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How To Develop a Branding Plan (With Templates and Examples)

January 14, 2022 (Updated: May 4, 2023)

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What Is a Branding Plan?

Is branding important, branding plan vs. business plan, 6 types of branding, how to create a branding plan, 5 sources for branding plan templates and examples.

Branding is a way to set the foundation for a positive business reputation. Learning how to develop and market your brand can help sustain your company and grow your audience so you can do bigger things in the future. On average,  it takes five to seven impressions for people to remember your brand , so creating a branding plan can help make sure you execute certain steps to get as many people to notice your company as possible.

A branding plan is a document that lists the important aspects of your brand identity and how that affects the public perception of your company. It outlines your brand strategy and serves as the foundation and measurement for evaluating all marketing materials to see if they fit with the image you’re trying to make for your company. The branding plan includes not just the visual aspects of the brand like the logo and colors, but information like:

• A clear description of what your brand represents
• Consistent brand messaging for audience communication
• Attainable goals for brand reach and recognition
• Executable marketing strategies to use to reach your brand goals

Yes, creating a brand that’s consistent, unique, and authentic can separate your business from its competitors. It gives customers a way to connect with your organization beyond the surface level, especially if your brand values align with their personal ones. There are three core components to address when developing a branding plan and strategy. They include:

• Purpose:  Why your company exists and what services you provide
• Consistency:  What allows your brand to meet company standards every day
• Emotions:  What connects your brand to its customers and how you can improve that relationship as your brand grows

Branding plans and business plans can work together to create a roadmap and outlook for your company, but they do have some differences. Branding is all about your company’s reputation, so a branding plan is more concerned with how the public perceives your company. It cares about your messages, your aesthetic visuals, and your company values.

These things also factor into the business plan, but that one has more data about what you may consider traditional aspects of company planning, such as financial information, overall company goals, and staffing or location concerns. It’s difficult to have one type of plan without the other. You need the business plan to make sure the things you need to do in your branding plan are workable. You need the branding plan to execute what you’ve set out in the business plan.

Branding isn’t a single strategy or plan that you can follow and automatically get results. It’s a series of deliberate choices you make to portray your company to the world, and it all depends on your unique company. It’s important to learn about different branding you could engage with to see which one fits your purposes best. You may even find that a combination of some of them may work for your unique purpose. Branding you can use includes:

1. Personal Branding

You may use personal branding to market yourself. This is a popular choice for influencers, public speakers, or others who make their living from turning themselves or their skills into a service. Personal branding is then crafting your public persona for your services. Like other types of branding, it can include the visual aspects of choosing fonts, colors, and logos for your website and choosing ones that reflect who you are and what you do.

2. Product Branding

Similar to personal branding, product branding is marketing your product as unique from others in the market. Consider the potato chip aisle in the grocery store. Essentially, everything there is the same: fried snacks. So what influences your choice when shopping? Probably brand loyalty first, if you already have a favorite. But if they’re out of your favorite, how do you pick a substitute? This is where product branding works. Concepts like color psychology and consumer science may be helpful when engaging in product branding.

Related:   Can Science Affect Your Content Marketing Efforts?

3. Service Branding

Unlike product branding, which focuses more on looks and what’s visually appealing to the customer, service branding may put more attention on what a brand can do for the customers. Take air-condition repair companies, for example. They all do the same thing and there are probably many of them in the same area.

So how do people choose? Usually by what extras or benefits they can get. This is where you focus on what makes your company different from others. Do you offer free estimates? Maybe you work off hours for people that can’t be home during the day. Highlight these attributes in your service branding.

4. Retail Branding

This type of branding focuses on the aesthetics of a brick-and-mortar store. The key is the interior design of the building, from the layout, lighting, decor, music, and displays. The idea, especially for businesses with multiple locations, is to make every location look the same so you instantly know where you’re shopping or visiting when you step inside. This is popular for many retailers. For example, the preteen clothing store Limited Too used dim lighting, flowers, bold colors, and lots of glitter in its retail branding.

Image via  Sourcing Journal

5. Geographic Branding

Geographic branding is important if you can tie your business or cause to a geographic location. Pittsburgh brands, for example, use this type of branding to the fullest. All the major sports teams use the colors black and gold, which people associate with the city. The local amusement park,  Kennywood , also uses those colors in its logo. Steel and bridges are also two other popular branding concepts in the area. Geographic branding is important for tourism-type businesses and franchises that start in one location and expand to new ones.

Image via  Kennywood

6. Corporate Branding

Corporate branding is marketing the organization itself as a commodity. This is popular for many business institutions, like marketing agencies or banks. It aims to share the most important information about the organization, such as the mission and values, price point, and exclusivity for those who use or partner with the group.

Use these steps to create and develop your company’s branding plan:

1. Review the Essentials

Knowing some essential information about your company, brand, and customers can help you create the most effective and targeted plan. These areas include:

Why does your business exist? What do you want people to know about your company and brand? How can your brand influence people’s lives or help them solve problems? Understanding why your brand exists and where it fits into the market can give you important information to influence all your marketing decisions.

What are the core values of your company? What adjectives or attributes do you want your audience to associate with it? You can identify these from your mission statement or other company documents, such as the employee handbook.

Target Audience

Who’s buying from or engaging with your company? Why do they come to you over the competition? What can you learn about them that can influence your branding and marketing decisions? Understanding the people that make up your target audience as a collective and as individuals can help you make branding decisions.

2. Create Customer Personas

Customer personas or profiles are  fictitious representations of potential customers , those most likely to buy from your brand. Companies create personas to get a better understanding of the individuals who seek their products and services, on a more specific level than general demographic reports provide. They often target the “ideal” customers for a brand. Information to collect about your general audience to develop personas includes:

• Geographic location
• Household income
• Hobbies and interests
• Charity sympathies
• Reasons for purchasing your product or using your services
• Intentions for using your products or services
• Frequency of purchase or use
• Locations of online activity

3. Do Competitive Analysis

It’s important to learn who you’re going up against in the market to understand how to make your brand different, why people want to come to you, and what you can stress to make them realize it even more. Things to consider when conducting a competitor analysis include:

• Who are your direct competitors?
• What elements do they use in their branding, marketing, and advertising?
• What’s their messaging?
• Are there things your company offers that others don’t?
• What are their biggest areas of success and weakness?
• Who are their customers?
• What are their messages?
• What makes their company unique?

Answering these questions can tell you more about the state of the market and where you can fit. It can also show areas of market need where you could insert your company to better help customers. If you’re looking for help with competitor analysis, consider the tool we’ve created at  CopyPress  just for this purpose.

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4. Develop a Brand Mission Statement

A brand mission statement is a tagline that shares your brand values. It’s typically one sentence or not even a full sentence, but a catchy phrase. You can use the brand mission statement to help frame your branding strategy objectives. This type of mission statement may differ slightly from a company-wide mission statement. The brand statement may be shorter and may focus only on certain aspects of the company values that drive the brand reputation.

It typically summarizes the unique qualities you provide your customers and shares what your business is passionate about. The brand mission statement tells customers what they can trust about your company and what they can expect from it.

5. Establish the Value Proposition

A value proposition focuses on the aspects of what makes your brand unique from the competition. It’s a brief description of the qualities that should make your products or services more appealing than others in the same market. It’s important not just to focus on what makes you different, but how those differences benefit your target audience and how the things you provide can improve people’s lives. For example, Target’s value proposition is in the company’s tagline: expect more, pay less. Customers can expect more products and selections from the store than competitors, but also find affordable prices.

6. Choose Your Tone and Messaging

Brand voice is the way your company communicates with its audience and the public. You can establish a brand voice by your word choices, tone, and messaging. Depending on your audience and the type of industry you’re in, you may use a professional, casual, playful, or helpful brand voice. The one you choose may dictate your messaging, such as advertising copy, or the way your representatives respond to comments on social media.

It’s important to keep your brand voice consistent across all channels and departments. This helps to make your company feel cohesive to customers, even if they’re dealing with many representatives while communicating with your business.  Chick-Fil-A  does this with their messaging. When you order, whether at the drive-thru or the counter, all employees welcome guests, thank them for their service, and respond with phrases like “my pleasure” no matter which location you visit.

7. Design a Visual Identity

Branding isn’t just in your words. It’s visual, too. Elements like typography, photography, colors, logos, or design cues help customers get used to and associate certain tangible objects and feelings with a brand. You use your brand’s visual identity across almost all your online and offline channels. Places that may feature these elements include:

• Digital marketing
• Social media channels
• Press releases
• Storefronts
• Promotional swag
• Advertisements
• Emails and email signatures

Consider a store like Home Depot. You likely associate a square logo, the color orange, and a specific font with the brand. Well-established companies, like Home Depot, often have a brand book that sets specifications on how to keep the company’s visual identity consistent across channels. It may include things like the exact hex code shade for the brand color, specific font names, and the exact dimensions of a logo for use on different platforms.

If you need additional help to create your branding plan document, you may find inspiration from these sources with templates and examples:

• Canva :  A free graphic design and photo editing platform
• Etsy :  An online marketplace for artists and designers
• Examples.com :  An online hub of templates and design ideas
• SampleTemplates.com :  A template repository for documents in a variety of fields
• Template.net :  An online resource for fully customizable template files

A brand plan can help you develop an identity that tells customers exactly what they need to know about your company before they interact with your organization. Having one that you can follow and adjust as your brand grows over time gives you the tools necessary to show your best attributes to the public for years to come.

CopyPress writer

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10 Tips For Writing Marketing Assignments

• Post author: Cyrus Nambakhsh
• Post published: September 1, 2023
• Post category: Content Marketing

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Everyone, from celebrities to businesspeople, relies on marketing to get exposure, add value, and increase their worth. Hence, the demand for professionals and marketing assignments is increasing rapidly. 

However, the path to becoming a marketing major and expanding your reach through organic marketing is not easy. One has to take exams, write assignments, and participate in several group activities before getting that degree. Sounds like too much work? 

In this article, we’ll introduce you to top marketing assignment tips that will allow you to maximize the effectiveness of your efforts.

Once and for all, let’s try to end the dilemma of marketing assignments. According to reports, 46% of youngsters in a survey said they would pursue a career in marketing!

Aside from hiring experts who will write your assignment for you or having group studies and sharing the burden, here are 10 other ways you can master marketing tasks quickly and write marketing assignments perfectly:

#1 Know the Assignment First

One major mistake marketing students make is not spending time dissecting the task. Often, the tasks are not just assignments but case studies, PowerPoint presentation defense , projects, dissertations, and more. This means each task demands a different kind of writing and presentation.

Hence, know the assignment type and what the topic means. Break down the topic and think of ways to cover it. What other slants can you insert to elevate the resonating factor of the topic? 

It is better to spend time on understanding the needs of the topic rather than rushing in by completely misunderstanding it.

#2 Pick an Example

First-year marketing students often fail to realize that their work will be more impactful if they add an example to strengthen the topic. Pick a brand or organization for your paper and use it as an example. This will allow you to find practical answers and develop logical results.

