What is brand strategy?
Brand strategy is becoming increasingly popular and more important for brands and entrepreneurs. In this post, we going to explain what branding strategy is in 5 single steps. First thing, we need to dissect what brand strategy is and how different is from visual identity design.
Common mistake brand owners do is thinking branding is a logo or a website. Branding strategy goes far beyond visuals and the look and feel of the color palette or typography. A brand is not a promise. A brand is not the sum of all the impressions it makes on an audience. A brand is a result–it’s a person’s gut feeling about a product, service or company.
How are you going to speak to your audience, what personality are you going to use, what characteristics are you going to display, how are you going to be different from your competitor, what kind of messages are you going to send out or what kind of stories are going to tell are some of the questions that are part of brand strategy. A brand strategy gives us the tools and mindset to bring our audience closer together by influencing their perceptions about a particular business or organization. Those tools are beliefs, behavior, differentiation, messaging, brand persona among many other elements. A plan and way to communicate effectively with your audience is exactly what brand strategy provides.
Is about how the audience perceives your brand and how you can manipulate that perception. The goal is to bring an audience and a brand closer together. The strategic plan is the brand navigator who maps the landscape, sets the course and plans the route to brand success. The look an feel of our business is an important part of our brand but there is far more than that.
What is one word that comes to your mind when you hear the term BRANDING?
Some people might be wondering about perception, promise, identity, reputation, expectations, personality, trust. But when you think of all the terms above in reference to branding, you know that you have to be in it for the long haul. Brand building does not happen overnight. It takes a well-defined purpose, consistent promises, and quality problem-solving. Let’s break that down.
Purpose = Your Why
Promises = Your How
Problem-solving = Your What
Put these three things together with your unique spin on it, and you have a one-two punch for a brand that stands out.
A brand that people LOVE.
More importantly, having an Ocean purpose-driven business brand will remind you of the value behind your passion on a daily basis.
It will make you want to consistently be better AND do better for your customers or clients over the long-term.
In order to compete in a crowded market, great branding is more important now than ever.
Why investing in Brand strategy
Defines the audience. This a very detailed research about who the audience is, the objectives they are trying to meet, the outcome they are trying to achieve, the challenges on the way to meet those objectives, and how to connect with the audience on an emotional level.
Defines the position. Define the position of the brand in the market. Give the audience a reason why they should be your customers and how are you going to fit into their lives, what role will you play in their lives. If there is no reason, they won’t have a reason to feel moved by your brand. Everything in the brand is built from its position and is a critical reason why investing in brand strategy before going out and advertise a business.
Define the brand persona. We don’t connect with features or benefits, we make decisions based on emotions. We connect by the characteristics that we see and modern brands understand that they have to connect on a human level through human characteristics and a human brand persona.
Define the Message. In order to craft your brand’s message, you need to understand the image that you want to place in the mind of your audience. Only then you craft a brand message that would help to influence that perception in the mind of the audience.
Guide the design. Set the tone for what the brand should mean and that goes through communicating characteristics, these characteristics are defined by the brand strategy and that is based by the position that the brand is in the mind of the audience and how to communicate and resonate and what kind of image the brand should have in front of their audience. Without a brand strategy, there is direction or characteristics for the brand to set in the mind of the audience and therefore there is no foundation for design.
Inform marketing. Brand strategy is a collection of marketing tactics working all together as a cohesive system and even if the business has a cohesive marketing strategy in place, without those elements described before it doesn’t have the message, the audience, personality, or those key messages that are going to impact the audience. Any marketing without a clear direction is a waste of money.
Brings long-term success. Making strategic decisions. When a brand knows what’s their purpose of existence or where it’s going, what is their vision and commitment and where are they going to be in the future, strategic thinking becomes much easier.
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