Case Study: Re-branding Strategic Marketing Group (SMG) for Future B2B Growth

Context

Located in South Lake Tahoe, California, Strategic Marketing Group (SMG) has been a prominent strategy and marketing consultancy for destination marketing leaders (DMOs) in the North American tourism industry for over two decades. While SMG enjoyed steady growth, changing economic landscapes, disruptive technology, industry dynamics, and cultural shifts prompted the need for a strategic evolution. Chris Ribaudo was engaged to address these challenges.

Problem

After extensive discussions with SMG's leadership, Chris Ribaudo identified five key challenges to reinvigorate SMG's brand and position it for future growth:

1. Incoherent and unintegrated brand strategy.

2. Vague brand promise and value propositions.

3. Lack of brand clarity and marketing focus.

4. Outdated brand aesthetics.

5. Inconsistent branding across channels and touchpoints.

Solution

Recognizing that a well-defined brand strategy is the cornerstone of business success, the first step involved developing this critical component. Chris Ribaudo conducted brand strategy workshops, fostering collaboration to shape key strategic elements. Collaboratively, Ribaudo developed vital assets, including a vision-mission-values statement, competitive analysis, positioning strategy, points of differentiation, ideal customer research, customer personas, customer journey mapping, brand storytelling, key messaging hierarchy, and a creative mood board. This process

culminated in the creation of the SMG Strategy Playbook.

Building upon the brand strategy work, Ribaudo delivered a revamped logo, slogan, website, social media ad sets, magnetic landing pages, e-newsletter, and email templates to support

SMG's brand and enhance its digital experience, B2B customer engagement, and lead generation. Ribaudo oversaw creative direction and production, encompassing logo design, tagline development, voice and tone definition, copywriting, UX copywriting, and digital design in line with the SMG Strategy Playbook and Guidelines.

Results

The collaboration with Chris Ribaudo yielded significant results for SMG:

1. Comprehensive Brand Strategy: A robust SMG brand strategy was meticulously developed, providing a solid foundation to explore new business opportunities in the tourism industry.

2. New Positioning: A new slogan, "Strategy and Creativity Matters," repositioned SMG from its previous marketing focus to a strategy and creativity-driven positioning.

3. Integrated Brand and Marketing Strategy: SMG's marketing strategy became unified and invigorated by its brand strategy, fostering stronger connections with B2B clients and building positive brand associations.

4. Increased Customer Awareness: Customer brand awareness surged by 30%, enhancing perceived relevance and consideration among customers.

5. Consistent Look and Feel: The SMG brand was consistently applied across internal and external platforms, elevating its professionalism, authority, and trustworthiness.

6. Customer Appeal: The creative strategy and execution allowed SMG to celebrate its past achievements while appearing forward-looking and relevant to contemporary industry leaders and future clients.

Takeaway

The strategic partnership between SMG and Chris Ribaudo defined the SMG brand and laid the foundation for successful growth in the competitive tourism industry. Through meticulous brand strategy and creative execution, SMG was positioned to make a memorable and impactful entry into the market, ultimately benefiting from increased brand awareness and positive customer perceptions.