Brand Strategy
Photo Leeloo Thefirst
What is Brand Strategy and why is it important?
If someone were to ask you about your startup’s Brand Strategy, what would you say? While many kickstart their marketing efforts by selecting a logo and posting on social media, taking a moment to create the strategy for the way to market their brand may be an afterthought. Yet one of the most important pieces to marketing, prior to launching your product is to establish your Brand Strategy. Your brand represents everything an individual will encounter when they see, read, experience your company/product. It consists of your company’s mission, vision, values, personality, messaging, and more. Establishing your brand strategy will drive the creation of everything that is communicated through visuals, content, and experience. Everything you communicate should be in line with your customer values.
Definition of Brand Strategy
Brand Strategy is the definition of a brand’s approach to who they target, how they differentiate and how they influence perceptions and decisions.” –Stephen Houraghan, Brand Strategist, Brand Master Academy
The core elements that make up your brand strategy starts with your Company Mission.
Company Mission
When your CEO had the idea for your startup, what was the initial goal? For those that are customer focused, they saw a need, and decided to create a business to solve that problem. It is the WHY the company exists. For many, it began as an altruistic reason that became a true source of business. This is the focus of your company mission.
Example: Bombas
For Bombas, they saw a need to provide those in need with new, clean clothes. They started with socks. For every pair of socks purchased, a pair was donated to individuals experiencing homelessness. From there, they expanded into underwear and t-shirts.
Company Vision
The purpose of vision is to provide direction as to the future of the company. The vision guides major decisions by management on strategic issues. This is the What, Where, or Who you want the company to become. Your vision statement ought to be something everyone working in the company can identify with and support.
Core Values
A company’s core values communicate the principles and beliefs that guide the company. The core values shape the culture and give your employees purpose. Your core values should be clear for communications and decisions.
Example: Patagonia
Here is the list of Patagonia’s Core Values:
Quality: Build the best product, provide the best service and constantly improve everything we do.
Integrity: Examine our practices openly and honestly, learn from our mistakes and meet our commitments.
Environmentalism: Protect our home planet.
Justice: Be just, equitable and antiracist as a company and in our community.
Not bound by convention: Do it our way.
Positioning
The goal when developing your positioning statement is to tell why your company is unique, what you stand for and to provide a compelling reason that resonates with your customer as to why they should buy from you. Your positioning statement should focus on your company strengths. It serves as an internal guide for all your communications. It serves as the foundation for every touch-point with your customer.
Personality
To determine your brand personality, define the set of human traits that you attribute to your brand. Your brand personality will be integrated into your communications, imagery, everything. The attributes of your personality help to build an emotional connection with your customers. You exhibit this through your brand voice and tone. The goal is to ensure your brand has the feel of coming from a human, rather than a large company. It’s what you say to your audience and how you convey your message through emotion.
Example: Skittles
A classic example of creating a brand voice and tone that resonates with their audience is Skittles:
Brand Story
Every startup has a story - the motivation behind its creation, the hard work to build the company. A brand story helps a company personalize their brand, build credibility and foster trust. This in turn, gives them the opportunity to gain an emotional connection with customers and for them to further engage with your brand.
“You can say the right thing about a product and nobody will listen. You’ve got to say it in such a way that people will feel it in their gut. Because if they don’t feel it, nothing will happen.”
Brand Identity
Your brand identity consists of your logo, typography, colors and imagery. This is what extends your brand personality in a visual way. The purpose of defining your brand identity is to ensure you have consistency visually in everything your customer sees. Consistency helps to build a strong foundation for your brand.
The Top 4 Brands by Value in 2023 (the order varies per day), according to Visual Capitalist:
Amazon
Apple
Google
Microsoft
It takes time and persistence to reach and engage customers. For that reason alone, it’s important that every exposure and interaction be consistent in terms of look and communications. Through repetition, the consistency will help make your brand memorable and build trust. Don’t wait until your product is ready to launch to build your Brand Strategy. Start early, get feedback from early customers to refine your positioning, voice, and tone. So when you are ready to announce to the world, you do so with a strong foundation.
Need help developing your brand strategy? Contact Us for a free 30-minute consultation.
Fun Fact Friday
REI - Core Value - lead to the creation of closing their stores on Black Friday so that their employees could spend time outdoors with family and friends. According to REI, “We give all our employees a day off to #optoutside with family and friends on the busiest retail day of the year. We continue this tradition because we believe in putting purpose before profits.”