Also, papers with information on renowned brands and big names attract more audiences, making the paper more impactful. However, don’t think of public attention only when picking big organizations; think of your capabilities to justify them to make the paper notable.

#3 Put a Self-Deadline

Of course, your professor will allot a deadline, but setting your own will only push you to finish on time. However, do not confuse this step with rash writing. Have an organized routine and set a deadline to complete it on time before the actual date.

Students who do this don’t have to worry about late submissions. This also gives the writer extra time to revise, which is often overlooked.

#4 Research Fiercely

This tip is quite common to any other assignment type out there. Yet this is the step that makes a major difference. Research as much as you can. There will be many competitors in your class. 

Some may even pick the same topic as yours. The only way to stand out in such competition is through research. Students who are lazy with their research end up with shallow or superficial information. Such students rarely make it above the average mark.

Hence, to stand out, you must do in-depth research and find information from the deepest pits of the internet. Scout through many online and offline books, journals, and more to get the most real and deepest data on the topic. The professor will see through your efforts and hard work, and you can be awarded with grace marks for it.

#5 Real Events Make an Impression

Whether it’s marketing assignments or history assignments, real events never fail to make an impression. Your work will be read by others who always resonate with real-life examples. 

This is again where your capacity to research shows. Those who research without excuses can find excruciating facts that make the topic shine.

Find accurate figures and data that validate your work. Some like introducing these statistics and events at the beginning and slowly unfolding them later in the paper to keep the audience hooked.

Try to find some related data to your work which will bring thousands of readers to explore the topic. Some students also take the extra step of conducting surveys, interviews, and even doing online polls to find information on the topic and add it to their assignments.

#6 Choose the Correct Writing Style

Various writing styles depend on the topic and purpose. Students can pick a business writing style or a personal writing style. Pick one that your audience finds dependable. Aim for a blend of sophisticated and simple terms rather than making it entirely simple or sophisticated.

Using complicated words for the context is okay. But avoid using overly challenging words, which an ordinary audience may find difficult to work with. 

Do not forget to pick the one you are most comfortable with. Some writers can rock simple writing styles and still get good grades. Maintain writing flair and add authenticity to speak to your readers.

#7 Cite Correctly

With any assignment, finding online information is quite obvious. This is why you need to cite your sources. Citing means giving credit to the original writers whose information you have used in your paper. This gives credit to the original writer and helps the writer avoid plagiarism issues.

With marketing assignments, too, students need to cite the sources. There are plenty of citation styles, and one can pick the style which they prefer. Be cautious of different citing styles to avoid any mistakes and do it justice. 

Learning how to cite can take some extra time, so you can hand over this part to someone who can do it for you, leaving no errors behind.

#8 Get a Second Consultation

Both beginners and professionals need a helping hand sometimes. Students who are uncertain about their work can contact professionals or their professors. They can review the work and make suggestions to improve the quality of the paper.

Experts can suggest better examples and better brands to use and even offer effective writing tips. If you are uncomfortable with an expert, consult your friends, siblings, and family members to be more comfortable with them. Together, you can make a remarkable paper that meets everyone’s expectations.

#9 Use Online Tools

Although many find this tip controversial, we strongly agree with it. There are plenty of tools online, and the best thing is that they can be used. 

Students can find tools to improve their writing and grammar, find plagiarism issues, and even check the quality of their papers.

The best thing about these tools is that they are free, and several are available online, making them a favorable option for students. These tools also highlight problem areas, making it easier for students to correct them. 

Overall, find a trustworthy tool because numerous tools out there may not give you the desired result.

#10 Proofread Using Innovative Ways

Finally, the last step is to proofread your paper. Again, this is a very basic step that many people overlook. Proofread your paper before making the final submission. Do not jump into this process just after writing. 

Wait a few days to make the process fruitful. You can also use innovative proofreading techniques to make the process fun.

Some ways of proofreading are:

●       Reading it backward,

●       Reading one section at a time,

●       Having a list of mistakes,

●       Reading it out aloud.

It keeps the proofreading process simple and interesting, eliminating the chances of any errors.

Marketing assignments involve various aspects. Combining them and doing justice is not an easy job. Hopefully, the tips above will show you how to write impeccable marketing assignments and get your deserved score.

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Cyrus Nambakhsh

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28 Case Study Examples Every Marketer Should See

Published: March 08, 2023

Putting together a compelling case study is one of the most powerful strategies for showcasing your product and attracting future customers. But it's not easy to create case studies that your audience can’t wait to read.

In this post, we’ll go over the definition of a case study and the best examples to inspire you.

What is a case study?

A case study is a detailed story of something your company did. It includes a beginning — often discussing a conflict, an explanation of what happened next, and a resolution that explains how the company solved or improved on something.

A case study proves how your product has helped other companies by demonstrating real-life results. Not only that, but marketing case studies with solutions typically contain quotes from the customer. This means that they’re not just ads where you praise your own product. Rather, other companies are praising your company — and there’s no stronger marketing material than a verbal recommendation or testimonial. A great case study is also filled with research and stats to back up points made about a project's results.

There are myriad ways to use case studies in your marketing strategy . From featuring them on your website to including them in a sales presentation, a case study is a strong, persuasive tool that shows customers why they should work with you — straight from another customer. Writing one from scratch is hard, though, which is why we’ve created a collection of case study templates for you to get started.

Fill out the form below to access the free case study templates.

Free Case Study Templates

Showcase your company's success using these three free case study templates.

• Data-Driven Case Study Template
• Product-Specific Case Study Template
• General Case Study Template

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There’s no better way to generate more leads than by writing case studies . But without case study examples to draw inspiration from, it can be difficult to write impactful studies that convince visitors to submit a form.

Marketing Case Study Examples

To help you create an attractive and high-converting case study, we've put together a list of some of our favorites. This list includes famous case studies in marketing, technology, and business.

These studies can show you how to frame your company offers in a way that is both meaningful and useful to your audience. So, take a look, and let these examples inspire your next brilliant case study design.

These marketing case studies with solutions show the value proposition of each product. They also show how each company benefited in both the short and long term using quantitative data. In other words, you don’t get just nice statements, like "This company helped us a lot." You see actual change within the firm through numbers and figures.

You can put your learnings into action with HubSpot's Free Case Study Templates . Available as custom designs and text-based documents, you can upload these templates to your CMS or send them to prospects as you see fit.

1. " How Handled Scaled from Zero to 121 Locations with the Help of HubSpot ," by HubSpot

What's interesting about this case study is the way it leads with the customer. That reflects a major HubSpot cornerstone, which is to always solve for the customer first. The copy leads with a brief description of why the CEO of Handled founded the company and why he thought Handled could benefit from adopting a CRM. The case study also opens up with one key data point about Handled’s success using HubSpot, namely that it grew to 121 locations.

Notice that this case study uses mixed media. Yes, there is a short video, but it's elaborated upon in the other text on the page. So while your case studies can use one or the other, don't be afraid to combine written copy with visuals to emphasize the project's success.

Key Learnings from the HubSpot Case Study Example

• Give the case study a personal touch by focusing on the CEO rather than the company itself.
• Use multimedia to engage website visitors as they read the case study.

2. " The Whole Package ," by IDEO

Here's a design company that knows how to lead with simplicity in its case studies. As soon as the visitor arrives at the page, they’re greeted with a big, bold photo and the title of the case study — which just so happens to summarize how IDEO helped its client. It summarizes the case study in three snippets: The challenge, the impact, and the outcome.

Immediately, IDEO communicates its impact — the company partnered with H&M to remove plastic from its packaging — but it doesn't stop there. As the user scrolls down, the challenge, impact, and progress are elaborated upon with comprehensive (but not overwhelming) copy that outlines what that process looked like, replete with quotes and intriguing visuals.

Key Learnings from the IDEO Case Study Example

• Split up the takeaways of your case studies into bite-sized sections.
• Always use visuals and images to enrich the case study experience, especially if it’s a comprehensive case study.

3. " Rozum Robotics intensifies its PR game with Awario ," by Awario

In this case study, Awario greets the user with a summary straight away — so if you’re feeling up to reading the entire case study, you can scan the snapshot and understand how the company serves its customers. The case study then includes jump links to several sections, such as "Company Profile," "Rozum Robotics' Pains," "Challenge," "Solution," and "Results and Improvements."

The sparse copy and prominent headings show that you don’t need a lot of elaborate information to show the value of your products and services. Like the other case study examples on this list, it includes visuals and quotes to demonstrate the effectiveness of the company’s efforts. The case study ends with a bulleted list that shows the results.

Key Learnings from the Awario Robotics Case Study Example

• Create a table of contents to make your case study easier to navigate.
• Include a bulleted list of the results you achieved for your client.

4. " Chevrolet DTU ," by Carol H. Williams

If you’ve worked with a company that’s well-known, use only the name in the title — like Carol H. Williams, one of the nation’s top advertising agencies, does here. The "DTU," stands for "Discover the Unexpected." It generates interest because you want to find out what the initials mean.

They keep your interest in this case study by using a mixture of headings, images, and videos to describe the challenges, objectives, and solutions of the project. The case study closes with a summary of the key achievements that Chevrolet’s DTU Journalism Fellows reached during the project.

Key Learnings from the Carol H. Williams Case Study Example

• If you’ve worked with a big brand before, consider only using the name in the title — just enough to pique interest.
• Use a mixture of headings and subheadings to guide users through the case study.

5. " How Fractl Earned Links from 931 Unique Domains for Porch.com in a Single Year ," by Fractl

Fractl uses both text and graphic design in their Porch.com case study to immerse the viewer in a more interesting user experience. For instance, as you scroll, you'll see the results are illustrated in an infographic-design form as well as the text itself.

Further down the page, they use icons like a heart and a circle to illustrate their pitch angles, and graphs to showcase their results. Rather than writing which publications have mentioned Porch.com during Fractl’s campaign, they incorporated the media outlets’ icons for further visual diversity.

Key Learnings from the Fractl Case Study Example

• Let pictures speak for you by incorporating graphs, logos, and icons all throughout the case study.
• Start the case study by right away stating the key results, like Fractl does, instead of putting the results all the way at the bottom.

6. " The Met ," by Fantasy

What's the best way to showcase the responsiveness and user interface of a website? Probably by diving right into it with a series of simple showcases— which is exactly what Fantasy does on their case study page for the Metropolitan Museum of Art. They keep the page simple and clean, inviting you to review their redesign of the Met’s website feature-by-feature.

Each section is simple, showing a single piece of the new website's interface so that users aren’t overwhelmed with information and can focus on what matters most.

If you're more interested in text, you can read the objective for each feature. Fantasy understands that, as a potential customer, this is all you need to know. Scrolling further, you're greeted with a simple "Contact Us" CTA.

Key Learnings from the Fantasy Case Study Example

• You don’t have to write a ton of text to create a great case study. Focus on the solution you delivered itself.
• Include a CTA at the bottom inviting visitors to contact you.

