Speaker 0: Good morning, ParDreamin’. Thank you for joining our session. We’ve got Ashley Anker here with us. She’s a four-time Salesforce certified project manager and marketing automation consultant at Coastal Cloud, and she is gonna help us understand why consistency is so important and how to create a system for success. Over to you, Ashley.

Speaker 1: Awesome. Thank you so much for that introduction, and hello, everyone. Uh, it’s so awesome to see so many new faces on here, see a few old friends, and even some who joined me last year. So we’ve got a lot to cover, so let’s go ahead and get started. So first, raise your hand if you’ve ever set a New Year’s resolution. So I’m gonna pretend I can see you and all your hands are up because I feel like the majority of people have. Up until last year, I was all about it. I set my goals, I set baby goals within those big ones, I picked up my rewards, my favorite part, and I always pretend that I’m going to eat healthy. Every year, I tell myself I’m gonna eat healthy, but guess how many times I’ve succeeded? So how many of you have succeeded in maintaining your resolutions for the remainder of the year? And I feel like a lot of those hands probably just dropped. So what was the biggest factor? In my case, you could argue brownies, but what’s the core issue? My lack of consistency to build those new healthy habits. So today, we’re gonna chat a little bit about how you can create success through consistency. So we’ve got about twenty ish minutes, so I’ll talk fast. We’ll be covering some key areas and actionable items to create an internal system that promotes success that hinders it. We’ll talk about the importance of a cohesive digital presence as it pertains to email marketing, website, and social media, and then we’ll also chat internal documentation and resource development to help support that consistency. But first, y’all know I love some stats, so we’ll start with this one. 63% of employees say that a consistent branding experience has an impact on whether or not a deal is closed. 63%. The first thing that comes to mind when I read this is how much more I trust the brand that has that consistent message across all channels. They drive home their purpose, their offerings, and most of all, it’s just effective. Closed won deals mean more revenue. So I’ve got a few more stats and these are going to tie into the rest of the presentation, so we’re just gonna get these numbers out of the way upfront. 50% of companies say their customers expect great design and cross channel consistency. Perhaps it’s because I have a glimpse into what’s possible as a marketer, but I expect it. And the best part is Salesforce has a number of tools to support your strategy. From Interaction Studio to Social Studio to Pardot, Marketing Cloud and so many others, inconsistency certainly isn’t due to a lack of tool options. 70% of marketers say consistent branding is the most important thing. I’m on the bandwagon and we’ll talk about digital presence in a minute. 21% of brands say their brand guidelines are only communicated verbally, and 29% of companies say they have no formalized brand guidelines at all. It’s probably quite a time suck to have to share what you feel those brand guidelines are with new employees and hope you don’t forget something and even just the consistency in that is a little scary. And then 39% of companies say they struggle with employees creating off brand content, but I bet it would happen a lot less if their guidelines were documented and shared. Right? So what this boils down to is one of the simplest solutions in marketing and that’s consistency. So I commonly see three use cases where brand consistency falters, the first being large organizations. So what do you do when you have a global team and everyone does things a bit differently? Start by establishing guidelines that support your business structure. So if the company serves multiple languages or regions, it’s critical to consider these when developing your brand or marketing strategy. What works in EMEA may not work in North America. Once you’ve established that strategy, it’s time to document it. Also, host internal trainings. People want to do things the right way the first time and be efficient. In one of my favorite roles, I created a curriculum to train on standards and best practices, developed training documentation and reference material, and even a company wide recognition when they completed it. Um, they got, like, a little certificate. So offering a weekly open time block for them to meet with you and ask questions or work through initiatives is also helpful. No silos here, folks. A rising tide lifts all boats. K. And then another common case I see, marketing department table of one. It’s a misconception that because only one hand is in the pot, you don’t need clear process documentation. But what about those tasks that you don’t do on a daily basis? List imports, for example, is a big one that I see. So a certain field in the CSV may need to be renamed so they align with field names in Pardot or pick list values may need to be cleaned up so they relate one to one with the options in core to prevent sync errors or validation rule errors. Document that. Spend the extra time now to do it and you’ll thank yourself later. And then also set your successor up for success. Simplify learning for new team members, share the standard operating procedures and any other documentation that you create. If you review it together once, they’ll be off and running. And this is also a great check to validate your documentation. So by handing it over to someone who’s not familiar with the process and having them look at it with fresh eyes and walk through it step by step, you’ll be able to catch any areas where detail was left out or direction needs to be more clear. And then as consultants, I know you see it, we get in, we implement something cool, we train the project stakeholders, and then they take it from here. But it’s another opportunity to create training and reference material for clients. So use screenshots from their orgs, spell things out simply and make it custom to them and then document the solution you built, not just the steps, but the why. What problem was it solving? What purpose does it serve? Make your key stakeholders heroes by providing them everything they need to share with their internal teams and make it easy for train the trainer and for the team to feel empowered to use what was built after you’re gone. Especially nowadays, we’re seeing turnover and growth like crazy out there. If you make their lives easier by providing these items, they will think of you again next time a need arises. So I’ve mentioned standard operating procedures a few times, um, or an SOP. An SOP is a document with step by step instructions like a playbook that guides employees on how to do different tasks within an organization. So without guidelines and step by step directions, it’s easy for people to complete tasks in their own way, which may break that consistency that brands are striving for. So SOPs are fundamental. They’re a great way to make internal processes run smoothly. They save time. They help familiarize new employees with processes and keep experienced employees up to speed