Brand strategy is not just for big business… If you’re a small business or just starting out, creating and sticking to a brand strategy will help you establish your presence in your marketplace.
Your brand strategy will allow you to apply your branding through every aspect of your business.
You may be promoting your brand on many things including business cards, stationery, website, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, uniforms, signage, vans, banners, brochures, workbooks, PDF’s…
Now ask yourself, are all of those consistent in what they say about your brand?
3 Reasons Why Your Brand Isn’t Working For you
- You are not making it clear what your product or service offer is
- You haven’t specifically identified who your best customer is and learned how to communicate with them
- You don’t have a strategy to drive your goals
What is a brand strategy?
To build a successful brand, every business needs a brand strategy.
For any business to get to where they need to be, stand out from the competition, and avoid any unnecessary (and potentially expensive) mistakes – putting time into creating a clear brand strategy is an essential process.
Your brand strategy will give your business and team members a roadmap or guide to consistently refer back to, to remember the higher-level plan for the brand, and constantly question whether the branding efforts are in line with the original brand strategy.
It helps everyone to work towards the same goal and achieve it.
So, what makes up your brand strategy?
Your core brand strategy should include:
Purpose – ‘Why’ your business exists.
Vision – ‘Where’ you want your business to be in the future.
Mission(s) – ‘What’ are you going to do to get there.
Values – ‘How’ you display your behaviours.
It should also have a clear definition of your customers, competitors and identify what makes you stand out from the crowd.
We can help you create, or update, your brand strategy on a 1:1 consultancy basis or we have a digital course that you can work through at your own pace.
Creating a brand strategy
Your brand strategy is the foundation to business growth and is an ongoing process. It doesn’t stop when you have a logo.
A strong, successful brand will grow with your business and be recognised consistently.
You need a roadmap that aligns with your business plan, and that’s where brand strategy comes in.
Here at Make a Brew, we view brands like we view great buildings…
Take a step back and you see the structure as a whole — it’s big or small, overpowering or underwhelming, traditional or contemporary, scruffy or maintained…
Look a little closer and you notice the individual components that make up its structure.
When it comes to your brand, this includes positioning, personality, target audience, logo design, colour scheme, tagline etc.
And, similar to a building’s structure, if a brand can’t weather a storm, there’s no chance the customer is going to stick around for long…
Ever-changing trends, politics, technology, customer preferences can create anything from a ripple to a tidal wave.