7. " Rovio: How Rovio Grew Into a Gaming Superpower ," by App Annie

If your client had a lot of positive things to say about you, take a note from App Annie’s Rovio case study and open up with a quote from your client. The case study also closes with a quote, so that the case study doesn’t seem like a promotion written by your marketing team but a story that’s taken straight from your client’s mouth. It includes a photo of a Rovio employee, too.

Another thing this example does well? It immediately includes a link to the product that Rovio used (namely, App Annie Intelligence) at the top of the case study. The case study closes with a call-to-action button prompting users to book a demo.

Key Learnings from the App Annie Case Study Example

• Feature quotes from your client at the beginning and end of the case study.
• Include a mention of the product right at the beginning and prompt users to learn more about the product.

8. " Embracing first-party data: 3 success stories from HubSpot ," by Think with Google

Google takes a different approach to text-focused case studies by choosing three different companies to highlight.

The case study is clean and easily scannable. It has sections for each company, with quotes and headers that clarify the way these three distinct stories connect. The simple format also uses colors and text that align with the Google brand.

Another differentiator is the focus on data. This case study is less than a thousand words, but it's packed with useful data points. Data-driven insights quickly and clearly show how the value of leveraging first-party data while prioritizing consumer privacy.

Key Learnings from the Think with Google Case Study Example

• A case study doesn’t need to be long or complex to be powerful.
• Clear data points are a quick and effective way to prove value.

9. " In-Depth Performance Marketing Case Study ," by Switch

Switch is an international marketing agency based in Malta that knocks it out of the park with this case study. Its biggest challenge is effectively communicating what it did for its client without ever revealing the client’s name. It also effectively keeps non-marketers in the loop by including a glossary of terms on page 4.

The PDF case study reads like a compelling research article, including titles like "In-Depth Performance Marketing Case Study," "Scenario," and "Approach," so that readers get a high-level overview of what the client needed and why they approached Switch. It also includes a different page for each strategy. For instance, if you’d only be interested in hiring Switch for optimizing your Facebook ads, you can skip to page 10 to see how they did it.

The PDF is fourteen pages long but features big fonts and plenty of white space, so viewers can easily skim it in only a few minutes.

Key Learnings from the Switch Case Study Example

• If you want to go into specialized information, include a glossary of terms so that non-specialists can easily understand.
• Close with a CTA page in your case study PDF and include contact information for prospective clients.

10. " Gila River ," by OH Partners

Let pictures speak for you, like OH Partners did in this case study. While you’ll quickly come across a heading and some text when you land on this case study page, you’ll get the bulk of the case study through examples of actual work OH Partners did for its client. You will see OH Partners’ work in a billboard, magazine, and video. This communicates to website visitors that if they work with OH Partners, their business will be visible everywhere.

And like the other case studies here, it closes with a summary of what the firm achieved for its client in an eye-catching way.

Key Learnings from the OH Partners Case Study Example

• Let the visuals speak by including examples of the actual work you did for your client — which is especially useful for branding and marketing agencies.
• Always close out with your achievements and how they impacted your client.

11. " Facing a Hater ," by Digitas

Digitas' case study page for Sprite’s #ILOVEYOUHATER campaign keeps it brief while communicating the key facts of Digitas’ work for the popular soda brand. The page opens with an impactful image of a hundred people facing a single man. It turns out, that man is the biggest "bully" in Argentina, and the people facing him are those whom he’s bullied before.

Scrolling down, it's obvious that Digitas kept Sprite at the forefront of their strategy, but more than that, they used real people as their focal point. They leveraged the Twitter API to pull data from Tweets that people had actually tweeted to find the identity of the biggest "hater" in the country. That turned out to be @AguanteElCofler, a Twitter user who has since been suspended.

Key Learnings from the Digitas Case Study Example

• If a video was part of your work for your client, be sure to include the most impactful screenshot as the heading.
• Don’t be afraid to provide details on how you helped your client achieve their goals, including the tools you leveraged.

12. " Better Experiences for All ," by HermanMiller

HermanMiller sells sleek, utilitarian furniture with no frills and extreme functionality, and that ethos extends to its case study page for a hospital in Dubai.

What first attracted me to this case study was the beautiful video at the top and the clean user experience. User experience matters a lot in a case study. It determines whether users will keep reading or leave. Another notable aspect of this case study is that the video includes closed-captioning for greater accessibility, and users have the option of expanding the CC and searching through the text.

HermanMiller’s case study also offers an impressive amount of information packed in just a few short paragraphs for those wanting to understand the nuances of their strategy. It closes out with a quote from their client and, most importantly, the list of furniture products that the hospital purchased from the brand.

Key Learnings from the HermanMiller Case Study Example

• Close out with a list of products that users can buy after reading the case study.
• Include accessibility features such as closed captioning and night mode to make your case study more user-friendly.

13. " Capital One on AWS ," by Amazon

Do you work continuously with your clients? Consider structuring your case study page like Amazon did in this stellar case study example. Instead of just featuring one article about Capital One and how it benefited from using AWS, Amazon features a series of articles that you can then access if you’re interested in reading more. It goes all the way back to 2016, all with different stories that feature Capital One’s achievements using AWS.

This may look unattainable for a small firm, but you don’t have to go to extreme measures and do it for every single one of your clients. You could choose the one you most wish to focus on and establish a contact both on your side and your client’s for coming up with the content. Check in every year and write a new piece. These don’t have to be long, either — five hundred to eight hundred words will do.

Key Learnings from the Amazon AWS Case Study Example

• Write a new article each year featuring one of your clients, then include links to those articles in one big case study page.
• Consider including external articles as well that emphasize your client’s success in their industry.

14. " HackReactor teaches the world to code #withAsana ," by Asana

While Asana's case study design looks text-heavy, there's a good reason. It reads like a creative story, told entirely from the customer's perspective.

For instance, Asana knows you won't trust its word alone on why this product is useful. So, they let Tony Phillips, HackReactor CEO, tell you instead: "We take in a lot of information. Our brains are awful at storage but very good at thinking; you really start to want some third party to store your information so you can do something with it."

Asana features frequent quotes from Phillips to break up the wall of text and humanize the case study. It reads like an in-depth interview and captivates the reader through creative storytelling. Even more, Asana includes in-depth detail about how HackReactor uses Asana. This includes how they build templates and workflows:

"There's a huge differentiator between Asana and other tools, and that’s the very easy API access. Even if Asana isn’t the perfect fit for a workflow, someone like me— a relatively mediocre software engineer—can add functionality via the API to build a custom solution that helps a team get more done."

Key Learnings from the Asana Example

• Include quotes from your client throughout the case study.
• Provide extensive detail on how your client worked with you or used your product.

15. " Rips Sewed, Brand Love Reaped ," by Amp Agency

Amp Agency's Patagonia marketing strategy aimed to appeal to a new audience through guerrilla marketing efforts and a coast-to-coast road trip. Their case study page effectively conveys a voyager theme, complete with real photos of Patagonia customers from across the U.S., and a map of the expedition. I liked Amp Agency's storytelling approach best. It captures viewers' attention from start to finish simply because it's an intriguing and unique approach to marketing.

Key Learnings from the Amp Agency Example

• Open up with a summary that communicates who your client is and why they reached out to you.
• Like in the other case study examples, you’ll want to close out with a quantitative list of your achievements.

16. " NetApp ," by Evisort

Evisort opens up its NetApp case study with an at-a-glance overview of the client. It’s imperative to always focus on the client in your case study — not on your amazing product and equally amazing team. By opening up with a snapshot of the client’s company, Evisort places the focus on the client.

This case study example checks all the boxes for a great case study that’s informative, thorough, and compelling. It includes quotes from the client and details about the challenges NetApp faced during the COVID pandemic. It closes out with a quote from the client and with a link to download the case study in PDF format, which is incredibly important if you want your case study to be accessible in a wider variety of formats.

Key Learnings from the Evisort Example

• Place the focus immediately on your client by including a snapshot of their company.
• Mention challenging eras, such as a pandemic or recession, to show how your company can help your client succeed even during difficult times.

17. " Copernicus Land Monitoring – CLC+ Core ," by Cloudflight

Including highly specialized information in your case study is an effective way to show prospects that you’re not just trying to get their business. You’re deep within their industry, too, and willing to learn everything you need to learn to create a solution that works specifically for them.

Cloudflight does a splendid job at that in its Copernicus Land Monitoring case study. While the information may be difficult to read at first glance, it will capture the interest of prospects who are in the environmental industry. It thus shows Cloudflight’s value as a partner much more effectively than a general case study would.

The page is comprehensive and ends with a compelling call-to-action — "Looking for a solution that automates, and enhances your Big Data system? Are you struggling with large datasets and accessibility? We would be happy to advise and support you!" The clean, whitespace-heavy page is an effective example of using a case study to capture future leads.

Key Learnings from the Cloudflight Case Study Example

• Don’t be afraid to get technical in your explanation of what you did for your client.
• Include a snapshot of the sales representative prospects should contact, especially if you have different sales reps for different industries, like Cloudflight does.

18. " Valvoline Increases Coupon Send Rate by 76% with Textel’s MMS Picture Texting ," by Textel

If you’re targeting large enterprises with a long purchasing cycle, you’ll want to include a wealth of information in an easily transferable format. That’s what Textel does here in its PDF case study for Valvoline. It greets the user with an eye-catching headline that shows the value of using Textel. Valvoline saw a significant return on investment from using the platform.

Another smart decision in this case study is highlighting the client’s quote by putting it in green font and doing the same thing for the client’s results because it helps the reader quickly connect the two pieces of information. If you’re in a hurry, you can also take a look at the "At a Glance" column to get the key facts of the case study, starting with information about Valvoline.

Key Learnings from the Textel Case Study Example

• Include your client’s ROI right in the title of the case study.
• Add an "At a Glance" column to your case study PDF to make it easy to get insights without needing to read all the text.

19. " Hunt Club and Happeo — a tech-enabled love story ," by Happeo

In this blog-post-like case study, Happeo opens with a quote from the client, then dives into a compelling heading: "Technology at the forefront of Hunt Club's strategy." Say you’re investigating Happeo as a solution and consider your firm to be technology-driven. This approach would spark your curiosity about why the client chose to work with Happeo. It also effectively communicates the software’s value proposition without sounding like it’s coming from an in-house marketing team.

Every paragraph is a quote written from the customer’s perspective. Later down the page, the case study also dives into "the features that changed the game for Hunt Club," giving Happeo a chance to highlight some of the platform’s most salient features.

Key Learnings from the Happeo Case Study Example

• Consider writing the entirety of the case study from the perspective of the customer.
• Include a list of the features that convinced your client to go with you.

20. " Red Sox Season Campaign ," by CTP Boston

What's great about CTP's case study page for their Red Sox Season Campaign is their combination of video, images, and text. A video automatically begins playing when you visit the page, and as you scroll, you'll see more embedded videos of Red Sox players, a compilation of print ads, and social media images you can click to enlarge.

