Every business, large and small, wants a blueprint for long-term growth.
Wilmington-based Tayloe/Gray, a firm providing branding, design, technology and marketing services for national and regional clients for the past eight years, has launched a full-service process the partners call a “Marketing Blueprint” to provide that success plan to all its clients.
Over the past several years, the firm’s two partners and 18 employees have developed a system to provide comprehensive marketing services for their clients, creating long-term plans with specific solutions to meet each company’s ultimate goal.
Company co-founder and partner Andrew Gray said the firm has experienced success with the new Marketing Blueprint formula and is now in the process of obtaining a legal trademark for the term.
“Our Marketing Blueprint process was born from our team’s experience working with clients and developing their marketing plans,” Gray said. “We formalized the process to bring efficiency and success to every project.”
He explained that clients have come to the firm with requests such as a new website but discover later they need more services to meet their ultimate objectives.
With the Marketing Blueprint process, client interaction doesn’t begin with proposing one solution but rather sitting down to discuss each client’s goals and creating a full-scale plan with tactical solutions to reach them.
The first goal of the process, he explained, is “stakeholder alignment” – everyone involved agreeing on the long-term outcome.
The second goal is “a tactical plan based on reality, not what we think the person wants.”
“We know that success is defined differently for every business, so the Marketing Blueprint is focused on uncovering each client’s unique definition of success, and bringing these core elements into perfect balance to deliver results,” Gray said.
“Our focus is on aligning the stakeholder’s desired goals with a tactical plan based on research and developing strategies that will make an impact for our client instead of just completing another project,” he added.
Someone who is not the final decision-maker can approach the company’s board of directors and upper management with a completed, personalized plan containing specific, agreed-upon outcomes, Gray said.
After using this comprehensive method several times, the firm began to standardize the process and realized its value. They began work to trademark the term Marketing Blueprint, which should be complete soon, Gray said.
“A blueprint really speaks to the creative process,” he said.
Once completed, the blueprint remains a “living” Google document that can be updated by any and all stakeholders, allowing large companies with partners in varying locations to participate simultaneously.
This year, Tayloe/Gray has completed blueprints for new clients in sectors such as health care education, industrial supply, manufacturing, financial, legal and even a company that sells specialized brushes for painting bridges, Gray said.
One of the firm’s first Marketing Blueprint clients was Cincinnati Thermal Spray, a leader in industrial coatings with a facility in Rocky Point.
“After the process, we were able to not only pursue a new brand with logo, positioning and tagline, but also a full modern website redesign, informative videos, targeted digital marketing and a number of other projects that showcase their expertise and innovation,” Gray said.