when processes change. So it’s worth putting in the time to make them clear, readable, and actionable. So here’s just a few items an SOP should contain to make it effective. Everything we’re talking about today is really kind of a baseline. So, obviously, this would be a great starting point, but then build upon it as you feel necessary or get something started as a foundation and then continue to grow it and keep it dynamic as you, you know, continue building out those processes. So let’s pivot a little bit. The stats we saw in the beginning address the user perspective, but what about brand consistency in the digital world? Obviously, I won’t call out any companies, but I’m sure you’ve seen some that make you question your decision to hand over your credit card number and purchase online. Right? They say don’t judge a book by its cover, but the reality is that people do and they judge brands similarly. So these areas are areas that are so important to maintain brand consistency. Um, email marketing, website, and social media platforms are the three we’re gonna talk about today. So email marketing, if you have a weekly newsletter, send it weekly. Even more so if you have this detail noted in your preference center, which you should. Cadence is important and subscribers will look forward to receiving it on time. For your website, keep language and promotions updated on your website so there isn’t a disconnect when a potential client or customer clicks on a social post but then can’t find anything related to it on the site. And then for social media, if you have a tip Tuesday, post it on Tuesdays. Stay on top of mind with multiple posts per week and don’t go along stretches with inactivity or lack of engagement. So here’s the real fun part. When I talk to clients about their marketing strategies, I try to explain to them that marketing is truly a process. Things are happening, but it takes consistency, persistence, and patience to see those inevitable results. And when I’m talking consistency, I’m talking about messaging. Does every marketing communication in your company produce, um, like, the same feel or a consistent message about your product or service, whether it’s a brochure or an email? Do all departments have email or letter templates to use when sending out their own communications? As a marketing team, especially a team of one, you can’t do it all on your own. So helping other team members or other divisions in your company have those assets and those templates to be able to use, um, is very helpful in maintaining that brand consistency. And then also, does everyone know the company talking points or just as important what not to say because they should. When talking about brand, do all of your marketing communications and branded materials have a consistent and cohesive look? So it’s more than just about being pretty, it’s about making sure that if you’re looking at a business card or a trade show booth, you know what came from the same company. So for instance, if your company colors are ocean blue and sea green, but your collateral is red and your call to action buttons in your emails are yellow and purple, you know, designed in every color, how can you expect your audience to recognize you and your brand at a glance? And then voice, and this is a big one. Does the brand voice that you use when crafting copy for your marketing communications suit not only your company culture, but your target audience’s style and expectations? So you should always aim for clarity and readability, but you wouldn’t speak to an audience of established financial services professionals in the same tone you’d use to address a three-person software start up. And if you would, you may wanna rethink your strategy a little bit. And then persistence in sharing content. Do you put out content like blogs, videos, white papers on a schedule? And then do you stick to that schedule so your readers can reliably anticipate new and interesting information? Even if no one posts comments, that doesn’t mean that your content is not being remembered or shared and it takes time to build up that readership, but the wait is worth it when people immediately think of your company as the go-to company. Um, also, posting on social media channels. Do you go where your leads, prospects, and customers hang out to engage with them on those social media channels? As today’s version of word-of-mouth, the best form of advertising, social media is the place to talk to them and keep talking. Don’t just post and then not engage. That’s it’s called social media, not just share media. Right? So we always wanna make sure we’re engaging. And then working towards adjusting your goals. Do you regularly review your marketing and business goals and adjust them as needed? So the business world changes at a super speed these days and what worked even six months ago may not work anymore. Periodic tune up of your goals is never a bad thing, especially when the slight turn of direction could lead you to a whole new world of opportunity. And then finally, the patience to follow your marketing strategy. So like goals, marketing strategies aren’t etched in stone. So think of them like an app that routes you around accidents on the freeway so you’re not sitting in traffic, but that doesn’t mean that you should change your marketing strategy at a whim. Look for patterns that show you what is and isn’t working. There’s a whole wonderful world of marketing analytics these days to help you. We’ve got B2B MA, Salesforce dashboards and reports, um, all of these new things and they’re constantly being upgraded. And then for build your audience, just as there were days where, um, you know, I would sit down and I would put all this effort into things, and I I wasn’t sure if I was talking to the right people and that’s actually why I was so interested in content marketing for so long. It’s definitely important to be patient and build your audience. So even Shakespeare didn’t come complete with an audience. He had to build it person by person and it does take time. And then the last one is nurture your leads. So as you execute marketing campaigns, keep in mind that people buy at different speeds and different times and honestly, some people will never buy. But have the awareness to stop chasing those dead end leads, but also have the patience to nurture your most promising leads at a more leisurely pace. So here’s another place where those analytics can be your best friend. Alright. Every single piece of content your company puts into the world should align with your strategy and brand guidelines. Every single piece. Not sure if your brand’s digital presence is consistent? There’s a few things that you can ask yourself. Does the company have brand guidelines? And if so, is the team aware and following them? Two very different things as we saw in some of those stats in the beginning. So when considering the development or refinement of brand standards and guidelines, be sure to include more than just your logo and a few colors. Try including a mission and vision and a brand personality, the why behind the brands, primary, secondary and additional brand colors. That way you’ve got a selection for those call to action buttons in your emails that’ll still pop against