At the bottom, it says "Find out how we can do something similar for your brand." The page is clean, cohesive, and aesthetically pleasing. It invites viewers to appreciate the well-roundedness of CTP's campaign for Boston's beloved baseball team.

Key Learnings from the CTP Case Study Example

• Include a video in the heading of the case study.
• Close with a call-to-action that makes leads want to turn into prospects.

21. " Acoustic ," by Genuine

Sometimes, simple is key. Genuine's case study for Acoustic is straightforward and minimal, with just a few short paragraphs, including "Reimagining the B2B website experience," "Speaking to marketers 1:1," and "Inventing Together." After the core of the case study, we then see a quote from Acoustic’s CMO and the results Genuine achieved for the company.

The simplicity of the page allows the reader to focus on both the visual aspects and the copy. The page displays Genuine's brand personality while offering the viewer all the necessary information they need.

• You don’t need to write a lot to create a great case study. Keep it simple.
• Always include quantifiable data to illustrate the results you achieved for your client.

22. " Using Apptio Targetprocess Automated Rules in Wargaming ," by Apptio

Apptio’s case study for Wargaming summarizes three key pieces of information right at the beginning: The goals, the obstacles, and the results.

Readers then have the opportunity to continue reading — or they can walk away right then with the information they need. This case study also excels in keeping the human interest factor by formatting the information like an interview.

The piece is well-organized and uses compelling headers to keep the reader engaged. Despite its length, Apptio's case study is appealing enough to keep the viewer's attention. Every Apptio case study ends with a "recommendation for other companies" section, where the client can give advice for other companies that are looking for a similar solution but aren’t sure how to get started.

Key Learnings from the Apptio Case Study Example

• Put your client in an advisory role by giving them the opportunity to give recommendations to other companies that are reading the case study.
• Include the takeaways from the case study right at the beginning so prospects quickly get what they need.

23. " Airbnb + Zendesk: building a powerful solution together ," by Zendesk

Zendesk's Airbnb case study reads like a blog post, and focuses equally on Zendesk and Airbnb, highlighting a true partnership between the companies. To captivate readers, it begins like this: "Halfway around the globe is a place to stay with your name on it. At least for a weekend."

The piece focuses on telling a good story and provides photographs of beautiful Airbnb locations. In a case study meant to highlight Zendesk's helpfulness, nothing could be more authentic than their decision to focus on Airbnb's service in such great detail.

Key Learnings from the Zendesk Case Study Example

• Include images of your client’s offerings — not necessarily of the service or product you provided. Notice how Zendesk doesn’t include screenshots of its product.
• Include a call-to-action right at the beginning of the case study. Zendesk gives you two options: to find a solution or start a trial.

24. " Biobot Customer Success Story: Rollins College, Winter Park, Florida ," by Biobot

Like some of the other top examples in this list, Biobot opens its case study with a quote from its client, which captures the value proposition of working with Biobot. It mentions the COVID pandemic and goes into detail about the challenges the client faced during this time.

This case study is structured more like a news article than a traditional case study. This format can work in more formal industries where decision-makers need to see in-depth information about the case. Be sure to test different methods and measure engagement .

Key Learnings from the Biobot Case Study Example

• Mention environmental, public health, or economic emergencies and how you helped your client get past such difficult times.
• Feel free to write the case study like a normal blog post, but be sure to test different methods to find the one that best works for you.

25. " Discovering Cost Savings With Efficient Decision Making ," by Gartner

You don't always need a ton of text or a video to convey your message — sometimes, you just need a few paragraphs and bullet points. Gartner does a fantastic job of quickly providing the fundamental statistics a potential customer would need to know, without boggling down their readers with dense paragraphs. The case study closes with a shaded box that summarizes the impact that Gartner had on its client. It includes a quote and a call-to-action to "Learn More."

Key Learnings from the Gartner Case Study Example

• Feel free to keep the case study short.
• Include a call-to-action at the bottom that takes the reader to a page that most relates to them.

26. " Bringing an Operator to the Game ," by Redapt

This case study example by Redapt is another great demonstration of the power of summarizing your case study’s takeaways right at the start of the study. Redapt includes three easy-to-scan columns: "The problem," "the solution," and "the outcome." But its most notable feature is a section titled "Moment of clarity," which shows why this particular project was difficult or challenging.

The section is shaded in green, making it impossible to miss. Redapt does the same thing for each case study. In the same way, you should highlight the "turning point" for both you and your client when you were working toward a solution.

Key Learnings from the Redapt Case Study Example

• Highlight the turning point for both you and your client during the solution-seeking process.
• Use the same structure (including the same headings) for your case studies to make them easy to scan and read.

27. " Virtual Call Center Sees 300% Boost In Contact Rate ," by Convoso

Convoso’s PDF case study for Digital Market Media immediately mentions the results that the client achieved and takes advantage of white space. On the second page, the case study presents more influential results. It’s colorful and engaging and closes with a spread that prompts readers to request a demo.

Key Learnings from the Convoso Case Study Example

• List the results of your work right at the beginning of the case study.
• Use color to differentiate your case study from others. Convoso’s example is one of the most colorful ones on this list.

28. " Ensuring quality of service during a pandemic ," by Ericsson

Ericsson’s case study page for Orange Spain is an excellent example of using diverse written and visual media — such as videos, graphs, and quotes — to showcase the success a client experienced. Throughout the case study, Ericsson provides links to product and service pages users might find relevant as they’re reading the study.

For instance, under the heading "Preloaded with the power of automation," Ericsson mentions its Ericsson Operations Engine product, then links to that product page. It closes the case study with a link to another product page.

Key Learnings from the Ericsson Case Study Example

• Link to product pages throughout the case study so that readers can learn more about the solution you offer.
• Use multimedia to engage users as they read the case study.

Start creating your case study.

Now that you've got a great list of examples of case studies, think about a topic you'd like to write about that highlights your company or work you did with a customer.

A customer’s success story is the most persuasive marketing material you could ever create. With a strong portfolio of case studies, you can ensure prospects know why they should give you their business.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in August 2018 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Don't forget to share this post!

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Social Media Syllabus

• Teaching Students to Create an Online Personal Branding Strategy: Personal Brand Exercise for Students
• This post may contain affiliate links, meaning at no additional cost to you, if you click a link and make a purchase, I will make a commission. Please read my disclosure for details.

Table of Contents

Online Personal Branding

Lately, there’s been a lot of buzz about Mark W. Schaefer’s new book: Known: The handbook for building and unleashing your personal brand in the digital age . For example, Ai Addison Zang reviewed it.

[Read book reviews I’ve written about Schaefer’s other books: Return on Influence and Born to Blog ]

With all the buzz about personal branding online, I’d like to share a personal branding assignment example below. I started incorporating it into my Public Relations Principles class last semester.

The assignment is based on the assignment Dr. Karen Freberg presents in her book A Roadmap for Teaching Social Media [Read my review of Dr. Freberg’s book ]. But first, some thoughts.

My Struggle in Teaching Personal Branding

Personal branding is something I’ve struggled to successfully bring into my classes. When I first started teaching social media at Shepherd University, I had a personal branding project. In short, students developed a personal branding plan. Then, throughout the semester, the students worked on executing the plan. For example, one student started a video gaming blog focused on retro RPGs. At the end of the semester, students  presented their outputs and their results in brief presentations.

I loved the idea. But, I found that students didn’t take too well to it. Most students didn’t put the time and concentration into the project that I had hoped. A number of students didn’t do much of what they planned to do such that at the end of the semester they didn’t have too many pieces of content – whether that was video posts or blogs – to show for it. I wanted to know why the project didn’t succeed as I had hoped. So I asked. Several students expressed some skepticism as to the value of what I was trying to get them to do. And, some simply didn’t want to have an online presence.

That was in the fall of 2012. After that experience, I pulled back quite a bit on online personal branding. And I’m sad to say that, perhaps out of fear of it not going well again, I stopped requiring my students to do online personal branding. I didn’t so much as require students to participate in a Twitter chat – though I certainly encouraged it as extra curricular activity.

In all honesty, when I reflect on my teaching over the last 5 plus years here at Shepherd, I think that not emphasizing personal branding in my classes is the one thing I wish I did better.

Personal Branding Exercise for Students

After reading Dr. Freberg’s book, I got the bug again about teaching students personal branding. I decided to start small with a project in my Public Relations Principles class. I first gave this assignment last spring as a final project in the class instead of the paper I used to have them write.

As I noted above, this project is an adaptation of the assignment Dr. Freberg puts forth in her book. I modified it down. The purpose of this project was for students to strategize how they would build their personal brands online.

The assignment is broken down into a few parts.

First, I provide students with Dr. Freberg’s checklist for personal branding. I encourage students to work through the list.

Next, I require students to identify a job or internship that interests them and answer some questions about how they relate to the position.

Then, I have students map out their personal brand. Lastly, students must create a LinkedIn or About.me profile branding themselves.

Because I gave this assignment late in the year, I did not ask students to build out a plan for building their personal brand nor did I ask them to have executed one. Rather, I asked them to start taking little steps towards executing a personal brand and provide me evidence that they are moving in that direction.

I’d like to grow this into something more where the students need to go out and truly prepare a detailed strategy and execute it for weeks or a few months  – similar to what I was originally doing in my social media class. I’m not sure where I’d fit this in as my social media class is pretty packed right now. But, I’m going to think about it further this summer, read Schaefer’s new book , and see what I can come up with.

If you’ve got tips or examples of how you’ve gotten your students to find success in personal branding, I’d love to hear them. Tweet me @mjkushin or comment on this blog.

Personal Branding Exercise Worksheet

You can see the personal branding assignment example below.

• Cheers! Matt

Next Steps: More Activities and Resources for Teaching Personal Branding

Personal branding and teach social media book.

A version of this assignment is available in Chapter 9 of my new book, Teach Social Media: A Plan for Creating a Course Your Students Will Love . The book provides educators an end-to-end plan for teaching a social media class.

More Blog Posts About Personal Branding and Social Media Influencers:

• A Quick, Interactive Activity for Introducing the Concept of Social Media Influencers

Recommended Reading about Professional Online Identities:

• Known: The handbook for building and unleashing your personal brand in the digital age . Read Ai Addison Zang’s review of Known.

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6 thoughts on “Teaching Students to Create an Online Personal Branding Strategy: Personal Brand Exercise for Students”

Matt, this is important work. I am also passionate about encouraging students (and everyone) to consider the opportunity to be intentional about your brand. Please let me know if there is anything I can do to support you including skyping into your class, provides ding some slides, etc.

Mark, thank you so much for your comment and I look forward to reading your book. I will certainly be in touch. Thank you for the offer and for your support!

I have my social media marketing students do a longer personal branding assignment. My slideshare presentation is here:

https://www.slideshare.net/Denny5123/teaching-students-to-use-social-media-for-personal-branding-and-job-search

I hope this helps and would love to see what you end up doing in your class.

Denny, Thank you for the comment and for sharing! I greatly appreciate it.

