Entrepreneurs and business owners often mistake building a brand strategy for selecting the logo, font styles, and color palette for their website and packaging. In truth, strategic branding allows differentiation of the company from the competition and fosters consumer loyalty. Here we will list the elements of a branding plan required to build a brand that will endure the test of time.
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Understanding Brand Strategy
A brand strategy is a comprehensive plan that entails the expansion of a corporation.
A brand strategy aids in understanding what the company is about and creates the groundwork for identifying the audience, the thoughts one wishes their customers to experience, and how the interaction with them will elicit those emotions. A strong brand strategy will delve into components such as the company’s mission, values, persona, etc., to connect with consumers.
The Importance Of Brand Strategy
Establishing a distinctive, appealing, and unforgettable image in the eyes of the company’s targeted audience is not a simple task.
With a brand strategy, one can establish the impression one desires the audience to have of the business and the company’s values to help customers understand the organization’s purpose.
In brief, building the brand strategy involves conveying the brand’s story.
Brand storytelling conceptualizes the reason for the company’s inception, its path to today, and its core values and ideals and affects the organization’s bottom line. People are more inclined to support businesses they recognize and connect with.
Let’s check what statistics convey about the brand strategy’s importance.
- 88% of customers cite authenticity as an essential factor when choosing which companies to support.
- 72% believe they are more inclined to buy from a company that regularly offers a more customized experience.
- One-third of customers believe they would abandon a favorite brand after only one negative encounter.
- 64% of customers have stopped buying a brand after learning that its employees were mistreated.
So now, let’s check how to build a brand strategy for the brand.
Steps In Building Brand Strategy
1. Identify the purpose of the brand
Recognizing the company’s goals is crucial when developing brand positioning, but comprehending why one comes to work daily carries greater weight. In other words, the purpose is more definite in that it distinguishes the company from the competition. While profitability is vital for almost every company, consumers love businesses that reflect a determination to achieve much more than financial success.
Hence, always focus, reflect on, and promote the brand’s purpose to facilitate a more profound and stronger connection with the consumers. Moreover, convey the brand’s purpose with a well-crafted slogan or tagline that resembles what the company offers and why someone must buy from the company.
For example, IKEA’s purpose is to “create a better everyday life” instead of just selling furniture. This strategy appeals to prospective consumers because it demonstrates their dedication to offering value beyond the point of transaction.
2. Identifying and researching the target audience
Who are the target consumers? If the answer is “everyone,” there must be a big mistake. High-growth, high-profit companies prioritize having precisely defined target consumers. The narrower the audience group, the quicker the expansion. The marketing efforts will be compromised the more diversified the target market is.
Companies that do comprehensive research on their target customers expand more quickly and profitably. Research helps to comprehend the perspectives and goals of the target client, identify their wants, and develop a message that connects with them.
3. Develop the buyer persona
A buyer persona refers to the profile of an ideal consumer.
Beyond demographics, it depicts a genuine person: their daily experiences, likes and dislikes, and social media activities. Using a buyer persona helps build a brand strategy
that connects effectively with the actual consumers, as the buyer persona must mirror the real customers. Building it requires analyzing customer information, the data of the rivals, and market research information.
Utilize this information to target the consumers effectively and then ensure that the company is the best option for their requirements.
4. Be bold & clear about the “why”
The “why” of the business is the driving force behind every action.
61% of consumers want companies to support causes in which they believe.
This does not need one to transform the world. But the business’s mission must represent who the company is and its services. Moreover, it is an essential part of building a brand strategy.
5. Develop a strong brand message
Brand messaging assists in conveying to the customers who the company is.
Several methods describe the company, the work the company does, and why consumers should select the company over the competitors. The value proposition describes the product or service’s tangible and intangible advantages. It describes how the company will resolve its issue and why it should choose it.
So this will be clear with a simple example of the most familiar brand; Grammarly. The AI-powered spellchecker’s value proposition is as follows: “Great writing, simplified. Compose bold, clear, mistake-free writing with Grammarly’s AI-powered writing assistant.”
Isn’t the statement loud, clear, and promising? That’s what the brand needs—a great message that will convey a meaningful message about the brand’s purpose.
6. Work on the visual brand identity
When building a brand strategy, also include visual elements. While developing the brand strategy, one has likely been influenced by thoughts for the logo or website. As an element of the brand strategy, revisit the look of the company’s logo or create one to establish a stronger connection with the audience. A company’s logo is among its most important aspects. Consequently, ensure that the company’s logo accurately represents the brand and its goals.
Not just the logo, other things constitute the visual element, including taglines, color palettes, imagery, fonts, etc. Hence, carefully select all the visual elements of the brand.
7. Web development and online promotion techniques
Now that one has everything they need, where to implement all these things? The answer is their website. In this digital era, having a website is important to reach customers digitally.
A website is essential to the brand, presenting all the information and elements. Also, develop a content and social media strategy for online promotional activities. Ensure to be consistent in what you do.
Conclusion
Building a brand strategy might feel overwhelming. Once divided into sections, developing a brand strategy is straightforward. We hope these steps will help you in creating a great brand strategy.