What is a brand strategy?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Before we dive into how to build a brand strategy here’s a recap on what a brand strategy is and what it can do for your business: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A brand strategy is a plan for how you want your company to be seen by the world. It helps you to think about how your company will be positioned in the market, what you stand for and what makes you different. It’s the blueprint for how you show up in the world as your business.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A brand strategy can help you :<\/p>\n\n\n\n A brand strategy is essential for businesses of any size who are seeking to build and scale their brand and create an impact. For intentional and purpose-led businesses, it\u2019s the cornerstone of business and brand planning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Read more: What is a brand strategy & 5 reasons you need one<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n There are many ways to create a brand strategy for your business, and as I’ve said before there’s no defined framework for what should or shouldn’t be included in a brand strategy<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The first step to creating a clear brand strategy is to identify who you are and what your business does<\/strong>, this will help with the next steps of defining who you help and how.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Creating a brand strategy takes time. Don’t expect this to be done in an afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I usually take my clients through an in-depth brand strategy session where we’ll explore all of these steps to create a brand strategy:<\/p>\n\n\n\n It’s always great to know which direction you’re heading in. Your future vision is where you’d ultimately like your business (and life) to be. Whether that’s building an online global community or creating a local community hub, it’s where you see the future of the business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If your brand doesn’t have a clear sense of where you’re going or why you’ll struggle to make decisions for your business and become easily distracted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Plus, without a vision or mission, you’ll struggle to set meaningful goals for your business and without goals, you will struggle to make meaningful or tangible progress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Your mission is what you are here to do. i.e. educate, inspire or empower. Your vision and mission are not the same. Your brand vision is what you’re trying to create in the world and your brand mission is how you hope to achieve that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Just as there are lots of routes that will help you realise your vision, there is usually more than one way to fulfil your mission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ask yourself:<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Your Brand vision statement can be a sentence or two of what you’re trying to bring into the world, and why. It should include something about “why now?” so it feels urgent, even if it’s not immediate…<\/p>\n\n\n\n Think of your brand vision and mission as working together to push and pull you in the right direction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Your vision statement is the future you are drawn towards and your mission statement is the directive you need to get there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Your vision can change as time goes on, but it helps guide all of your efforts behind the scenes while your mission remains constant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Your Brand values<\/a> matter and they matter to your potential clients as well. People are often prepared to pay a premium to buy from companies whose values align with their own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Values are the cornerstones of your beliefs. They are things that feel intrinsic to our way of being and we can create strong ties with those who we believe share our values.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Often, when something feels misaligned in our business, it’s because it doesn’t align with our values.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you’re creating a brand strategy as a solopreneur, it’s important to consider the values that your brand will live and breathe by, being mindful that when you set your values, you need to ‘walk the talk’.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Your audience cares about your values; in today’s world, these often matter more than price, design or performance. Today’s consumer wants to know that they are buying a product from a company whose values align with theirs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This means being transparent about your business practices and weaving your values through your entire customer experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ask yourself: What are your values? What do you stand for, and what’s intrinsically woven into the fabric of your company?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Choose 3-5 brand values to represent your brand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Need inspiration? Discover a complete A-Z list of over 350 Brand Values <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n It’s important to know that simply stating your brand values is not a strategy. Get clear on how you will demonstrate those values through your brand and across every customer touchpoint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Often when we’re asked why we do what we do, we’ll give the surface-level, logical answer. Going beyond this can uncover deeper truths and the true motivators and intentions for our actions. When it comes to defining your brand, these deeper whys matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Within our Why, we can often uncover our unique brand story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ask yourself: What is your why? What are you doing and why do you believe in what you’re doing?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finding your why is important as it is the foundation for everything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Simon Sinek’s golden circle theory is a good way to consider your why.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Simon Sinek’s Golden Circle Theory<\/a> (in short) is the idea that businesses can inspire cooperation, trust and change by communicating the deeper why.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the model, there are three concentric circles, with an outer circle containing what you do and around it you have how you do it, which in turn contains why am I doing this?