Brand Strategy
Can your business (and customers) succinctly define what you stand for? Your brand is more than a swanky website, eye-catching logo or witty slogan. Your brand makes your business and delivers an experience. To help build the brand and the experience that customers and prospects have with your business, you need a brand strategy.
Your brand strategy consists of more than simply the creative elements, it is the everyday of your business, and it is what gives your business standing in the market. After identifying your positioning strategy, your brand strategy sits succinctly underneath to provide your business with its uniqueness and its personality. A brand strategy needs to be strong and robust to set your business apart and capture the market share you want to achieve.
“If you don’t give the market the story to talk about, they will define the brand’s story for you!
Is Your Brand Strategy Working?
Best Case
It’s easy to turn prospects into customers due to the trustworthiness and respect that your brand possesses.
Your strategy continues to strengthen your brand power and recognition increases accordingly.
As a result of a strong brand strategy, you are able to market yourself as a premium provider and, as a result, price yourself accordingly through a succinct pricing strategy.
Neutral Case
You have a brand strategy, however this hasn’t been updated recently. Consequently, not every interaction with your business has the same consistent message.
Your brand isn’t negatively viewed but could have a stronger command in the market. You think it is time to review your brand strategy to assist with developing more consistent communication.
Worst Case
You have a poor or non-existent brand strategy. As a result, you have to regularly re-market your business with a new logo or tagline in the hope it will resonate with an audience (which may not be the right one).
However, your customers and prospects do not have a clear idea of what your business is and where you sit in the marketplace. This makes pricing and acquiring customers difficult as you confuse your prospects with your offering.
Optimise Your Brand Strategy
It’s all relative
Be objective, your brand name has to do more than just sound good, it must fit in with your brand strategy.
Your aim is to find a name which helps you meet your business goals and is appealing to your market.
Beat the pack
While your branding should be speaking for itself, it doesn’t hurt to have an awareness of your competitors at the same time.
Staying in tune to what your competition provides shows you successful methods that you can tailor for your business, but it can also show you any flaws or failings in their branding. If there was something you want to try for your business, seeing a competitor try and fail beforehand can save you from costly mistakes.
Make sure that monitoring the competition doesn’t overshadow your own uniqueness.
Add flexibility
While consistency is essential, this does not mean you can only have one approach with a limited number of on-brand tools to use.
Mastering consistency is key but keeping your brand innovative, and relevant ensures your business can keep growing and moving forward.
The biggest brands haven’t necessarily stuck with the same packaging and adverts over time. They’ve taken the essentials of their branding and brought it forward so that the old and the new are harmonious and relevant today.
Stay flexible with the tactics in your brand strategy to ensure you take every opportunity to make your brand known.