How a Stronger Brand Leads to Bigger Business
Davey Tree is a renowned industry leader in arboriculture, horticulture and environmental services with roots dating all the way back to 1880. If you’re not familiar, Davey offers residential and commercial services, utility solutions and environmental consulting—all of which are rooted in cutting-edge science and technology from The Davey Institute.
Davey works tirelessly to make the world a better place. And Kagency works tirelessly to make brands more beautiful.
A natural connection, we were pleased to partner with Davey starting in 2016 to cultivate brand clarity and consistency across its locations nationwide. But, over the years, our work extended far beyond branding.
Memorable branding is rooted in deep audience research & development.
Remarkable marketing grows from a deep understanding of the customer.
With national reach at Davey, this included a far-reaching analysis of a multitude of consumer audiences—such as family landscapes, upscale avenues, ethnic enclaves, middle ground, senior styles, scholars, and much more.
A firm understanding of the bigger picture guided the creation of several target buyer personas. Persona snapshots highlighted the demographic, behavioral research, and psychographics you need to craft messaging that speaks directly to the decision-making process (i.e. how are they thinking and what will influence a decision?). Details like how they consume information (do they like podcasts or are they avid readers?), lifestyle preferences (where do they shop and how do they shop?), average household income, suburban vs. urban living, education levels, industries of employment, marital status, among other insights.
After spending time with these customer segments, only then can you create a strategy that is effective.
Davey continually grows its family of brands. No one knows better than Davey that a smart brand acquisition strategy and set process accelerates brand integration.
At Kagency, we support our clients with a four-pronged approach:
- Evaluate the quality of the existing brand. We do this by talking to employees and customers, all to get a gauge on marketplace perception.
- Determine brand roadmap. This might include keeping the branding separate, side-by-side branding, or it might be an immediate consolidation. Regardless, a well-documented vision is critical at this stage.
- Develop positioning and visualization. Work with the new brand to identify positioning, story, customer journey and aesthetics that seamlessly the parent brand.
- Communicate openly with all parties involved. This one’s pretty straightforward. Ensure all employees and customers understand what’s happening and what to expect from ongoing services (don’t lose consumer trust along the way!).
If you keep branching out, you need a brand acquisition strategy.
Brand evolution starts with a brand style guide.
A cornerstone for design and messaging is critical when executing a frequent supply of fresh content. It enables more creative writing (think headlines that hook and copy that inspires) and takes the guesswork out of topical relevance.
It helped guide Kagency’s ongoing creation and elevation of Growing Together, Davey’s seasonal newsletter and resource for all things trees. Packed with education, actionable tips and fun activities, Growing Together became a beloved resource for the Davey community.
Consistency in branding leads to content efficiency.
Below are featured spreads from the newsletters, adapted for multiple brands—all of which are rooted in design and messaging from the style guide.
Beyond the newsletter, Kagency leveraged the style guide to efficiently craft content for specialized campaigns (dormant pruning, storm recovery and much more), digital elements like social ads, as well as collateral needs (direct mail). For example, see the post cards Davey leveraged for their pruning campaign.
Are you ready for a brand transformation? We can help.
Whether it’s branding, content, lead generation, or other B2B marketing needs, our unique agency model allows us to act as an extension of your team. Sound good? Let’s get to know each other.