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Not sure you’ve got to the core of your Why? Try the 5Y technique designed by Sakichi Toyoda<\/a>, the Japanese industrialist, inventor, and founder of Toyota Industries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Digging beyond our first logical answer is where we find the gold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Competitor research can provide invaluable insights that can highlight gaps in the market, areas where you excel and areas where your competitors are so good, it’s probably not worth the effort to try and compete in that way with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Choose 3 of your top competitors and conduct a competitor analysis on each of them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Start with a simple SWOT analysis and look at each competitor’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities or threats. You could also look at each competitor’s brand proposition and identify market gaps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Brian Lischer of Ignyte brands<\/a> suggests asking the following 4 questions as part of your competitor analysis:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Choose your competitors based on location, market share and aspiration – similar companies that are near you, companies that dominate your market and companies that you aspire to be like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once you’ve got your competitor analysis, you can start to build a plan for how your company will sit in the market. This isn’t really about your competition; it’s about making your own value proposition stronger. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Which areas will you seek to master or own in your customers’ hearts?<\/p>\n\n\n\n What is it that makes you unique? Don’t fixate on what you can do better than anyone else, focus on what you can do differently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sally Hogshead<\/a>, author of Fascinate believes that \u201cDifferent is better than Better\u201d, which means if your brand offers a unique experience you\u2019ll have customers coming back for more time and time again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n People can always match features and benefits, but if your differentiator is to offer a uniquely different experience, you\u2019ll always have the edge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Questions you can ask yourself to help uncover your unique selling proposition:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Brand Avatars, Ideal customer avatars, brand muses, dream clients, whatever you want to call your dream customers, you need to know who they are – intimately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It’s critical to understand your ideal client if you want to create a brand with impact. Impact comes with connection and connection only happens when your client feels seen, heard and understood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Everything you do from this point on should be tailored to ONE PERSON and ONE PERSON only. Your ideal client.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you try to speak to everybody, you speak to nobody. Your products, services, marketing, language, brand aesthetic website, social media platforms etc… everything needs to be designed with your ideal client in mind. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It’s not enough to give them a name and an age and move on. you need to look at your ideal customer on 3 levels:<\/p>\n\n\n\n To create a true connection we need to show empathy and understanding, we need to inspire on a soul level, none of that is possible if we don’t know who we’re talking to or what really matters to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Not to mention, your marketing messaging, advertising, product or service development, pricing and packaging all relies on you knowing your ideal customer intimately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Having a defined brand personality or brand avatar can give you a useful framework to work with when crafting consistent messaging, it can also offer useful insights when choosing a brand identity that is congruent with your brand vision and mission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Your brand personality should partly reflect your personality as the business founder\/s but it should also be appealing to your target audience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Think about the kind of personality your brand will have. Is it <\/p>\n\n\n\n I find it helpful to think of your brand as a person; how do they act when they walk in the room? How do they interact with others? What traits do they have?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Your brand essence is the values and attributes that make up your business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These are typically a mix of the attributes you’ve chosen to represent, how you feel about the business and how your ideal clients see you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Identify the key attributes that make up your brand or that form the core pillars of your brand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Your brand essence often incorporates part of your brand personality and the positive attributes of your ideal clients. Your brand essence describes all the elements of your brand distilled down to its core. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Some examples of brand essence:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Your brand essence is inextricably linked to your brand values, your why and your brand personality. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Branding expert Kirk Phillips set out 9 criteria for Brand Essence™ 9 (see below).<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
How can I create a brand strategy for my business? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Wellness](\"https:\/\/bemoreyouonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Wellness-clinic-Brand-Strategy-Example_-1-1024x683.jpg\")
1) Create a clear vision and mission statement<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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2) Define your brand values<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
3) Get clear on Why<\/em> you do what you do<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
4) Do some competitor research.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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5) Define your unique selling proposition<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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6) Create ideal customer avatars<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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7) Define your brand personality<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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8) Define your brand essence<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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