Awesome blog. I am so happy I have stumbled upon it.

P.S. The assignement is not available: “This embedded content is no longer valid. If you are the owner of this content, please re-embed this content from SlideShare. Contact us if you have issues re-embedding your content.”

Thank you so much for your compliment. I truly appreciate it. Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I apologize for this. It should be fixed now. If you run into problems, please leave me another comment or send me a Tweet @mjkushin.

Have a great day!

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A Social Media Education Blog by Matthew J. Kushin, Ph.D.

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Brand design: Everything you need to create a strong brand identity

Brand design is the cornerstone of any company’s identity. Build a strong brand and tell your story using these essential design elements.

You know what your brand stands for. But how do you share this identity with your audience?

The answer is brand design.

Brand design is the process of creating a unique visual identity for your company — a signature look and feel that stands out among your competitors. Your brand’s design should paint a clear picture of your company through colors, fonts, and illustrations and align with your mission and values.

Whether you’re brand-new to design or a seasoned veteran, developing a brand design from scratch is a challenge. The good news? With the right skill set, knowledge, creativity, and a little patience, you’ll be well on your way to designing a memorable and impactful brand.

What is brand design?

Brand design is a visual representation of a company’s identity. This brand identity includes a company’s objectives, values, and — of course — its product.

Your brand design is the embodiment of your brand’s positionality, personality, and flair. From the fonts you use to the colors in your advertisements, every design element must align with and accentuate the company’s mission.

Seamlessly translating a company’s identity into visuals might sound near impossible, but with the right toolkit you can say a lot about your brand without words. When brand design is executed successfully, the results are marketing touchpoints — such as a website, social media presence, and traditional advertising — that viewers instantly recognize as belonging to your brand.

What are the different elements of brand design?

Every successful company, no matter the industry, is built on a foundation of strong branding. These powerful design elements are must-haves for a successful brand.

A brand logo is a meaningful artwork or design that conveys your company’s essence to those looking at it. Aside from the name, the logo is often the most identifiable element of a brand. It appears everywhere, including your website, social media platforms, and advertisements.

A logo design should have the right aesthetic and fit your brand. For example, a sustainable coffee brand might avoid bright, neon colors and sharp edges and instead opt for organic shapes and earthy tones, such as brown and olive, which evoke the brand’s commitment to the environment.

If your brand doesn’t have a logo yet, consider using one of these useful design tools as a jumping-off point.

Typography is the art of creating and arranging text that is both readable and visually appealing. Fonts, of which there are hundreds of thousands, are an essential aspect of typography and a design tool that must be wielded with precision.

Every font has design elements that contribute to a different aesthetic. As a result, different fonts evoke distinctive personalities. For example, script-style fonts add a homemade, personal feel to a brand, while serifs appear crisp and professional. The good news is diverse fonts are accessible and often free , allowing you to mix and match before finding the right combination for your brand.

Colors play a crucial role in brand design. Like fonts, each color evokes different feelings and impressions. For example, green symbolizes growth, health, and tranquility and may inspire feelings of calmness or thoughts about nature.

It’s important to consider how colors appeal to your target audience. Baby boomers prefer neutrals and trustworthy classics, while Gen X gravitates toward basics with organic touches. Tailor your palette to the people you’re looking to connect with.

You can choose your brand’s colors based on your preferences, but we recommend learning color theory before finalizing your brand’s palette. That way, you can feel confident you’ve made an informed and effective choice.

Iconography

Iconography in design is, as the name implies, the art of creating icons. Iconography uses simple graphic designs to convey complicated information. It condenses a complex concept and reduces it to a format that everyone can understand.

For example, a shopping cart icon on an ecommerce website doesn’t need the words “shopping cart” next to it. The icon itself is enough to let a customer know what it represents — a link to the place to view items before checkout.

You can create icons unique to your brand — just be sure they’re easy to understand. Consider how icons will appear on your website and social media and how they will add to the brand aesthetic. A news publication with a minimalist design might use an envelope-shaped icon made of simple linework to link to their newsletter, while a Y2K jewelry company might use a playful, full-color illustration for the same purpose.

Illustrations

Illustrations can be a graphic interpretation of text, a process, a message, or a concept. These design elements add individuality, context, and uniqueness to your brand.

Having a consistent illustration style that complements your brand goes a long way toward developing its identity and creating cohesive design. As with icons, be thoughtful about how the style of your illustrations conveys your brand. For instance, abstracted but human shapes might work well for a fashion blog but would appear unprofessional on a medical site.

Discover the processes and tools behind high-performing websites in this free ebook.

How to design a brand the right way

Once you have all the design elements ready to go, it’s time to combine them. Follow this step-by-step guide to build your brand design from the ground up.

1. Research the audience and market

When creating a brand design, one of the most crucial steps is understanding your target audience. Demographics have diverse wants and needs. Your brand likely won’t appeal the same way to a college student as it does to a retired adult.

Younger audiences might prefer bolder designs with vibrant colors, while older adults are used to straightforward messaging. And minimalist designs with flatter logos and sans serif fonts are popular in most markets, but they might not work for every brand. Research the market and observe the design styles your competitors follow.

You can also observe what your competitors are missing. For example, if your company sells high-end dog toys, look at the branding from companies selling in the same space. Maybe none of your competitors have a design that would catch Gen Z dog parents’ eyes — now you know where to center your branding so you can reach your audience. Use brand design to fill gaps in the market and help your business stand out.

2. Create a mission statement

Your mission statement is a short paragraph that explains why your brand exists, what its overall purpose is, and the goal of its operations. This should act as the core philosophy of your brand, its messaging, and its design.

Let’s explore a real-world example to better understand how mission statements connect to design. This is Google’s mission statement : “To organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.”

With this in mind, Google’s branding is minimal, letting information take center stage. Its sans serif logo uses primary colors, and branded content has a clean white background. Google’s recognizable and consistent branding emphasizes usability, aligning with its mission.

Incorporate your mission into branding and style. People are drawn to brands that share their beliefs, values, and goals, so make yours stand out. Infuse your mission into your design and marketing, and traffic will follow.

To create a mission statement, brainstorm answers to the following questions:

• Why did you create this brand?
• What are you hoping to accomplish?
• How is your brand unique?
• Who are you looking to connect with?
• What are the values driving your brand?

3. Finalize a visual identity

Now it’s time to make choices. Use your market research and mission statement to establish a cohesive visual identity with logos, colors, font pairings, icons, and illustrations. As a jumping-off point, start with a logo design that captures your mission and appeals to your target audience. Then experiment with different color and font combinations.

Ask yourself questions throughout the process: Do the colors complement each other? Are there too many fonts? Are these designs evergreen, or will they go out of style in a year or two? Test out your branding by asking people in the brand’s target audience what the design elements make them feel and think about your brand to make sure the brand design resonates with potential customers.

Finalize your branding elements and create a guide that includes every last detail about your visual identity. Every detail matters, so pay attention to ensure you’re not compromising quality.

Level up your brand with a website

Successful branding requires a solid online presence — and the centerpiece of that presence is a website. A website serves as the face of your brand and a platform where you’ll convert potential customers.

Webflow can help you create a site from the ground up . Our no-code web development platform is a great resource for beginner and experienced designers alike, and our blog offers tips, tricks, and opportunities to learn from industry experts.

Looking for inspiration? Check out these five amazing corporate websites and free resources to get you started. Take the leap and build a strong, influential brand with our support.

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How to Create a Social Media Marketing Strategy in 9 Easy Steps [Free Template]

Creating your social media marketing strategy doesn’t need to be painful. Create an effective plan for your business in 9 simple steps.

A social media marketing strategy is a summary of everything you plan to do and hope to achieve on social media. It guides your actions and lets you know whether you’re succeeding or failing.

The more specific your plan is, the more effective it will be. Keep it concise. Don’t make it so lofty and broad that it’s unattainable or impossible to measure.

In this post, we’ll walk you through a nine-step plan to create a winning social media strategy of your own. We’ve even got expert insights from Amanda Wood, Hootsuite’s Senior Manager of Social Marketing.

How to create a social media strategy:

Bonus: Get a free social media strategy template   to quickly and easily plan your own strategy. Also use it to track results and present the plan to your boss, teammates, and clients.

What is a social media marketing strategy?

A social media strategy is a document outlining your social media goals, the tactics you will use to achieve them and the metrics you will track to measure your progress.

Your social media marketing strategy should also list all of your existing and planned social media accounts along with goals specific to each platform you’re active on. These goals should align with your business’s larger digital marketing strategy.

Finally, a good social media plan should define the roles and responsibilities within your team and outline your reporting cadence.

Create. Schedule. Publish. Engage. Measure. Win.

Creating your own social media marketing strategy (video guide)

No time to read the whole article? Let Amanda, Hootsuite’s own Senior Manager of Social Media Marketing, guide you through our free social media marketing strategy template in less than 10 minutes:

How to create a social media marketing strategy in 9 steps

Step 1. choose goals that align to business objectives, set s.m.a.r.t. goals.

The first step to creating a winning social media strategy is to establish clear objectives and goals. Without goals, you have no way to measure success and return on investment (ROI) .

Each of your social media marketing goals should be SMART : s pecific, m easurable, a ttainable, r elevant and t ime-bound.

Psst: Need help getting started? We’ve got social strategy guides for small businesses , financial services , government , higher education , healthcare , real estate , law firms , and non-profits .

Oh, and if you need examples of smart social media goals , we’ve got you covered there too.

Once you’ve decided on your goals, track them in a social media strategy doc — grab our free template if you don’t have one already.

Track meaningful metrics

Vanity metrics like number of followers and likes are easy to track, but it’s hard to prove their real value. Instead, focus on things like engagement, click-through, and conversion rates.

For inspiration, take a look at these 19 essential social media metrics .

You may want to track different goals for different social media networks, or even different uses for each network.

For example, if you use LinkedIn to drive traffic to your website, you would measure click-throughs. If Instagram is for brand awareness, you might track the number of Instagram Story views. And if you advertise on Facebook, cost-per-click (CPC) is a common success metric.

Social media goals should align with your overall marketing objectives. This makes it easier to show the value of your work and secure buy-in from your boss.

Start developing a successful social media marketing plan by writing down at least three goals for social media.

“ It’s easy to get overwhelmed by deciding what to post and which metrics to track, but you need to focus on what you want to get out of social media to begin with,” says Amanda Wood, Hootsuite’s Senior Manager of Social Marketing. “Don’t just start posting and tracking everything: match your goals to your business, and your metrics to your goals.”

Step 2. Learn everything you can about your audience

Get to know your fans, followers, and customers as real people with real wants and needs, and you will know how to target and engage them on social media.

When it comes to your ideal customer, you should know things like:

• Average income
• Typical job title or industry

Here’s a simple guide and template for creating audience/buyer personas .

Don’t forget to document this information in your strategy doc!

Social media analytics can also provide a ton of valuable information about who your followers are, where they live, and how they interact with your brand on social media. These insights allow you to refine your strategy and better target your audience.

