The Step Change Blog

The latest thinking on business, strategy, marketing and sales

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February 23, 2023

What ChatGPT Doesn’t Know About Brand Salience

Business Strategy, Sales, Ashton Bishop, Artificial Intelligence, Branding, Marketing Strategy, Creativity, Challenger Brands, Brand Building, Differentiation, Distinctive Brand, Brand Positioning, Brand Saliency

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.

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February 17, 2021

6 Key Principles for Creating Lightning Strike Moments: Exponential Marketing

Business Strategy, Ashton Bishop, Marketing Strategy, Decision Making, Creativity, exponential marketing

Learn about the scenario planning mistakes and how you can prevent them from misfiring your strategy so you can navigate complexity efficiently.

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September 25, 2020

Navigating Complexity: 5 Scenario Planning Mistakes & How To Stop Them

Business Strategy, Ashton Bishop, Marketing Strategy, Decision Making, Creativity, Culture & Leadership, Scenario Planning, Alignment

Learn about the scenario planning mistakes and how you can prevent them from misfiring your strategy so you can navigate complexity efficiently.

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November 21, 2019

Data-Driven Creativity

Marketing Strategy, Creativity

Brands are overwhelming people with so much content when what they actually need are authentic connections. But running on creativity without data just misses the mark. To build authentic and lasting connections with your customers, you need to use data-driven creativity. 

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January 24, 2019

Video Marketing: A Quick Guide on Using Video to Connect Your Brand to Your Audience

Marketing Strategy, Creativity, Content Marketing

In the age of short attention spans, brands are constantly competing to captivate their audience through creative and engaging ways possible.

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December 7, 2018

Step Change’s Growth Highlights in 2018

Business Strategy, Step Change, Marketing Strategy, Creativity, Digital

The best solutions arise at the intersection of strategy and creativity.

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December 4, 2018

Kevin Roberts on Creative Process: How to Become a Creative Leader

Creativity, Culture & Leadership

In today’s diverse business landscape, creativity is an essential skill that modern business leaders need to have. It is synonymous to imagination and innovative thinking — specific skill sets that are necessary in pushing workforces to be progressive.  

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October 5, 2018

How Much Does a Video Cost?

Marketing Strategy, Creativity, Content Marketing

Video is fast becoming a household name in the marketing industry today with it expected to dominate the market by as much as 80% by 2019.

And that’s not at all surprising: it’s been found that adding videos to your website is the easiest way to ranking higher on Google search, and marketers all over the world consider video as the type of content with the best ROI.

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September 28, 2018

Why Video Testimonials Are Your Best Conversion Tools

Marketing Strategy, Creativity, Content Marketing

The need for social proof is an inescapable part of marketing strategy today. With so much noise in the marketplace, it’s understandable why consumers look for social proof from their peers or other consumers about their buying decisions. So the best tool to communicate your value further? A video testimonial from your delighted clients.

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September 14, 2018

How to Find Your Next Big Step Change [Podcast]

Business Strategy, Step Change, Marketing Strategy, Creativity, Digital, Culture & Leadership, Business Growth

Our CEO, Ashton Bishop, reveals what businesses can do to find their next step change, and how to implement the Big 6 Challenges for business growth in this 7-minute Marketing the Invisible podcast with Tom Poland.

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August 16, 2018

Should You Invest in Video Marketing for Your Ecommerce Business?

Marketing Strategy, Creativity, Content Marketing

When it comes to showcasing your brand to your audience in the best way possible, videos are still unrivalled.

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June 7, 2018

Video Storytelling: How to Make Serious Topics Interesting [with Examples]

Marketing Strategy, Creativity

As more brands turn to video to get their content noticed, the need to put out engaging content is no longer an option but a necessity.

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May 14, 2018

How to Create an Internal Comms Strategy that Works (with Case Study from AGL Energy)

Business Strategy, Branding, Creativity

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.

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March 23, 2018

Brand Storytelling Examples: How to Hold Customers’ Attention

Branding, Creativity

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.

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March 20, 2018

Insights from Kevin Roberts: Creativity and Innovation

Step Change, Creativity

Former Saatchi & Saatchi CEO Kevin Roberts sheds light on essential matters like organisational growth, change, and creativity in this one-of-a-kind interview with Head of Strategy, Glenn Bartlett. This is the first post of the five-part video series. 

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December 13, 2017

How to Use Emotive Storytelling for Your Holiday Marketing

Branding, Marketing Strategy, Creativity

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.  

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April 13, 2017

Why You Need to Have Explainer Videos in Your Marketing Strategy

Marketing Strategy, Creativity

Video content is not an option for businesses anymore. If you want to succeed in your marketing efforts, video marketing is the answer.

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February 15, 2017

3 Insights that Businesses Can Learn from Photographers

Creativity

Picture this. A magnificent 160,000-dollar Audi R8, with the ocean and the sky as its backdrop and a cloud of sand rising around it as if it has just drifted to a stop. This was how the execs at Audi envisioned it when they asked a photographer to take a photo of the car. But perhaps more remarkable than the output itself was how he did it.

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January 17, 2017

4 Things You Need to Know before Designing Your Brand’s Logo

Creativity

A logo is an indispensable part of your business marketing. It’s a graphic display of your company’s identity; moreover, it could be the first, or only, thing your potential customers experience with your brand. This is why a well-designed logo is a vital component of your marketing strategy.

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December 6, 2016

Driving Results through a Killer Explainer Video

Marketing Strategy, Creativity

Thinking of stepping up your business and add value to your products and services next year? Read this article.

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December 1, 2016

The One Reason You Should Invest in a Manifesto Video

Marketing Strategy, Creativity

Do you want to engage customers and employees on an emotional level, build loyalty to the brand, and inspire advocates? Consider filming your manifesto video.

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June 3, 2014

The Prophet Is Profit

B2B Sales, Branding, Creativity

Greed may or may not be good, but it's not going anywhere. Despite the wonders of technology, creativity is still the key to making a mint.

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