If you want to build a strong brand, you’ll need a brand strategy. An effective brand strategy aids in the development of a strong brand. It establishes who you are as a company and concentrates your long-term objectives. It also establishes a standard against which progress can be measured: You have no way of knowing whether or not your brand is progressing in the right path without a brand strategy. Is it too hazy for you? Here are a few concrete advantages of brand strategy:
1. Aids in the expression and communication of your essential principles:
People are interested in why you do what you do rather than what you do. If you want to build a loyal customer base, you must first determine what your brand stands for and how to communicate this to them.
2. Assists you in identifying flaws in your brand experience:
You will struggle to create trust and customer loyalty if your customers’ experiences with your firm are inconsistent. “Customers trust your brand when their experiences consistently match or exceed their expectations,” says Marty Neumeier, author of The Brand Gap.
3. Eliminate bad concepts that could jeopardise your brand-building efforts:
It’s all too easy to fall victim to shiny-object syndrome. It’s easier to make wise selections when you have a clear brand strategy.
Should we get on board with this new marketing craze? Would our ideal clients find this new product concept useful? Simply read to your strategy booklet to refresh your memory on the long-term vision and determine whether the initiatives you’re exploring are in line with it.
David Ogilvy, known as the “Father of Advertising,” put it this way:
Every commercial should be viewed as a contribution to the multi-layered symbol that is the brand image.
4. It establishes accountability:
In a similar vein to the last point, committing to a clear brand strategy helps keep everyone in your organisation accountable and focused on high-yield activities that will truly move the needle rather than purely administrative tasks.
Strategy keeps you on track, and if you slip off course, it helps you refocus and get back on track more quickly.
5. Make your marketing efforts laser-focused:
You may assure a smoother and more effective execution of marketing campaigns by reducing and defining the scope of your marketing efforts. You know who you’re talking to, what they care about, and how to communicate with them.
You’ll hit the goal sooner and maximise the return on investment of your marketing efforts instead of wasting thousands of dollars A/B testing multiple strategies.
6. Increases the value of your business:
This one will appeal to entrepreneurs. Having a clear brand strategy, whether you’re considering an exit or wanting to raise funds from investors, shows potential buyers and investors that you’ve carefully considered how to expand your company’s most valuable asset, which can help justify a premium price.
7. Assists designers and creatives in producing better, more efficient work:
What should the design of your logo be? What should the tone of your sales text be? Is this palette superior to the previous one? Creative judgments are fundamentally subjective and arbitrary without a method to guide them.
Major decisions concerning logo designs, colour palettes, and sales text are frequently chosen depending on what one’s spouse thinks about various aspects of the design. You may measure the effectiveness of a design or piece of content by how well it reflects the plan if you have a clear strategy.
After all, just because you like strawberries or spaghetti doesn’t mean you should use them as fishing bait.
8. Ensures that everyone is on the same page:
Organizations are similar to rowing crews. It’s difficult to defeat the competition if someone on the team tries to row in a different direction or loses rhythm with the others. Aligning your team and convincing them to buy into your brand’s vision and values is an important element of the brand strategy process.
Employees that are more engaged complete more tasks, provide better customer service, and generate more revenue for your organisation. (Source)
The elements of a successful brand strategy:
Your brand strategy may need to contain different components depending on the size and nature of your company. The brand strategy process we went through with Factorion, a sophisticated industry consultancy in the Netherlands, looks nothing like the processes Fortune 100 businesses go through with their strategists.
1. The most important values:
These are the beliefs that guide your actions. They’re the reason you started your company in the first place (beyond making money).
Your basic principles are significantly affected by the firm founder/values, leader’s and they’re unlikely to change in the future. Apple will not be Apple without Steve Jobs (and the further Tim Cook deviates from Steve Jobs’ design and product innovation values, the worse Apple’s brand would suffer).
2. Statement of strategic positioning:
IKEA is positioned as a manufacturer of low-cost, modern furniture. Ralph Lauren is regarded as a high-end preppy fashion label. Abercrombie & Fitch is marketed as a fashion-forward (and slightly preppy) brand for those who are youthful and attractive.
In the thoughts of your customers, how do you want to be perceived? If you don’t know where to aim, you won’t hit your target. We undertake competitive research at Cult Method to find prospective prospects for a more precise positioning statement.
3. The ideal client profile (s):
Who are you attempting to entice to your company? Customers will quickly forget about you if you try to be everything to everyone. Your target audience should be narrowed to a fine point. Trader Joe’s will be familiar to American readers (a grocery chain). “An unemployed PhD student… with acquired taste and not part of the mass TV culture, and possibly a wine drinker,” they describe their ideal consumer. (Source: Joe Coulombe, creator of Trader Joe’s, November 1986)
In the broad scheme of things, there may not be a lot of unemployed PhD students. However, the unemployed PhD student represents a very real and significant section of the market: well-educated and budget-conscious people seeking high quality at a low cost.
4. The promise of the brand:
Developing your brand promise is simple after you understand your brand values, strategic positioning, and ideal client personas. The message that resonates to your target audience is referred to as a brand promise. It teaches people what to expect from your brand when they interact with it. A good brand promise is straightforward, credible, unique, timely, and motivating. Nike’s brand promise, for example, is to “provide inspiration and innovation to every athlete* on the planet.” If you have a body, you’re an athlete, according to the asterisk.
5. Nike’s brand promise:
Your brand identity’s look and feel. We all know how important good design and powerful copywriting are to the success of a company or product. We are drawn to attractive things as people. A smart strategy may help you direct the creative manifestations of your brand identity so that they are in line with your positioning goals and the preferences of your target customers.
6. Brand touchpoints and awareness-drivers have been prioritised:
Any point of contact between your company and its customers is referred to as a brand touchpoint. To mention a few, these could include your marketing website, email newsletter, social media accounts, physical stores, customer service lines, and product packaging. To avoid spreading your organisation too thin, a solid brand strategy will help you focus on the most crucial, high-yield touchpoints.
7. Your brand’s voice and tone, as well as specific messaging:
Aside from establishing which touchpoints to prioritise, your brand strategy should also provide a loose framework for how you communicate (for example, is your tone lighthearted or serious?).
Mailchimp, an email service provider, has detailed criteria in place to guarantee that their communication is consistent and aligned with their brand strategy.
read More Best Way to Charge a Hoverboard