Jugnoo, an Uber-like service for auto-rickshaws in India, used Facebook Analytics to learn that 90% of their users who referred other customers were between 18- and 34-years-old, and 65% of that group was using Android. They used that information to target their ads, resulting in a 40% lower cost per referral.

Check out our guide to using social media analytics and the tools you need to track them .

Step 3. Get to know your competition

Odds are your competitors are already using social media, and that means you can learn from what they’re doing.

Conduct a competitive analysis

A competitive analysis allows you to understand who the competition is and what they’re doing well (and not so well). You’ll get a good sense of what’s expected in your industry, which will help you set social media targets of your own.

It will also help you spot opportunities and weaknesses you can document in your social strategy doc.

Maybe one of your competitors is dominant on Facebook, for example, but has put little effort into X (Twitter) or Instagram. You might want to focus on the social media platforms where your audience is underserved, rather than trying to win fans away from a dominant player.

Use social media listening

Social listening is another way to keep an eye on your competitors.

Do searches of the competition’s company name, account handles, and other relevant keywords on social media. Find out what they’re sharing and what other people are saying about them. If they’re using influencer marketing, how much engagement do those campaigns earn them?

Pro tip : Use Hootsuite Streams to monitor relevant keywords, hashtags and accounts in real-time.

Try Hootsuite for free. You can cancel anytime.

As you track, you may notice shifts in how your competitors and industry leaders are using social media. You may come across new, exciting trends. You might even spot specific social content or a campaign that really hits the mark—or totally bombs.

Use this kind of intel to optimize and inform your own social media marketing strategy.

Just don’t go overboard on the spy tactics, Amanda advises. “ Make sure you aren’t ALWAYS comparing yourself to the competition — it can be a distraction. I’d say checking in on a monthly basis is healthy. Otherwise, focus on your own strategy and results.”

Step 4. Do a social media audit

If you’re already using social media, take stock of your efforts so far. Ask yourself the following questions:

• What’s working, and what’s not?
• Who is engaging with you?
• What are your most valuable partnerships?
• Which networks does your target audience use?
• How does your social media presence compare to the competition?

Once you collect that information, you’ll be ready to start thinking about ways to improve.

We’ve created an easy-to-follow social media audit guide and template to walk you through each step of this process.

Your audit should give you a clear picture of what purpose each of your social accounts serves. If the purpose of an account isn’t clear, think about whether it’s worth keeping.

To help you decide, ask yourself the following questions:

• Is my audience here?
• If so, how are they using this platform?
• Can I use this account to help achieve my goals?

Asking these tough questions will keep your social media strategy focused.

Look for impostor accounts

During the audit, you may discover fake accounts using your business name or the names of your products.

These imposters can be harmful to your brand—never mind that they’re capturing followers that should be yours.

You may want to get your accounts verified too to ensure your fans know they are dealing with the real you.

Here’s how to get verified on:

• X (Twitter)

Step 5. Set up accounts and improve profiles

Decide which networks to use.

As you decide which social networks to use, you will also need to define your strategy for each.

Benefit Cosmetics’ social media manager, Angela Purcaro, told eMarketer : “For our makeup tutorials … we’re all about Snapchat and Instagram Stories. [X], on the other hand, is designated for customer service.”

Hootsuite’s own social team even designates different purposes for formats within networks. On Instagram, for example, they use the feed to post high-quality educational infographics and product announcements and Stories to cover live events or quick social media updates.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Hootsuite 🦉 (@hootsuite)

Pro tip : Write out a mission statement for each network. A one-sentence declaration to keep you focused on a specific goal.

Example: “We will use X for customer support to keep email and call volumes down.”

Or: “We will use LinkedIn for promoting and sharing our company culture to help with recruitment and employee advocacy.”

One more: “We will use Instagram to highlight new products and repost quality content from influencers.”

If you can’t create a solid mission statement for a particular social media channel, you may want to ask yourself if it’s worth it.

Note : While larger businesses can and do tackle every platform, small businesses may not be able to — and that’s ok! Prioritize social platforms that will have the most impact on your business and make sure your marketing team has the resources to handle content for those networks. If you need help focusing your efforts, check out our 18-minute social media plan .

Set up your profiles

Once you’ve decided which networks to focus on, it’s time to create your profiles. Or improve existing ones so they align with your strategy.

• Make sure you fill out all profile fields
• Include keywords people would use to search for your business
• Use consistent branding (logos, images, etc.) across networks so your profiles are easily recognizable

Pro tip : Use high-quality images that follow the recommended dimensions for each network. Check out our always-up-to-date social media image size cheat sheet for quick reference.

We’ve also got step-by-step guides for each network to walk you through the process:

• Create a Facebook business page
• Create an Instagram business account
• Create a TikTok account
• Create a X (Twitter) business account
• Create a Snapchat account
• Create a LinkedIn Company Page
• Create a Pinterest business account
• Create a YouTube channel

Don’t let this list overwhelm you. Remember, it’s better to use fewer channels well than to stretch yourself thin trying to maintain a presence on every network.

Optimize your profiles (and content) for search

Never heard of social SEO ? It’s time to learn.

44% of Gen Z consumers use social platforms to research their purchase decisions, which means it’s extra critical that your channels are optimized for social search.

That means making sure your profile names are clear and descriptive, you’re including relevant hashtags and keywords in your bio and on every post, and you’re using features like alt text and captions to include your target keywords as naturally as possible.

Step 6. Find inspiration

While it’s important that your brand be unique, you can still draw inspiration from other businesses that are great on social.

“ I consider it my job to stay active on social: to know what’s trending, which campaigns are winning, what’s new with the platforms, who’s going above and beyond,” says Amanda. “This might be the most fun step for you, or the hardest one, but it’s just as crucial as the rest of them.”

Social media success stories

You can usually find these on the business section of the social network’s website. ( Here’s Facebook’s , for example.)

Case studies can offer valuable insights that you can apply to your own social media plan.

Award-winning accounts and campaigns

You could also check out the winners of The Facebook Awards or The Shorty Awards for examples of brands that are at the top of their social media game.

For learning and a laugh, check out Fridge-Worthy, Hootsuite’s bi-weekly awards show highlighting brands doing smart and clever things on social media.

Your favorite brands on social media

Who do you enjoy following on social media? What do they do that compels people to engage and share their content?

National Geographic, for example, is one of the best on Instagram, combining stunning visuals with compelling captions.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by National Geographic (@natgeo)

Then there’s Shopify. The ecommerce brand uses Facebook to sell themselves by showcasing customer stories and case studies.

And Lush Cosmetics is a great example of superior customer service on X. They use their 280 characters to answer questions and solve problems in an extremely charming and on-brand way.

Source: lushcosmetics on X

Notice that each of these accounts has a consistent voice, tone, and style. That’s key to letting people know what to expect from your feed. That is, why should they follow you? What’s in it for them?

Consistency also helps keep your content on-brand even if you have multiple people on your social media team.

For more on this, read our guide on establishing a compelling brand voice on social media .

Ask your followers

Consumers can also offer social media inspiration.

What are your target customers talking about online? What can you learn about their wants and needs?

If you have existing social channels, you could also ask your followers what they want from you. Just make sure that you follow through and deliver what they ask for.

Step 7. Create a social media content calendar

Sharing great content is essential, of course, but it’s equally important to have a plan in place for when you’ll share content to get the maximum impact.

Your social media content calendar also needs to account for the time you spend interacting with the audience (although you need to allow for some spontaneous engagement as well).

Set your posting schedule

Your social media content calendar lists the dates and times at which you will publish types of content on each channel. It’s the perfect place to plan all of your social media activities—from images, link sharing, and re-shares of user-generated content to blog posts and videos. It includes both your day-to-day posting and content for social media campaigns.

Your calendar also ensures your posts are spaced out appropriately and published at the best times to post .

Pro tip: You can plan your whole content calendar and get recommended best times to post on every network based on your past engagement rate, impressions, or link click data in Hootsuite.

Hootsuite’s Best Time to Publish feature

Determine the right content mix

Make sure your content strategy and calendar reflect the mission statement you’ve assigned to each social profile, so that everything you post is working to support your business goals.

(We know, it’s tempting to jump on every meme, but there should always be a strategy behind your social media marketing efforts!)

You might decide that:

• 50% of content will drive traffic back to your website
• 25% of content will be curated from other sources
• 20% of content will support lead-generation goals (newsletter sign-ups, ebook downloads, etc.)
• 5% of content will be about your company culture

Placing these different post types in your content calendar will ensure you maintain the right mix.

If you’re starting from scratch and you’re not sure what types of content to post, try the 80-20 rule :

• 80% of your posts should inform, educate, or entertain your audience
• 20% can directly promote your brand.

You could also try the social media content marketing rule of thirds :

• One-third of your content promotes your business, converts readers, and generates profit.
• One-third of your content shares ideas and stories from thought leaders in your industry or like-minded businesses.
• One-third of your content is personal interactions with your audience

Whatever you decide on, be sure to document it in your strategy doc.

Don’t post too much or too little

If you’re starting a social media marketing strategy from scratch, you may not have figured out how often to post to each network for maximum engagement yet.

Post too frequently and you risk annoying your audience. But, if you post too little, you risk looking like you’re not worth following.

Start with these posting frequency recommendations:

• Instagram (feed): 3-7 times per week
• TikTok: 3-5 times per week
• Facebook: 1-2 times per day
• X (Twitter): 1-5 times per day
• LinkedIn: 1-5 times per day

Pro tip : Once you have your social media content calendar planned out, use a scheduling tool to prepare messages in advance rather than updating constantly throughout the day.

We might be biased, but we think Hootsuite is the best social media management tool. You can schedule social media posts to every network and the intuitive calendar view gives you a full picture of all your social activity each week.

Try It Free

Step 8. Create compelling content

Remember those mission statements you created for each channel in Step 5? Well, it’s time to go a bit deeper, a.k.a. provide some examples of the type of content you’ll post to fulfill your mission on each network.

If you’re not sure what to post, here’s a long list of social media content ideas to get you started. Or (to make it even easier) you can use an AI tool like OwlyWriter to generate on-brand content in a flash.

The idea here is to:

• Keep your content aligned with the purpose of each network;
• Show other stakeholders (if applicable) what kind of content they can expect to see on each network.

This last point especially will help you avoid any tension when your colleagues want to know why you haven’t posted their case study/whitepaper/blog post to TikTok yet. It’s not in the strategy, Linda!

Ideally, you will generate content types that are both suited to the network and the purpose you’ve set out for that network.

For example, you wouldn’t want to waste time posting brand awareness tweets if you’ve designated X/Twitter for primarily customer support. And you wouldn’t want to post super polished corporate video ads to TikTok, as users expect to see short, unpolished videos on that platform.

It might take some testing over time to figure out which type of content works best on which type of network, so prepare to update this section frequently.

We won’t lie: content creation isn’t as easy as everyone not on the social team seems to think. But if you’re struggling, Amanda suggests going back to basics.