your primary colors. Um, typography guide for fonts, headings, body copy. You know, it’s important to make sure that if you’re creating something digitally or using something on your website, if you were to print a postcard, which probably doesn’t happen very often anymore, but if you were to print a postcard, um, you know, that it’s still recognizable as an item or an asset from your brand. Your logo, badge, and seal variations and usage, especially with the dark mode, which I know there was an awesome session on dark mode, um, earlier in the week. So making sure that you’ve got versions for both of those and then acceptable imagery and design elements. So are you using only black and white photos? Are you using a heavy matte photo? Are you doing early two thousands vignettes? Whatever it is, keep it consistent and that will allow readers to begin to instantly correlate your posts with your brand as they scroll through social or see them in your inbox. And then language style guide. This one’s a big pet peeve of mine personally. Um, if I see a capital PM on an email I just received and then on the social post, I’m seeing like a lowercase p dot m dot or just a lowercase p m with no dots or without spaces, the inconsistency absolutely drives me crazy. And it’s the same with date format. Make sure you’ve got a company standard for your date formats. And are you following APA style guidelines across the company? Are you doing capitalization of all words in the title or just words over four letters? All things to think about and they’re minor, but they all play a role in brand trust. And then also going back to those scary stats in the beginning, if you have guidelines, are you documenting and sharing them with your team with the expectation that they’ll be followed? If it’s a new concept, you may need to implement new concept, you may need to implement an approval process temporarily before an email or a post or a web page is approved for deployment or goes live. It’s just that secondary check to make sure everyone’s on the same page and, again, everything you’re putting out aligns with your brand strategy and those brand guidelines. Alright. So a quick way to break trust with potential clients or customers, look unpolished online. A consistent digital presence builds trust. K. This is a quote that I felt was pretty fitting. Change is hard because people overestimate the value of what they have and underestimate the value of what they may gain by giving that up. So when you think about the people who say, well, we’ve always done it this way, it may not be that they’re totally resistant to change, but they just may not understand the greatness that could lie ahead if they make this change. So as you’re rolling out these process documentations and guidelines and SOPs, be sure to take a look at the following and take these into consideration for a more successful launch and adoption. You want to communicate strategically, so you don’t wanna leave your team in the dark. Where facts are lacking, they will be filled with assumptions. You want to be empathetic, so fear and uncertainty can lead to low morale and that can affect productivity and retention and ultimately make it harder for teammates to keep an open mind. You wanna invite employees to help solve problems because you feel valued when you’re given a voice. Right? And the adoption of a new business system can be disruptive, so share ownership and responsibility, ask for feedback, and really keep those communication lines open. And then the fourth one being execute, but be flexible. Without commitment and determination, your team won’t get far in shifting from the new normal that you’re asking them to embrace with these, but they will be they will be more open to it if they know that it’s a process and that you understand that it’s a process and just be ready to listen to the changes or the frustrations that they have while they’re rolling these out. So all the documentation in the world won’t help if it’s not presented in a way that’s easy to comprehend and support isn’t provided. K. Humans start with good intentions. We pick something, we wanna change it, we make a plan, we block time, we schedule actionable items. Uh, we even strategize and break it down into bite sized pieces. So if you’re like me, you can check it off of a paper list. But inevitably, the drive fades, the excitement wears off, or it’s just plain easier to go back to what we were doing or weren’t doing before. So just like a journey to improve your health, you need to show up whether you’re in the mood or not. You need to not just plan but execute and you need to know your audience and create relevant content. So check out last year’s ParDreamin’ session on that piece if you wanna know more. And with all that being said, I wanted to share how I create success through consistency and share my toolkit so you can do the same. So I linked a few resources to get you started. You really can’t go wrong with searching for templates out there just on the Internet, but these ones are a few starting points. And then also huge tips that have helped me manage multiple social media accounts. I create content in batches, so I’ll often spend a four to six hour block in the beginning or end of the month cranking out social posts for the month and getting them scheduled. And then after that, I just do some social listening and keep an ear open for any of the news or alerts that may require me to stop those scheduled posts from deploying. That way I’m not being insensitive to happenings in the world. And then also huge time saver, reuse older content. So take a podcast and create a few blog post articles about it or take a white paper and create an infographic or social shareable because you can use the same information and the same pieces of content so many different ways and just present it differently. So you’re not constantly having to think of new, um, of new content and new things to document and new things to put into the world. Just serve bigger pieces up in bite sized pieces so it’s easier to digest. And so you can use it on the website, you can use it, um, in your Pardot files, you can add it to engagement programs and journeys and, um, on social media and all those things. So that’ll help take some of that load of creating new content every month off. And then also, um, support consistent posting or sending and build a trustworthy brand. That’s what it’s all about. It’s it’s one of those things that I don’t think people really notice or understand until they see something that’s terribly wrong. But by keeping things consistent and delivering a consistent message and making it easy for people to recognize your brand and what you do and what you offer, it’s going to help, number one, build credibility, but then number two, you know, the bottom line. The more that you’re engaging and networking and putting out there and helping people, the more people will want to come to you and pay for your services as well. So from marketing emails to social media posts, you will see results if you’re consistent. Thank you so much for joining to me today. Um, I’d love to hear from you and answer any questions that you may have, And then thank you, Circante, and the ParDreamin’ team for having me.

