Six Things to Consider When Building Your Brand Strategy
When you look at strong and long-lasting brands such as Colgate, John Deere, or Jim Beam, you might wonder how they’ve stood the test of time. There are multiple elements that factor into the success of a brand, but one that stands out is brand strategy. Brand strategy is the practice of developing a strategic plan to achieve long-term goals, connect with customers, and stand out among the competition. Building a feasible brand strategy might seem overwhelming, but don’t worry because we’ve outlined six things to consider when building your brand strategy below.
Define Brand Objectives
Before you do anything, it’s essential that you define your brand objectives and figure out your brand’s purpose. How do you differentiate your company and set your brand apart from the competition? You can accomplish this by figuring out what problem your brand solves, the story behind your brand, your brand’s personality, and more. Finding answers to these simple questions can help build trust between you and your prospective customers over time. Researching your favorite brands’ vision statements and mission statements can help you with inspiration.
Brand Identity
The next important aspect to consider when building a brand strategy is developing a strong brand identity. What does your brand look like? Is it related to your product or service? How do people feel when they think about your brand identity? Answer these questions and you’ll be one step closer to an effective brand strategy. Think about this as you come up with a logo, fonts, a color, and when you establish the voice of your messaging. Your brand’s identity tells a story, and you want to make sure this is evoked across the board in terms of everything your audience sees and engages with.
Creative Messaging
Another thing to consider is developing compelling content and creative messaging when building your brand strategy. Provide a steady stream of content across several different channels that provide solutions yet are entertaining. This could consist of blog posts, videos, social media content, photos, and more. Make sure these are tapping into the emotions you want to evoke in your customers and are nudging them in a certain direction. Effective messaging can lead to sales, brand loyalty, and word of mouth if done the right way.
Consistency
Probably one of the most overlooked aspects of building a brand strategy is consistency. You want to ask yourself if what you’re doing is enhancing your brand or taking away from your brand. Every action you take should be cultivating your brand’s identity, goals, and intentions. One of the most cohesive brands you can take notes from is Coca-Cola. They have a simple yet instantly recognizable image that has been around for about 130 years. It would be a good idea to develop a style guide for a brand with a set of colors, fonts, tagline, motto, and aesthetics to help you stay consistent when it comes to cultivating your brand.
Know Your Audience
This might seem like common sense, but it’s highly important to know your audience. It’s good to know what age group you’re targeting, pinpoint certain demographics, and knowing what they want. Once you figure out these points, it’ll make it so much easier to craft messages and branding that appeal to your audience on multiple levels. For example, if your customers care about the environment, then switching to eco-friendly poly mailers could be a great move. You’ll also be able to invest money into brand campaigns that will have a higher chance of getting a positive outcome when promoting your products.
Promotion
Finding a way to effectively promote and market your brand should be a big thing to consider when building your brand strategy. If you don’t promote your brand, all of the hard work you accomplished before this could be virtually meaningless. You should promote your brand through several different channels. Consider, social media, advertisements, blogs, email, and more. For example, 41% of brands use influencers to increase brand awareness, so it would be a good idea to consider this avenue. Your marketing team should come up with a wide range of promotional campaigns that align with your brand’s values. This can increase your chances of connecting with as many potential customers as possible.
Conclusion
Coming up with a brand strategy is becoming more important than it ever has before. Especially, with so much competition and new brands popping up every year. This might be stressful, but it’s a doable endeavor when you have the right plan. Start out by defining your objectives, curating a brand identity, and developing creative messaging. Ensure these all align with your brand’s values. Shooting for brand consistency, knowing your audience, and solid promotion can help you take things to the next level. If you take advantage of all six of these things highlighted above, then you’ll be on the road to building a bulletproof brand strategy that could elevate you among your peers and lead to success.