The first question to ask is: is there cohesion between your content types? Is your content providing value? Do you have a good mix of entertaining, or educational content? What does it offer that makes a person stop and spend time? Creating a few different content pillars or categories that encompass different aspects of storytelling for your brand, and what you can offer your audience is a good start.

This brings us to Step 9.

Step 9. Track performance and make adjustments

Your social media marketing strategy is a hugely important document for your business, and you can’t assume you’ll get it exactly right on the first try.

As you start to implement your plan and track your results, you may find that some strategies don’t work as well as you’d anticipated, while others are working even better than expected.

That’s why it’s important to document your progress along the way.

Look at performance metrics

In addition to the analytics within each social network (see Step 2), you can use UTM parameters to track social visitors as they move through your website, so you can see exactly which social posts drive the most traffic to your website.

Benchmark your results

You’ve got your numbers, but how do they stack up to the competition in your industry? Industry benchmarks are a great way to evaluate your performance against other businesses in your category.

If you’ve got Hootsuite Analytics , you can use our built-in social media benchmarking tool to compare the performance of your social accounts against the average of brands in your industry with just a couple of clicks.

You can set up custom timeframes, switch between networks — Instagram, Facebook, X (Twitter), LinkedIn, and TikTok — and look up benchmarks for metrics like followers, audience growth rate, engagement rate, clicks, shares, and much more.

You’ll also find resources to improve your performance  right in the summary section:

Re-evaluate, test, and do it all again

Once this data starts coming in, use it to re-evaluate your strategy regularly. You can also use this information to test different posts, social marketing campaigns, and strategies against one another. Constant testing allows you to understand what works and what doesn’t, so you can refine your social media marketing strategy in real time.

You’ll want to check the performance of all your channels at least once a week and get to know the basics of social media reporting so you can track your growth over time.

Pro tip: If you use Hootsuite, you can review the performance of all your posts on every network in one place. Once you get the hang of checking your analytics, you may even want to customize different reports to show specific metrics over a variety of different time periods.

Surveys can also be a great way to find out how well your social media strategy is working. Ask your followers, email list, and website visitors whether you’re meeting their needs and expectations, and what they’d like to see more of. Then make sure to deliver on what they tell you.

Finalizing your social media strategy

Spoiler alert: nothing is final.

Social media moves fast. New networks emerge, others go through demographic shifts.

Your business will go through periods of change as well.

All of this means that your social media marketing strategy should be a living document that you review and adjust as needed. Refer to it often to stay on track, but don’t be afraid to make changes so that it better reflects new goals, tools, or plans.

When you update your social strategy, make sure to watch our 5-step video on how to updating your social media strategy for 2024:

Social media strategy template

Ready to start documenting? Grab your free social media strategy template below!

What’s next? When you’re ready to put your plan into action, we’re here to help…

Save time managing your social media marketing strategy with Hootsuite. From a single dashboard you can easily:

• Plan, create, and schedule posts to every network
• Track relevant keywords, topics, and accounts
• Stay on top of engagement with a universal inbox
• Get easy-to-understand performance reports and improve your strategy as needed

Try Hootsuite for Free

With files from Shannon Tien .

Do it better with Hootsuite , the all-in-one social media tool. Stay on top of things, grow, and beat the competition.

Become a better social marketer.

Get expert social media advice delivered straight to your inbox.

Christina Newberry is an award-winning writer and editor whose greatest passions include food, travel, urban gardening, and the Oxford comma—not necessarily in that order.

Amanda Wood is a senior social marketing professional who combines analytical and creative thinking to build brands.

As head of social at Hootsuite, Amanda oversees the global social strategy encompassing organic and paid social on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, and LinkedIn, a social engagement and listening strategy, and an employee advocacy program.

As the leader of a high-performing social team, she has extensive experience collaborating with creatives to bring campaigns to life on social and drive business results.

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Marketing Assignment Topics

Table of Contents

The Importance of Marketing Assignments

99 marketing assignment topics, 📱 digital marketing, 🛍️ consumer behaviour marketing, 📺 telemarketing, 📣 word-of-mouth marketing, 📧 personalized marketing, 💬 influencer marketing, 🤳 social media marketing, 📍 local marketing, 📔 print media strategies, 🏷️ niche marketing , narrowing things down helps.

Regardless of whether you are majoring in Digital Marketing, MBA, or Sociology, taking a look at the various marketing assignment topics will be essential for your success. The most important is to determine what kind of sub-topic you require or what promotional take is studied. Starting with the case study ideas to analysis and comparison of the different methods, you must explore your initial requirements and think about a good topic. Our friendly marketing assignment writing service has collected a selection of relevant marketing ideas to keep you inspired. Take your time to explore them and choose the one that fits!

In simple terms, digital marketing relates to promotion and advertisement of certain ideas and services via electronic means. While it’s mostly related to Internet technologies, digital marketing also covers mobile phones, digital street banners, online intellectual property protection , and anything where electronic platforms are used. It makes exploring digital marketing assignment topics a rather popular choice for college researching as can be seen below:

• How has content marketing changed during Covid-19 times?
• The pecularities of search engine optimization and political bias.
• The legislation in the United States used to protect intellectual property online.
• Google Ads vs YouTube advertisement systems: the pros and cons.
• The role of website design for the digital marketing.
• Sustainability of Internet of Things.
• The role of Machine Learning technology for the digital marketing.
• The use of Livestreaming in education.
• Leadership styles through the lens of account-based marketing.
• Telling a story online vs physical interaction in 2022.

In your exploration of innovative approaches, consider Airtable Alternative —an emerging alternative to conventional spreadsheets. Stackby’s no-code, spreadsheet-style database empowers collaborative efforts in building, managing, and streamlining workflows, projects, or databases, all within a unified platform.

The purpose here is to estimate and understand how people (customers) make certain decisions when they choose particular services or puchase what they want. It’s a study of their needs and related behaviors. See some consumer behavior assignment topics below:

• How important is the variety of available products for behavior patterns?
• The use of AI-based tools to predict consumer behavior.
• The role of family influencing for consumer choices.
• Available resources through the lens of Maslow’s Theory of Needs.
• Search for information and the reasoning to purchase things.
• Consumer behavior and tourism marketing during pandemic times.
• Perception of risks when dealing with unknown products.
• Evaluation of product alternatives: analysis vs experience.
• Recognition of needs: what drives consumers in 2022?
• Modern data collection method: digital means vs word-of-mouth.

Find the writer according to your requirements

• AssignmentBro is a team of experienced writers in any field of academic research
• We thoroughly choose writers with advanced multistep selection process
• Our writers work according to the highest academic standards

Also known as the phone marketing , this type of sales is still quite popular these days. It involves both initiation and closure of commercial operations by making a call to certain customers. It is usually based on already existing services where specific groups of people are targeted.

• Establishment of strong customer relations in outbound vs inbound practices.
• Dealing with technical issues and the role of recommendations.
• Selling things from a distance: global vs local sales approach.
• Transformation of a phone call into a deal: the role of the time factor.
• What does represent a quality lead in 2022?
• Cold calling vs inside sales: persuasive rhetorics.
• Setting objectives in telemarketing: how long should an introduction be?
• Business to Business approach: why does taking a special niche helps?
• Improving marketing data: the most efficient method to study your customers’ needs.
• Analysis of modern telemarketing methods via online messengers.

It’s one of those areas where every college student majoring in marketing can turn to personal experience or focus on various case studies. When marketing data is being passed from person to person, among friends or family members, it belongs to word-of-mouth. See the subjects below for inspiration:

• Product giveaways: how much risk does it include?
• Brand ambassadors and the degree of honesty in marketing.
• Sharing buzzworthy skills: is using psychological processing acceptable?
• Referrals on social media: can one person become an influencer?
• Pinterest: the network that uses individual marketing approach.
• Coca-Cola and the branding strategies: popularity factor.
• Identification and nurturing: professional word-of-mouth marketing vs amateur techniques.
• Word of mouth for the small business: should testimonials be obligatory?
• How to create personal recommendations using marketing management?
• Brand generation methods: like-minded individuals or knowing your audience matters.

While it can take virtually any form thesedays, turning to personalization in the field of modern marketing is essential. It always starts with a detailed research of the target market by focusing on individuals that are already interested in services on offer. For example, promoting car safety tools among street racers or cargo companies can be one of the examples.

• The pros and cons of the “always on” marketology.
• Targeted emails: is email marketing still relevant in 2022?
• Custom video messages and online learning.
• The phenomenon of the fear of missing out.
• Product recommendations based on data mining methods.
• Adjusting brands to investor’s expectation: target market changes.
• Amazon’s case study: content personalization.
• Privacy of the purchase history online: what are the safety guarantees.
• Purchase recommendations based on artificial intelligence.
• In-store personal guidance vs online customer service marketing methods.

This type of marketing is one of the most relevant and important these days when we have celebrities, bloggers, and various athletes using their status to promote certain products. At the same time, every college student can become an influencer by setting a positive example. Here are some ideas to consider:

• The negative influence of celebrities for promotion of low-quality products.
• Quality matters: why do customers ignore quality concerns when the fame factors comes up?
• The role of YouTube marketing mix feature for promotion of influencers.
• Child influencers: does it help to promote business skills and responsibilities?
• Marketing agreements: what are the limitations of being an influencer?
• Social campaigns: the most important social marketing campaigns.
• Negative body image and marketing influencers: beauty models and healthcare concerns.
• The culture of shout outs by media personalities: a “sponsor me” controversy.
• Branded hashtags: what are the pros and cons of digital branding?
• The role of online bloggers for promotion of products and services.

Contrary to the popular belief, social media marketing (SMM) is not limited to Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. We also have platforms like TikTok, LinkedIn, and Snapchat that also generate a lot of traffic. SMM is further divided into six sub-sections that are: social networking, creation of bookmarks, sharing social news, media sharing, addressing blog posts, and participating in online forums like Reddit and Quora. Here are some ideas to consider:

• Transition of Facebook into Meta Inc: what marketing challenges became apparent?
• Instagram and the role of intellectual property protection online.
• Twitter and the political bias encountered in microblogging.
• LinkedIn’s approach to business networking: marketing research case study analysis.
• Methodology of attracting new users via Instagram’s feed.
• Discord and the ethical limitations of promotion.
• The use of trends and the youth culture for modern marketing.
• Publication of news on social media: the problem of a primary source.
• Motivational posts: cryptic media promotion methods.
• Generation of social lift in 2022: from green energy to the rules of engagement.

Local marketing represents a special market niche where your products and services are advertised within a limited geographic area. Unlike global digital marketing, in most cases, you are focusing on the local customers by using street advertisement methods and even various print outlets like promotional leaflets and flyers.

• The use of promotional coupons: what information must be included?
• Creation of the local marketing plan and the prognosis aspect.
• Brand perception by the local audience vs national marketing’s vision.
• The challenges of Local Relevance in the rural areas of the United States.
• What customer data is acceptable to ask for locally?
• Cooperation with Google for local marketing.
• The role of public relations and territorial television for promotional purposes.
• Legal sources of data collection that are acceptable for regional marketing.
• The use of governmental funding for localized marketing.
• Socio-cultural factor of the brand perception of the American South.

