Welcome to our White Papers section. Here, you can discover how your brand can survive – and thrive – during a recession, learn how to take action if your brand is having an identity crisis, understand why branding is vital for entrepreneurs, and more! All of our White Papers are free to download, so read as many as you’d like!
White Papers
Nonprofit Messaging: Lessons Learned from the For-Profit Sector
July 2021
“Nonprofit Messaging: Lessons Learned from the For-Profit Sector,” details what nonprofit leaders can learn from the for-profit sector. It dives into the ways they can update their messaging strategies to improve consensus and consistency, differentiation, donor acquisition and retention, focus, research, and attracting and retaining the best talent.
For-Profit Messaging: Lessons Learned from the Nonprofit Sector
July 2021
“For-Profit Messaging: Lessons Learned from the Nonprofit Sector,” details what for-profit leaders can learn from the nonprofit sector. It dives into the ways they can update their messaging strategies to improve consensus and consistency, differentiation, lead generation and retention, focus, research, and attracting and retaining the best talent.
Succeed in a Recession: How a Strong Brand Can Help You Survive—and Thrive—in a Recession
October 2019
For brands, sometimes the emotional response to a recession is more detrimental than the actual recession. Your brand doesn’t have to follow this path. Instead of fearing a recession, view it as an opportunity. Strong brands that endure during a recession come out ahead.
Solo Identity: Why Brand Strategy is a Must-Have for Consultants, Freelancers, and Solopreneurs
June 2019
It has never been easier for people to become self-employed or take advantage of the emerging gig economy. There are currently 41.8 million US adults that identify as consultants, freelancers, or solopreneurs—part or full-time—contributing more than $1.3 trillion annually to the economy. Irrespective of industry, every one of these people has something in common: they can all benefit from a strong brand.
The Three ‘R’s Your B2B Brand is Missing: How a Strong Brand Strategy Improves Revenue, Referenceability, and Retention
April 2019
- Revenue: Ensuring clear communication and shortened sales cycles
- Referenceability: Increasing the quality and quantity of lead generation and
- referrals
- Retention: Enhancing employment engagement and company values.
How to talk to your colleagues about your brand’s identity crisis
November 2018
The warning signs are there. Some of them you see, some of them you haven’t yet, and perhaps some you’re trying to pretend do not exist. To you, it’s crystal clear that your brand is going through an identity crisis. The disjointed messages, the knee-jerk reactions to competitor moves, and the revolving door of new hires: they’re all clear signs that your brand strategy is broken. You see it, but no one else does. It’s mind-numbing and disheartening.
Don’t worry. You’re not crazy. You’re not imagining things. You’re not over-reacting. What you are, however, is the sentinel. The lookout. The bloke in the crow’s nest of the ship looking for glaciers and pirates. It’s your job to sound the alarm, rally the troops, and help your colleagues see what they cannot.
Easier said than done, clearly, but you have to open their eyes. If you don’t, no one else will. In this white paper, we will show you exactly how.
How to Make Data-Driven Design Decisions
May 2018
Recently, Spencer Brenneman, LLC President Douglas Spencer spoke at HOW Design Live. His talk was entitled, From Gift Wrapper to Strategic Partner: How Creatives can elevate the world’s perception of their work.” As part of the presentation, Spencer Brenneman, LLC produced a white paper outlining specific steps to making decisions backed by data.
“Making data-driven design decisions helps the creative process immeasurably (ironically),” Douglas says. “In order for Creatives to elevate the world’s perception of their work, both they and their clients who are making the final decisions have to embrace the role of data. Just as importantly, both have to work at improving their relationships with the other.”
The B2B Brand Strategy
May 2017
In 2017, Spencer Brenneman, LLC published a white paper on the recent focus B2B businesses were giving to brand strategy. Using many of the principles and fundamentals that have gone into Spencer Brenneman’s philosophies from our inception, we examined how these B2B companies, by incorporating traditional B2C brand strategies, can grow both their business and revenue.
In hyper-competitive, bottom line driven environments, B2B companies have long been tempted to direct spending to other activities with a more immediate impact on revenue. However, Spencer Brenneman surveyed 150 B2B marketing executives who consider themselves ultimately responsible for, or an expert on, their organization’s brand strategy. Most B2B companies are not taking a short-sighted approach to their brands. It turns out they are investing in them, heavily. Spencer Brenneman found these companies to be almost universally committed to investing resources and energy to their corporate brands by:
- Spending significant portions of their budget on brand-related activities
- Conducting frequent brand research and strategy updates
- Communicating brand identity and terminology throughout the organization
- Measuring their brand’s direct impact on tangible key performance indicators (KPIs)
- Using brand strategy to drive decision-making straight through to individual products
and services