Speaker 0: Thank you so much for this incredible presentation, Ashley. It was, like, chock full of great stuff, and you have a lot of fans in the in the chat. So definitely go back and and pre review that after the fact. Um, it was just we do have a few questions that were posted through the, um, through the session. So Emily was, um, was saying that they fit into the use case number one that you had at the very beginning. Um, she wanna know if you would have any more information about how to bypass the issues.

Speaker 1: Yes. Is there specific issues that, um, that you’re coming across, Emily, or is it just in general people sending things out without approvals or just inconsistent messaging? There’s there’s a lot that goes into running a larger company or being a part of a marketing team in a larger company, and I found that just obviously, everything ties back to communication. Right? But being able to have things that are documented for multiple languages, um, making sure that you’ve got some flexibility in your time to be able to support any other regions or any other languages and, um, even putting in that approval process, although it’s not fun for anyone and hopefully just a temporary situation, having a team of people who can take those on and build, like, a small workflow internally to say once you create an email in Pardot, let’s review it and just make sure it hits all of these checklists on this, you know, all of our brand guidelines or brand standards, uh, make sure it checks all these boxes, and then you’re good to send. That was a big help. Um, obviously, that does set timelines back and people do need to plan for that, so communicating that change and that process change and updating that standard operating procedure, I think, is a huge help. But having those office hours was probably the key because if people had a question about the why or they didn’t understand it, it’s harder for them to follow. Right? I’m personally, I love knowing the why on things because it helps bring the idea full circle for me. So I think just being able to express that and communicate, that’s a big part.

