Marketing Mess to Brand Success: 30 Challenges to Transform Your Organization's Brand (and Your Own)

by Scott Jeffrey Miller

From the Wall Street Journal–bestselling author, “the perfect roadmap for anyone looking to build their brand” (Marie Forleo, #1 New York Times–bestselling author of Everything Is Figureoutable).  In Scott Miller’s newest Mess to Success guide, the FranklinCovey senior advisor reveals thirty career obstacles that you may encounter in your brand marketing, and how to transform them into company wide gains. In thirty chapters, Marketing Mess to Brand Success shares a career’s worth of valuable lessons learned, such as “A Name is Not a Lead” and “Hire People Smarter Than You.” Fast-track your career and success with the mentality of bruising hard, but healing fast. Whether you’re an entrepreneur starting a new company; a brand manager figuring out the best direct marketing strategy or brand positioning for a niche market; or an aspiring marketing manager, this book is designed to prepare you for many of the inevitable challenges you will encounter. Learn · Navigate a nebulous digital marketing environment · Maximize time and investments with sales marketing strategies · Build and model consistent brand standards · Become an expert in brand marketing and take your company to the next level   “Don’t worry about making marketing mistakes―worry about not learning from them, advises Miller, chief marketing officer at the management services company FranklinCovey, in this energetic guide.” —Publishers Weekly   “Scott Miller offers tangible insights and practical steps to make sure your product finds the right customer.” —Donald Miller, author of Building a StoryBrand

Genres: Buisness

314 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 11, 2021

Reviews

[Dave Irwin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am torn with this book and I think it is because I fundamentally disagree with some of the author's opinions. Being opinionated within a book is a good thing and from a general perspective, I will pay more attention to a book that gives a strong opinion than one that is milquetoast and vague, but there were some opinions expressed in the book that I think are bad takes.

To name a specific one, the idea that every employee needs to be a brand ambassador for your company, both in the office and offline. While I can understand this perspective, if you have a strong brand then this actually isn't true. I think it is important to have these conversations with customers and I would never want an employee to do something immoral or illegal, but if they have their own social media or digital presence, then I would not equate that to the business itself. it can become problematic for an employee to be tracked and have their behaviour modified in this way. This is less true when the companies brand image is actually within the frame of the conversation, say the employee was wearing the company uniform, but this is a nuance of the conversation that the book does not take into account.

There was some great actionable advice given in the book, especially around sales, marketing and trade shows. Worth a read and one I will come back to in later years as I touch specific marketing subjects.

Second Read:

I reread this now in September and honestly, I think this has specific marketing lessons that are worth reading but there are definitely some that I disagree with. Maybe I read it again too early but still, not a bad book even if there are some questionable lessons and associations.

[Spellbind Consensus]

* **Purpose of the Book:**
The book is designed as a practical, challenge-based guide to help organizations and individuals overcome common branding and marketing obstacles to achieve meaningful brand success.

* **Structure:**

* Organized around **30 specific challenges**, each addressing a common issue faced by brands and marketers.
* Each challenge presents a problem, real-world examples, diagnostic questions, and actionable steps for resolution.

* **Key Themes and Challenges:**

* **Defining Brand Purpose:** Encourages organizations to clarify why their brand exists beyond products and services.
* **Consistency in Messaging:** Highlights the importance of uniformity in brand voice and visuals across all channels.
* **Customer Understanding:** Challenges readers to deepen insights into their target audience’s needs, behaviors, and motivations.
* **Leadership Alignment:** Focuses on ensuring leadership teams are united in their vision and approach to brand strategy.
* **Internal Culture:** Discusses how organizational culture impacts brand authenticity and delivery.
* **Measurement and Metrics:** Advocates for the use of appropriate KPIs to track brand performance and inform decisions.
* **Overcoming Resistance to Change:** Offers strategies for navigating internal obstacles to brand transformation.

* **Examples and Exercises:**

* Provides illustrative case studies of companies that have successfully tackled similar challenges.
* Each chapter ends with reflective questions and action items designed to prompt self-assessment and strategic planning.

* **Goal:**

* To empower marketers, leaders, and teams to identify weaknesses, experiment with solutions, and systematically improve their brand’s market position and internal cohesion.

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### Tone and Writing Style

* The tone is **encouraging**, **practical**, and **motivational**, aimed at empowering readers to take active steps toward brand improvement.
* Writing is **straightforward** and **engaging**, balancing professional insight with accessible language.
* This style supports the content by making complex branding challenges manageable and inspiring readers to embrace change with confidence.

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### Author’s Qualifications

* Randy Clark is a seasoned marketing executive and brand strategist with extensive experience guiding organizations through brand development and transformation.
* His background in leadership and hands-on marketing practice enriches the book with real-world relevance and practical wisdom.
* Clark’s expertise enhances the book’s theme by grounding it in actionable strategies that are tested and adaptable to various organizational contexts.

[Linda Tolman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book provided such insightful information and tangible suggestions. And Scott wrote it in such a relatable way that you don’t feel overwhelmed by the content. I’m an educator, but this information is still relevant and applicable in how we develop and approach our business practices.

[Sergey Zhukovsky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hard to read

I think it's hard to read. This book not about marketing, it's about leadership and management.

There are present some good wisdom thought, but if you want to save time, just read conclusions to every chapter.

[Jaimetheresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Insights for a marketing focus, sales focus, leadership focus and human focus... loved the personal epiphanies