The Step Change Blog

Let’s be honest, budgeting isn’t always fun.

Let’s face it— we’re in a marketing battleground. Your business is only one of the hundreds or even thousands competing for your customer’s attention. If your goal is to win the war for attention, you need to differentiate yourself in a way that actually matters to your customers.

While this sounds obvious, it’s not. All too often, businesses assume they understand what is important for their customers.

UPDATED: As of 23 February 2023

Are you even really running a business if you don’t know what it’s like to fight for recognition in today’s market? Getting attention is one thing. Being unforgettable is another. 

Pay attention to the first brand in your head in a particular situation. Chances are, it’s one with higher brand salience than the rest of its competitors. The good news is you can have that for your brand, too. 

A quick ChatGPT conversation will say brand salience is about awareness, consistency, repetition, relevance, differentiation, emotional connection, and user experience. If you’re a challenger business, AI will mainly tell you that you just have to strive for awareness and consistency. But what does that even mean? And how can you begin to incorporate those elements into your long-term and short-term goals? 

It’s no lie — AI does have a pretty good grasp on ‘what’ you need to be more brand salient. But if you’re looking to get your hands dirty with the ‘hows’ and more importantly, get results, you’ve come to the right place.

UPDATED: As of 2 June 2022

When creating your value proposition, one thing you should never forget is that people make emotional decisions and then rational justifications. They are not buying the product or service. They are buying the benefits or outcomes they receive.

A truly great value proposition focuses on this by including these 3 things to get maximum value:

1. Ground in insight and an understanding of what your customers really want
2. Powerful and relevant brand messaging 
3. Alignment with your purpose and tone to be memorable and believable

Discover the 12 famous archetypes and how they can make your brand top-of-mind for your consumers.

The new year is here! And as we venture forward with fresh business insights and useful strategy, here are the top 10 articles most popular with C-suites in 2019 that you may have missed. 

At some point, a business may need to rebrand to stay competitive in the market. But how do you ensure a smooth transition and not lose any customers in the process? 

Value is in the eye of the beholder. In a world teeming with new product offerings, a critical question we need to ask today is: in a sea of undifferentiated offerings, how do we make our product or service stand out so people will buy from us?

UPDATED: As of 25 August 2022

Should brands aim to be different or distinctive? What is the difference between the two, and how do these strategies add value to the branding equation? We take a closer look at shared evidence and form our own conclusions on why distinctiveness stumps differentiation.

Many brands aim for differentiation in their growth strategy. But is being different all it really takes to stand out?

UPDATED: As of 23 June 2022

Do you know how much your brand is worth? Although brand valuation can be difficult to measure, since a brand is an intangible asset, knowing its worth is useful not only for your business strategy but also in shaping your marketing strategy.

Are you proactively influencing how your target audience sees your brand in relation to all the other options available to them (a.k.a your competitors)? 

One of the many challenges businesses face today more than ever is connecting with their audiences, whether it's their customers or employees.

What may be a significant policy update that can lead to positive change, if delivered in the wrong tone or framed in the wrong way, could end up being received poorly by the team.

It was Steve Forbes who famously said, “Your brand is the single most important investment in your business.” But some, if not most, businesses tend to misunderstand this. Here’s why.

What really makes people decide to buy? And no, it doesn't have a lot to do with singing kittens riding bikes. Find out what does work here:

The heart of every business is human connections. At the end of the day, our work boils down to dealing with people: we exist to solve their problems and mitigate their pain points.

As the holiday rush pours in, you need to do more than the usual to make an impact in your holiday marketing.

To make a lasting impression that leads to conversion for the holidays, you have to be able to capture interest and emotionally connect with your audience to elicit a response and get them to engage.

The most effective way to do that is through emotive storytelling.  

Your brand is anything that comes from your company as a specific source. To the consumer, it symbolises what they can expect when they do business with you. And in today’s crowded marketplace, it’s more important than ever to ensure that your brand stands out from the crowd. 

This blog post features the 12th brand archetype in the series, which explores how brands use literary archetypes to stand out and be remembered.

Offering a product or service with utility or merit is no longer enough. It’s now necessary to create a value proposition to get people to notice and convert them to loyal customers.

One of the most important things to understand about marketing is that at the heart of every business, there is a brand story waiting to be told to the world.

IMPORTANT!!!

1. Watch my video first until I tell you to pause 

2. Then click: Lockitron 

3. Followed by: August 

4. Then return to my video. 

“65% of the economy will face digital disruption by 2017.” (Deloitte)

Disruption will merge sectors and make others redundant. New entrants are now challenging business norms and making huge profits riding the wave.

If you're not having fun, you're doing something wrong, says the Jester. Does your business love having fun and living in the moment?

Does your business create products or provide services that help make a person more attractive, enjoy intimacy, or build relationships? Read on.

The Innocent customer looks for products that will make living life simple and good. Does your business offer this?

The nurturer, the supporter, the parent, the saint — this is the Caregiver archetype. Find out if this suits your brand.