Before you spend more on marketing tactics, build your marketing foundation. It has four elements: knowing your ideal clients, a clear message built from the five PEACE soundbites, a one-page StoryBrand Messaging Canvas, and a strategy that tells you whether your marketing is working.
When you get hung up trying to figure out marketing, it helps to think about a house.
You have to build a solid structure or the whole thing crumbles to the ground. Yet, many business owners, entrepreneurs, and even marketing team members get distracted by the “shiny stuff.”
Everyone wants to pick out paint colors, countertops, and new furniture. Of course they do! It’s fun!
Few people get excited talking about what kind of lumber to use, which drywall is best, or which shingles will hold up well for 20 years. It’s not sexy, but it’s important if you want a functioning home.
The same goes for your marketing. Focus on the foundation so all your other marketing efforts have something solid to stand on. You can’t pick out fun paint colors if you don’t have walls!
A marketing foundation is the set of basics every marketing effort rests on: knowing your ideal customers, a clear marketing message, a one-page messaging canvas, and a strategy that tells you whether your marketing is working.
Let’s look at the 4 key elements of a solid marketing foundation.
1. Your customers and clients
If you don’t have a good understanding of your ideal customers or clients, you’ll waste your time and money marketing to people who don’t care.
Let’s figure out who you’re inviting to your house. And the answer isn’t “everyone.” Can your house hold “everyone?” Probably not. So, let’s focus on the people we really want to come through the door.
If you’re struggling in this area, make a list of your last 12-15 clients. Grade them A, B, or C. Now, look at the A-list and think about what they all have in common.
Was there a trigger in their life or business that made them reach out to you? Did they all describe their pain point the same way? Do they have any demographics or other characteristics in common?
Spend some time on this exercise and see what bubbles to the top.
2. Your marketing message
Now that you’ve identified your ideal clients, you can speak their language. Think of your clear and compelling marketing message as the load-bearing wall in your marketing house. If you get this wrong, everything falls apart.
You can spend millions of dollars on marketing but if people still don’t understand what you do, what problem you solve, or how you can help them … it’s money wasted.
Here’s where my work as a StoryBrand Guide since early 2018 comes in handy. We have a framework to help you clarify your marketing message. I used it with hundreds of businesses and it works.
Try this first step: Write the 5 StoryBrand soundbites that introduce your business to prospects. The soundbites should be clear, simple, and easy to understand.
With these soundbites, people aren’t guessing about what you do. They aren’t trying to decipher industry jargon. They aren’t tripped up by overly cute or clever language.
PEACE is part of the StoryBrand Soundbite Strategy created by Donald Miller.
The 5 PEACE soundbites are:
- P: Problem
- E: Empathy
- A: Answer
- C: Change
- E: End Result
When you get these 5 soundbites down to one clear sentence each, you have a message that makes people stop and pay attention.
3. Your StoryBrand Messaging Canvas
The 5 PEACE Soundbites are the starting point for your StoryBrand Messaging Canvas, a one-page playbook that puts your core message in one place, so you and everyone on your team stay on track and on message.
The messaging canvas looks like this:
Provided by StoryBrand. Do not reproduce.
It really is one page. Build one for your business overall. Then, create what I like to call “sub-messages” for individual products, service lines, or sales campaigns.
This is easy for you and your team to track. And it keeps everyone literally on the same page so your message and marketing stays consistent, clear, and engaging.
4. Your marketing strategy
This is another piece of the marketing foundation that gets overlooked. Your marketing strategy starts with answering one basic question: Is the marketing we’re doing actually working?
Too many businesses don’t know the answer. And, if they really take time to think about it, I’ve found the answer is often “no.”
They’ve taken the marketing spaghetti approach of just throwing ideas at the wall to see what sticks. And, yes, some level of experimentation is necessary. But experiment after you’ve identified your audience and created a clear message. Then, you can experiment in the right places and increase your chances of a positive ROI.
Here are some important questions to ask yourself:
- Do you have a Messaging Canvas?
- Do you have a marketing strategy for the next quarter?
- Are you ready for the holiday season or year-end promotions?
- What about the coming year?
Spaghetti is great for dinner, not for a marketing approach.
Stop relying on marketing tactics. Instead, get a strategy. Build a foundation that leads to more leads, more sales, a greater ROI, and fewer marketing headaches.
Don’t start another quarter or another year without a messaging canvas.
Book a free 30-minute discovery call to talk about how we can work together to create your Messaging Canvas for your business, a year-end campaign, or a new service you’re launching in 2027.
FAQs
What is a marketing foundation?
A marketing foundation is the set of basics every marketing effort depends on: knowing your ideal customers, a clear marketing message, a one-page Messaging Canvas, and a marketing strategy. Without it, tactics like social posts, email, and ads become guesswork.
What are the four pieces of a marketing foundation?
Your customers and clients, your marketing message, your StoryBrand Messaging Canvas, and your marketing strategy.
How do I figure out my ideal customer?
List your last 12-15 clients and grade them A, B, or C. Then look at what your A-list clients have in common: the trigger that made them reach out, how they describe their pain point, and any shared characteristics.
What are the PEACE soundbites?
PEACE is part of the StoryBrand Soundbite Strategy created by Donald Miller. It stands for Problem, Empathy, Answer, Change, and End Result. Writing one clear sentence for each gives you a message people can understand quickly.
What is a StoryBrand Messaging Canvas?
A Messaging Canvas is a one-page marketing playbook built from your five PEACE soundbites. It keeps you and your team consistent. Build one for your overall business, then create sub-messages for individual products, service lines, or campaigns.
What’s the difference between marketing tactics and marketing strategy?
Tactics are the actions, like posts, emails, and ads. Strategy decides who you’re talking to, what you’re saying, where you show up, and how you’ll know it’s working. Build the strategy first so your tactics have a purpose.