The use of print media still remains relevant today, which became even clearer during the times of social distancing when people have turned to explanatory materials and various print outlets that they had available. These include manuals and promotional data that has been sent. The examples include real estate advertisement techniques and product manuals.

• Are newspapers in print becoming obsolete?
• The role of marketing in print for the fashion industry.
• Magazines and the role of business promotion.
• Healthcare articles and promotion of pharmacology.
• Politics and the role of leaflets for elections.
• The role of frequency of publications.
• Limitations of print media strategies.
• The use of questionnaries in the print advertisement.
• The art of telling a story: the unique benefits of print media.
• The tactile factor: why marketing requires something one can hold.

As the name implies, niche marketing aims for those areas where we have specific, limited appeal with low competition. At the same time, it represents a strong demand and the needs that have not been met. For example, specific sports equipment or ethnic musical instruments. Here are some good topic ideas to consider:

• Creation of brand loyalty in 2022.
• The most efficient methods to improve one’s outreach.
• The use of monetization and digital solutions vs in-store contact.
• How to analyze one’s target audience when dealing with global markets?
• Faster business growth vs cost-effective methods.
• Reverse engineering and study of the competitors.
• Content creation system: simplification with the AI.
• SEO optimization and conversion of contacts to sales.
• The art of the thought leadership method for niche marketing.

Choosing assignment topics for marketing, remember that you should narrow things down for the best results as it will help you to focus on particular events or practices. It makes it easier to set an example and provide at least one piece of evidence for your marketing assignment. Take your time to research the subject first and play with the wording to make your paper’s title reflect your thesis statement. By doing so, you will be able to create a strong hook for your introduction and the topic sentence for each relevant paragraph.

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Resources: Discussions and Assignments

Module 6 assignment: employer branding overview.

In this module, you learned that recruiting is the art of attraction, and that cultivating a strong employer brand is an essential aspect of that process. Employer branding matters for two primary reasons: it affects an organization’s ability to attract and retain talent and it has labor cost and productivity implications. An ability to cultivate and communicate an engaging employer brand is particularly critical given that it’s a sellers market, with heightened employee expectations and increased competition for a smaller pool of workers.

In your fourth rotation, you are reporting to the firm’s Employer Branding lead. This is a relatively new practice and the team is still developing services and associated deliverables. You have been assigned to develop a proprietary (original) 1-page “How to Build a Strong Brand” overview for clients. Bonus points: submit your deliverable as an infographic (For perspective, search for “how to build an employer brand” and select Images). Refer to  Employer Branding  for a jump start. Although your how-to must be original (riffing is fine; duplication is not), it should address the following four points:

• Step 1: Evaluate your brand.
• Step 2: Identify/clarify your employer proposition.
• Step 3: Connect with your audience.
• Step 4: Recruit & support brand ambassadors.

This assignment requires you to incorporate research (cite Harris Poll, Gallup or other credible data) on why a recommendation matters and specific action items associated with each step.

Grading Rubric

• Assignment: Employer Branding Overview. Authored by : Nina Burokas. Provided by : Lumen Learning. License : CC BY: Attribution

MKT2100Module1-MyFavoriteBrandScenarioWorksheet-27092167

More From Forbes

Marketing reinvention: four ideas to boost your impact and relevance.

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Matthew Lieberman is the CMO at PwC U.S. and an innovative executive at the crossroads of marketing, media and technology.

If you’re a marketing leader, odds are you’re feeling the heat. And whether you’ll be joining us on the Croisette in Cannes or not, it may only get hotter. In our Global CEO Survey , 85% of CEOs said they are considering or have already begun reducing operating costs. Where might they look for savings? Almost all CMOs (89%) said in another PwC survey that they believe that their budget will be cut before those of other departments.

The timing couldn’t be worse. Marketing is critical to the business, especially during challenging times. Today, marketing leaders need to make a powerful case to maintain or even increase investments. They need to illustrate their impact with hard numbers that demonstrate the return on marketing investments.

Without these numbers, other C-suite executives may not fully grasp the value of marketing and what sets it apart from other business functions. It’s a widespread problem. Marketers often need to justify their own position; we’ve even seen some companies eliminate CMO roles.

But after witnessing the excitement from other CMOs at events like Adobe Summit and ANA’s Global CMO Growth Council meeting, I'm encouraged. I’ve picked up a few strategies that can help in telling your story and retaining your budget. Marketing is, after all, a growth function. It may be the only one that can create the magic that connects customers with your brand.

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Best 5% interest savings accounts of 2024.

Here are four ideas to help marketers both increase and better demonstrate the value and importance of their function.

1. Help Reinvent Your Company

Nearly half (45%) of respondents in the Global CEO Survey said that their companies might not be economically viable in 10 years. That’s a shocking number, but it's understandable when you consider how fast society and technology are changing. In my firm, for example, generative AI (GenAI) is already driving productivity gains of approximately 20% to 40% in several key functions, including marketing. If your company doesn’t keep up with these kinds of advances, it will likely be left behind.

As your company works to reinvent itself to drive growth, you can become a leader. You are your company’s expert on your customers. If you don't have a seat at the table when leadership is discussing long-term strategy, ask for one. Come with a plan developed in collaboration with your firm’s tech and data leaders. Together, you can reinvent the customer experience by taking advantage of new tech to drive engagement and growth.

2. Be Ruthless In Your Use Of Tech

We all love and need marketing technology (MarTech). Your MarTech stack can yield granular customer data to design impactful campaigns, real-time data to assess that impact, the tools to keep iterating and improving while campaigns are in progress and more.

But MarTech is expensive. For some marketing departments, it’s almost as big a budget item as media. So, before you make new MarTech requests, get data on the tech you have, the tech you're considering and the likely costs and value. Understand the organizational impact of any further tech deployment and the possibilities for scale. GenAI, for example, is so scalable that you may be able to add marketing to some other function’s initiative at a reasonable cost. Only after you have hard data on what MarTech will do and the cost should you go to your CFO.

3. Don’t Just Walk The Walk—Talk The Talk

It might seem ironic, but it’s true: A lot of marketers have trouble marketing their teams to stakeholders. It’s not that we’re bad at talking. It’s that many marketers don’t have practice in speaking the language that CEOs, CFOs and other key stakeholders understand.

To talk the talk, you need metrics—and those shouldn’t be impressions or social interactions or other marketing-specific statistics. What you need are the metrics your CEO and CFO care about: profit, revenue and ROI. It wasn’t possible five years ago, but thanks to MarTech, it is now: You can rigorously assess your work in light of your company’s goals and bottom line. But don’t give people too many metrics. Their eyes will glaze over. Choose the ones that will speak to them specifically.

4. Open Doors So Creativity Can Enter

I’ve written a lot about tech, data and reinvention, because that’s a lot of my job these days. That wasn’t the case when I started. One thing that hasn’t changed is one big reason we all chose careers in marketing: the opportunity to use our imaginations. So, while it’s critical for your people to use the latest tech and make data-driven decisions, it’s just as important to make space for them to be creative.

Encouraging creativity means providing time, incentives and recognition for it. It also means using tech to automate tedious work and to amplify creative work. In my firm, for example, we use GenAI to help develop derivative and hyper-customized content based on our people’s original work. People create the content. Tech helps us multiply its impact. We call this approach human-led and tech-powered—and we believe it’s how marketers are going to stay relevant for years to come.

Forbes Technology Council is an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives. Do I qualify?

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13.16: Assignment- Marketing Plan, Part 2

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Student Instructions: Complete the following information about the organization and products and/or services you will focus on as you develop a complete marketing plan throughout the course. You may need to do research to get answers to the questions below. The subject for this assignment should be the organization and products and/or services you identified for the Marketing Plan, Part 1 Assignment.

Marketing Information and Research

Research question.

Describe an important question you need to answer or a problem you are trying to solve in order to help the organization meet its goals and objectives.

Information Needed

Describe the information your organization needs to make effective decisions about how to answer this question or solve this problem.

Research Recommendations

What research do you recommend in order to provide the information you need? What research method(s) would you use to get the information you need? Will it involve secondary data and research? Primary research such as interviews, focus groups and surveys? Why do you recommend this research approach? Customer Decision-Making Profile

Identifying the Customer and Problem

Describe a primary decision maker in your target segment: who they are, what they like, how they make buying decisions. Describe the primary problem(s) your organization, product or service will help them solve.

Factors Influencing Customer Decisions

Provide a brief profile of your target segment using at least three of the following categories:

• Geographic characteristics: e.g., location, region, population size or climate.
• Personal and demographic characteristics: e.g., age, gender, family size, family life stage, income, personality.
• Social and Psychological characteristics: e.g., culture, social class, lifestyle, motivation, attitudes, reference groups, beliefs.
• Situational characteristics: e.g., buying situation, level of involvement, market offerings, frequency of use, brand loyalty.
• B2B/organizational buying considerations: e.g., individual factors, organizational factors, business environment factors, types of complexity

Reaching the Customer

Based on this profile, identify 2-3 marketing strategies or tactics you believe would be effective at reaching this target segment, and briefly explain why they are a good fit. Positioning and Differentiation

Positioning and differentiation explain what you want to be known for in the market, and how you are different from competitors. Respond to the following questions.

Competitive Advantages

List the competitive advantages of the product, service or organization you’re focusing on: the things that make it different from competitors in positive ways.

Market Niche and Positioning Strategy

Describe the market niche you want to fill, along with the positioning strategy you recommend using. Why do you think this is the right approach?

Positioning Statement

Develop a positioning statement using this formula: “To [target audience], [product/service/organization name] is the only [category or frame of reference] that [points of differentiation/benefits delivered] because [reasons to believe].

Repositioning Considerations

Do you recommend a repositioning that improves on what the organization has been using up to this point? Why or why not?

Brand Description

What is the “brand” you are trying to build? What do people think about this brand today, and how do they experience it?

Brand Promise

What is the brand promise for this brand? If one hasn’t been defined yet, create one. If you believe the brand promise needs improvement, please suggest how you would refine it. Why is your recommended brand promise a good fit?

Brand Voice and Personality

Describe your brand voice and personality using the is/is never template:

• [Brand] is:
• [Brand] is never:

Brand Positioning and Strategy

Make a recommendation about brand positioning and/or branding strategy to help build the brand and contribute to align it with what your target segment wants. How will this contribute to the success of your product, service or organization?

Sample Grading Rubric

Marketing Information and Research Grading Rubric

Total points possible for Marketing Information and Research Assignment: 60 pts.

Branding Grading Rubric

Total points possible for Branding Assignment: 40 pts.

Total points possible for Marketing Plan, Part 2 Assignment (Marketing Information and Research, and Branding combined): 100 pts.

Contributors and Attributions

• Assignment: Marketing Plan, Part 2. Provided by : Lumen Learning. License : CC BY: Attribution