Speaker 0: The why is just so key. Um, and I think you just answered, uh, Cara’s question about, um, having by by putting any a process in place of having all the content be approved by the brand before going out the door, that could create a bottleneck. And, um, you said communication is key for that. Um, any other recommendations for removing those bottlenecks?

Speaker 1: Yes. Have someone accountable for each step in the process and then have them have a backup. Um, there’s nothing worse than having this great campaign that you wanna launch out the door and then the person who’s supposed to approve it or who’s part of the approval process is on vacation. Right? So making sure that all of that’s documented as well. I feel like the two big pieces from today are documentation and communication, and, uh, those two will will hopefully help. But great call out. It does create especially in the beginning, it does create a bottleneck, and it does create an extended timeline for people to need to plan ahead so they’re not sending off, you know, list emails on a Thursday at 1PM because they decided they needed to kick it out on Thursday. Like, there does require a little bit more planning, um, especially in marketing, which can be tricky. Yeah.

Speaker 0: It’s hard to fly by the seat of your pants for sure. Um, yeah. And and Emily did add some more details, um, about the her question was more centered around, um, not being aware of the differences between one region versus the other. And I think I think your documentation and communication mantra, um, is are the the key tools for combating that.

Speaker 1: Yes. Emily, I would also say if you have representatives from each of those divisions or regions or languages that you can bring together and talk through that marketing strategy, I know when when I was working with Latin America, the colors that we were using weren’t displaying the right feeling for specific areas in Latin America. So what we thought was working in North America was not as appropriate as what they were looking for in Latin America. So we definitely wanted to just make sure to adjust things like that. But then still having that all documented is helpful because that means that that team has a set of guides and standards and, you know, all of the tools that they need to be able to create something that still matches your brand, but doesn’t, um, doesn’t come across the wrong way.

Speaker 0: Awesome. Okay. So we’ve reached the end of the session time. And, again, thank you so much, Ashley, and thanks to everybody that watched the session. And, yes, it is recorded, and it should be up and running very soon in the platform. We also have to give a huge shout out to our sponsors for this incredible event. Without them, ParDreamin’ would not be what it is right now. So, um, thank you everybody, and have a good rest of your day.

Speaker 1: Thank you. Bye.