A Winning Brand Strategy in 10 Easy Steps
There is a common misconception that a brand strategy solely involves the development of a logo or tagline, but this is not entirely accurate.
A brand includes various factors that distinguish it from competitors, such as visual identity, messaging, customer experience, and perception among people, including associated thoughts and emotions.
Developing an effective brand strategy for your business requires time and careful planning. Consider utilizing guidelines to aid in the planning process.
Guidelines for developing your brand strategy
Developing a long-term strategy for brand growth can be complex. However, a solid foundation can be established by following 10 essential steps.
1. Pick your niche(s)
Specializing in a particular market can entail providing customized services, catering to specific demographics, or narrowing your product range to better meet the demands of your clientele. What makes focusing on a niche a wise strategic decision?
Benefits include:
Improving the quality of your products, services, and experiences can lead to higher customer satisfaction through increased effort and dedication.
Less waste of resources and money.
The capability to command a higher price for your specific knowledge and skills.
Stand out from competition by targeting specific audiences with unique offerings.
It is recommended to prioritize resource allocation to areas with the greatest impact. It is possible for businesses to cater to multiple niches without limiting themselves to a narrow audience, service, or product. When creating your brand strategy, it is important to identify the areas that are most valuable to focus on. By assessing your strengths and passions, you can establish a strong foundation for your brand image that aligns with your marketing strategy.
2. Define your business and marketing goals
When developing a brand strategy, it is important to consider both short and long-term goals in order to achieve the desired outcome.
Consider your future business goals. Do you want to expand your customer base by a specific percentage? Are you thinking about implementing a customer loyalty program? Would you like to open another location in the future?
As you make decisions about your brand strategy, it's important to keep your core objectives in mind to ensure it aligns with your marketing efforts and helps you achieve your goals.
3. Conduct brand research
When creating a brand strategy, it is important to consider competitors and other businesses that your audience interacts with. A thorough understanding of their branding is crucial.
Examining other brands can offer important perspectives on effective strategies, audience reactions, and possible ways to stand out.
4. Spotlight what makes you different
Brand differentiation can be achieved without a completely unique product or service through effective messaging.
Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts sell similar products but have different brand strategies for different audiences. Both brands are successful. This can apply to your case as well.
Customizing your brand strategy can help distinguish your business.
Crafting mission and vision statements that align with one's personal values.
Identifying core values that are mutually shared between your business and customers.
Clearly describe your solution to a common problem your client has.
How to solve a tricky problem with clarity and precision.
The marketing strategy involves highlighting a distinctive trait of the target demographic.
Your customer experience you create for your client's is one-of-a-kind.
Let’s say you own a pizzeria that serves authentic Italian brick-oven pizza. Other pizzerias exist, but yours is unique in its setting, which transports customers to the heart of Sicily. Your goal is not only to make delicious pizzas, but also to provide an authentic Italian experience that cannot be found elsewhere in the area.
The question remains unchanged: What unique offerings can your business provide that competitors cannot?
5. Think of your business as a person
Each person and business has a unique personality, but not all are memorable. Imagining your business as a person (real or imagined) can help prevent a forgettable brand.
Consider the persona of your business - what qualities and attributes would make it attractive, impactful, or unforgettable? How would individuals describe its communication style, tone, and voice?
This exercise can aid in identifying the key attributes of a business to highlight in its brand strategy and facilitate the development of an effective plan.
6. Craft an exceptional customer experience
The customer experience can make or break a business, even if competitors offer similar products or services at lower prices. A positive experience, including attention to small details, can justify paying more or investing more time.
Satisfied customers have the potential to promote your business by sharing their positive experiences through customer reviews and recommendations to others.
Rather than simply providing a satisfactory experience, strive to offer the optimal experience for your clientele, surpassing that of your competitors.
Consider how to further demonstrate to customers that your brand aligns with its stated values. Determine which elements of your brand can be put into practice when interacting with and supporting customers. Additionally, strategize ways to facilitate customers sharing positive feedback, particularly through digital channels.
7. Get involved with your community
Choosing to support local businesses can have benefits for both the business and the customer. Local businesses often provide a more personalized experience, fostering a stronger connection between the customer and the brand.
Connecting with customers has two benefits. First, it helps build relationships, establish a good reputation, and turn loyal customers into brand advocates who share positive experiences. Second, engaging with customers helps you understand their needs and provide more tailored solutions, leading to happier customers.
There are several ways to engage in the community, such as networking with small business owners, participating in local events, showcasing loyal customers on social media pages, or sponsoring sports teams from nearby schools. These tactics can foster customer loyalty and support for your business.
8. Create and maintain a high-quality blog
A well-maintained business blog can bring many benefits including increased online visibility and an increase in sales. Yet, it can also be a surefire way to develop your brand.
As mentioned, branding is all about making your business easily identifiable in a crowd and blogging happens to be an excellent way to communicate the unique personality and intent of your company.
Just be sure to choose topics that are relevant to your audience and make your posts easy to read, adding images to hold attention and improve user experience. And don't be afraid to add some personality to the information you're relaying. Think about how you would personally converse with a customer about your business or a specific piece of advice, and try to maintain that conversational style when writing your posts.
9. Develop your visual identity strategically
Choosing brand colors is not just personal preference. Color psychology should guide the decision. Research shows 62-90% of snap judgments by customers are based on color. Strategy is important for visual branding and messaging.
Color psychology can be used to influence the way people perceive and engage with a brand by eliciting various emotions and responses.
For example, consider the “vibes” associated with some colors:
Blue is considered the most popular and meaningful color due to its ability to convey traits such as dependability and trust, among others.
The color purple is commonly associated with traits such as royalty, creativity, and optimism.
The color red is associated with passion, excitement, and boldness, as well as danger. It is important to use caution when utilizing this color.
The color green is often associated with concepts like growth, health, and safety.
The color yellow is often associated with attributes such as warmth, brightness, and optimism.
The colors black and white are often associated with conveying class, confidence, and simplicity.
The connotations associated with different colors and shades can have both positive and negative implications. It's important to consider these nuances when choosing colors for your brand, from your logo to your website and other visual branding elements. By making wise color choices, you can ensure that your visual branding aligns with your overall brand strategy and helps to promote your business.
10. Unify your social media accounts
Social media accounts can serve as easily accessible representatives of a business online, offering a chance to differentiate the brand during a customer's initial interaction.
To maintain consistency and reliability for your followers and potential customers, it's important to have a cohesive voice and visuals across all platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
Why put the work into your brand strategy?
The success of a brand not only relies on the actions of the business owner, but also on the perception people have of the business and the actions they take, such as filling out a form, which is becoming more important in a cookieless world.
Strategically shaping your brand can impact how your audience perceives and responds to it, while also boosting your advertising efforts.
Prioritizing your brand strategy can lead to various benefits for your business, such as stronger audience relationships, improved reputation, increased exposure, and higher revenue. Therefore, investing in this important aspect of your small business plan is highly recommended.
In this post, we listed ten tactics to aid in the development of a successful brand strategy.
Choose your niche/focus.
State your business and marketing goals.
Research brand.
Embrace your uniqueness.
Consider your business as an individual.
Create a superior customer experience.
Participate in activities within your local community.
Create and maintain a high-quality blog
Strategically develop your visual identity.
Unify your social media accounts.
