series of high-impact activities such as press releases, social media posts, and in-person or digital launch events to maximize visibility and engagement. Post-launch, we continue to maintain momentum through ongoing marketing efforts and engagement. This step is often forgotten and one that I’d like to emphasize. The impact of the launch should continue to drive engagement and earn brand equity if you recognize that you’re playing the long game and don’t rush to the next shiny object too soon.
Ensuring Ongoing Engagement and Growth
The final phase of our branded marketing program focuses on Ongoing Engagement. Sustaining interest and engagement with your audience is crucial for long-term success. We implement a variety of strategies to keep your brand top-of-mind, position your experts as thought leaders, and build industry credibility. There is an important balance to strike: blending content marketing that educates, is non-promotional, and drives visitors to your website with advertising and outbound tactics that try to create interest and intent. Looking beyond traditional marketing tactics, including social media interactions, marketing campaigns, and advertising for lead generation, draws your audience in and helps you tell a complete story about your company and your brand. We continuously monitor and analyze performance metrics like sentiment and share of voice to optimize marketing efforts and adapt to changing industry dynamics. By maintaining an active and dynamic presence online and off, we ensure that your brand continues to grow and thrive in a competitive landscape.
Bringing it All Together
Our branded marketing program sets us apart from other cleantech agencies. It's helped us grow exponentially and has led to our recent placement in the top 20 percent of the Inc. 5000 list.
We help businesses like yours discover their unique essence, craft compelling brand identities, develop high-impact marketing assets, build user-centric websites, execute successful brand launches, and ensure ongoing engagement and growth.
You stand out. You connect to audiences. You achieve long-term success.
Whether you are launching a new brand or revitalizing an existing one, our program provides the strategic and creative expertise to elevate your brand to new heights.
