They say, "You can't see the forest for the trees,” and this is especially true in the business world.
It is easy for brands to get so wrapped up in their own products or strategies that they often miss the bigger picture or overlook important details, such as flaws or areas for improvement.
By locking in on what truly sets them apart or draws them back, brands can unlock their full potential and stand out in the market.
Bringing over 17 years of experience in marketing and design as the founder of Canilla Creative, Alyssa Villa shares with us why workshops and brainstorming sessions are key to identifying a brand’s strengths and weaknesses to create a more effective marketing strategy.
Who Is Alyssa Villa?
Alyssa blends creative insight with strategic thinking to deliver tailored marketing solutions. She helps businesses find their unique voice and navigate the marketing landscape with custom strategies. Under her leadership, Canilla Creative has become known for building strong brand identities and driving client success in the digital age.
Alyssa and I discussed the situation when brands seek full execution of marketing strategies versus advisory services.
“We often find that smaller businesses or those without a dedicated marketing team tend to come to us for full execution. They're looking for a partner to take the reins and drive their marketing efforts forward.
On the flip side, larger companies or those with some in-house marketing muscle might just need a little guidance or a fresh perspective.
They come to us for advisory services to validate their ideas or get some expert insights on specific areas they're struggling with,” she says.
Alyssa also shares her thoughts on the common mistakes businesses make when approaching marketing consulting, with one of the biggest issues being them underestimating the power of a solid brand foundation.
“So many businesses want to jump straight into tactics without really nailing down who they are and what they stand for. It's like trying to build a house without a blueprint!” she says.
She believes that another common pitfall is the shiny object syndrome – chasing after every new marketing trend without a coherent long-term strategy.
“It's exciting, sure, but it can lead to a scattered approach that doesn't yield results,” she adds.
Key Steps to Delivering a Successful Marketing Consulting Project
Considering the difference between executing and advising, I was curious to learn from Alyssa about the steps Canilla Creative takes to ensure a marketing consulting project is successfully delivered.
She says that they start with a good old-fashioned brainstorming session where they get to know the founder and get more information on their vision, goals, and where they would like to see the company go.
“Building that foundation and learning is arguably the most important step,” she emphasizes.
From there, they take a deep dive into the current marketing efforts.
“Think of it as a marketing health check-up. We look at what's working, what's not, and where the opportunities lie.
Then comes the fun part – crafting recommendations and an action plan that's tailored to the client's unique situation. It's not just about handing over a report and calling it a day.
We're in it for the long haul, checking in regularly and tweaking the plan as we go,” she explains.
In a previous podcast, we spoke to ThinkersOne Co-Founder Mitch Joel who shared what business owners need to focus on when selecting the right business strategy consultant. Watch the video to learn more:
Marketing and brand audits are essential in getting actionable insight into a business’s marketing activities and identifying potential growth areas.
Alyssa says their marketing audits are like detective work.
“We're looking at everything from the big-picture economic factors (hello, PESTEL analysis!) to the nitty-gritty of the client's internal resources.
We love a good SWOT analysis – it's amazing what insights can come out of those four simple quadrants. And of course, we're digging into the numbers, looking at ROI, and mapping out the customer journey,” she shares.
She adds that it's all about getting a 360-degree view of the situation.
“Once we’ve reviewed all of the data, we put together a full report of our findings, our recommendations, and the next steps.
If one of the recommendations is not a service we provide, we find a partner who does. It’s all about convenience for the client and offering a one-stop-shop solution so they can focus on their business,” she concludes.
Finding the Sweet Spot Between a Brand’s Strengths and Weaknesses
Identifying and unlocking a client's strengths in marketing often comes down to collaboration, listening to customer feedback, and finding the right balance with current market trends.
It’s about working together to uncover what makes a business stand out.
“In my experience, sometimes when someone is too close to a product or service, they have difficulty seeing flaws in their current marketing efforts, or even flaws in their offerings.
When it comes to leveraging a client's strengths, we like to think of it as uncovering hidden gems. Sometimes, a business has an amazing unique selling point that they're not even aware of,” Alyssa explains.
She adds that they love to get the whole team involved in speaking with customers, consumers, or clients about what they like or don’t like about the product or service.
“If we find a product weakness, we deliver it to the client in a sensitive but positive way so that we can either improve or fix any issues in the next marketing campaign.
Once we've identified strengths, we look at how they align with what's happening in the market and what customers are looking for. It's all about finding that sweet spot,” she concludes.
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I agree that striking the right balance between what the product offers and what the market demands can be the key to delivering a successful marketing strategy that drives business success.
To help clients drive results, Alyssa says that Canilla Creative uses various marketing tools such as Google Analytics and Google Search Console to get insights into how websites perform and SEMrush for all things SEO.
When it comes to design, the agency prefers Adobe Creative Suite while it uses Constant Contact for email marketing tasks.
Marketing Trends to Follow to Reach and Engage the Audiences in 2025
Alyssa believes that AI is a big trend that will shape the world of marketing in 2025. The technology, controversial as it is, will be used in content optimization at scale.
She also thinks that virtual and augmented reality will drive immersive brand interactions.
Other transformative trends that she identifies as having a transformative effect on marketing in the coming year include:
- Sustainability and purpose-driven marketing will become central as consumers demand more from brands.
- Voice search optimization and voice-activated shopping will grow in importance, alongside privacy-first strategies.
- Micro-moment marketing will target quick, intent-driven decisions, with metaverse marketing on the horizon.
- Phygital marketing will blend physical and digital experiences for innovative online and offline customer engagement.
“As these trends converge, marketers will need to be more agile and innovative than ever, ready to adapt to an increasingly tech-driven, socially conscious, and interconnected marketing world,” she adds.
Unlocking a brand’s potential means taking a closer look at what truly makes it unique while being open to addressing areas that need improvement.
With a thoughtful approach and a collaborative mindset, brands can find new growth opportunities and create lasting connections with their audience.
