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Ian Barnard

I'm the Strategy Director at the Creative Business Company. Subscribe for marketing guides, insights and deep dives.

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Featured Post

How to sell something no-one understands

Are you selling complicated or complex services to people who don’t fully understand the value of what they’re getting? It’s a common problem for a lot of software and technology companies, especially when the people who use their products (developers) aren’t the ones who actually buy them (business executives). This is a quick story of how we helped a highly technical organization clearly articulate their business value in a more simple and human way. Estimated read time: 2 minutes and 30...

11 days ago • 2 min read

Hey - I’ll be the first to admit that brand architecture isn’t a sexy topic. But bad brand architecture is a silent killer for many SME and Enterprise companies, because messy brand portfolios make it a nightmare for marketing teams to effectively promote their brands in a clear, consistent and compelling way. Morningstar, a $1.8b financial services company that provides global investment data, research and technologies, had a large portfolio that they were struggling to manage. A decade of...

27 days ago • 2 min read

We nearly destroyed 3 years’ worth of distinctive assets when re-doing our website and brand identity. This is one of the early directions we really liked. An early concept for our re-brand It looked sleek. Professional. Tasteful. Premium. But someone pointed out that it looked nothing like our current branding. And despite wanting to change our visual identity, this was a problem. Because after regularly pumping out social media content, guides, and reports, people began to associate us with...

about 2 months ago • 1 min read

Hi, it's Ian. There’s always a guiding thought going through my head whenever I write marketing content: “No-one cares about you. They only care about what you can do for them.” As general life advice it’s a bit depressing, but it’s also the perfect mindset for creating really good newsletters, social posts, and ads. Don’t talk about yourself - focus on what other people want and how you can help them. You might feel I’m breaking this rule by asking you to check out our new website. My...

2 months ago • 1 min read

Faisal and I have been posting some good marketing tips on LinkedIn recently - here are some of the best ones! 1) Brand building Digital video is the most cost-effective way to build a brand in 2024. It lets you tell short stories that raise awareness and shape the perceptions of your brand, at a fraction of the cost of click-based ads. Cost-per-view is significantly cheaper than cost-per-click 2) Messaging Saying less communicates more. Resist the temptation to say too much. Focus on your...

2 months ago • 1 min read

Hi, it's Ian - hope your 2024 is off to a good start! Here's an interesting question: what if the best way to change someone’s behaviour is to encourage them to fail? And what impact would that have on your marketing campaigns and messaging? In Canada, the Ministry of Health decided to see if they could encourage people to quit smoking by telling smokers that they’ll probably fail to quit smoking... New data from Ontario’s Tobacco Survey discovered that smokers average 30 attempts to quit...

3 months ago • 2 min read

Hi, it's Ian. I nearly made a big mistake this month... I was seduced by 'the look'. One of the biggest risks you can take as a brand is looking like everyone else. Why? Because being distinct helps you stand out, and get remembered and chosen more often. But most companies do the opposite – they conform to category norms and try to look like their competitors. Why look like you when you can look like everyone else? Every industry has ‘a look’ – a visual language that shares common design...

5 months ago • 1 min read

Hi again, it's Ian. How do you build a brand positioning that doesn’t just influence communications, but get people to consider and buy what you're selling? I'm going to share the exact formula we used to re-position Formula E Racing and Al Jazeera with real, measurable results (you can see case studies with impact metrics here and here) But first - why don't most brand positionings convince people to buy? The problem is that positioning exercises are usually glorified communications briefs...

7 months ago • 2 min read

Hi, it's Ian. Here are two things successful B2B brand teams are doing to add value to the business in a margin-focused 2024, and two things they are not. Let’s start with what they’re not doing. ❌ Corporate purpose kumbayas Putting budget against something as intangible as this feels tone deaf in the current business climate and further stigmatises the brand team as the folks that don’t understand the economic realities of the business. Avoid at all costs! ❌ Obsessing over the next brand...

8 months ago • 2 min read
a helping hand

Hi, it's Ian. Here's a marketing question that keeps me up at night - how do you grow a niche brand beyond it's user base? A lot of companies become known for a certain product or service, but struggle to expand to new audiences and categories. For example, EngagedMD is a SaaS company that automates patient admin and education for fertility clinics. Having made their name in fertility with products spanning patient education, informed consent, form-filling and eSignatures, they were ready to...

8 months ago • 2 min read
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