Did you know that 81% of consumers need to trust a brand to consider buying from them?
That means that your brand strategy needs to be the best it can be if you want to thrive this year.
Having a solid brand strategy is the core of every good company.
But remember, it’s not just the logo, the colors, and the packaging design that count as branding; it’s so much more.
Branding is everything related to your company. From how you talk on social media to what font you use on your website. This also includes your website, so if you’re planning on making a new website or if you plan on updating your website, this blog post is for you.
In this article, we’ll go over what a brand strategy is, why you should care about it, and how to make one for your own business.
Want to work on your brand strategy but lack the time? We can help.
What is a Brand Strategy
We can’t start talking about how to make your brand strategy without explaining what it is first.
People throw around the term brand strategy all the time to the point where it’s hard to really know what it is exactly.
We often even see people asking why branding is important as well. It doesn’t help that unique branding ideas aren’t as easy to measure as other areas of your business, such as marketing.
Imagine trying to measure the quality of your new logo or new colors. It’s nearly impossible because it’s a matter of preference.
Now that we have that out of the way, let’s actually give brand strategy a definition. Brand strategy is a detailed plan used to explain and show what your brand is all about. This strategy covers everything.
First, review what your competitors are doing. Then, analyze your target demographic. This helps you understand what your ideal customer wants to see.
Adhering to a brand strategy can be tough sometimes depending on how much it asks for your brand to change. A brand strategy should cover everything brand related.
From the way you talk to how your posts look on your social media accounts.
This means that having a business strategy is not an option but a necessity if you want your company to grow as consistently as possible.
So how do you go from no brand strategy to having a detailed one? Let us explain.
Our 5-Step Process to Build a Successful Brand Strategy
Here are all of the steps you should take if you want to have a branding strategy that you can use for years to come.
Don’t worry if it feels overwhelming; it’s a lot of work to create your brand strategy for the first time!
That being said, don’t feel discouraged; take your time to create a solid company strategy, and in the future, you will thank yourself for it.
1. Understand Why and Who You’re Doing It For
Knowing who you’re trying to reach and talk to with your brand is the first step in every good brand strategy. Knowing who YOU are as a brand is just as important, though.
If you don’t know how to answer these questions, then why should a person seeing your brand for the first time care?
Here are some questions you should ask yourself and answer as detailed as possible:
Do you know why you created the brand in the first place? What was your goal?
- What is your brand’s end goal? What are you trying to achieve as a company?
- Do you have a detailed roadmap as to how you’re going to get to that goal?
- How do you want the world to see your brand? Do you want your brand to act in some type of way?
All of these questions should be answered by you and your core team before doing anything else. Every single part of your strategy is, and will always be, the building blocks and foundation that holds your entire company together.
But we’re not going to let you tackle those questions alone.
Instead, let’s go through each of them one by one so you get a better understanding of what you should be answering for each question.
Do you know why you created the brand in the first place? What was your goal?
Every exceptional brand starts with a clear and simple “why.” Ask yourself what inspired you to launch this company in the first place. If it feels like explaining it all in one sentence is too difficult, then divide it these three components to help you define it better.
Start by asking yourself, “Why does my brand do any of this?” This will help you understand your reasoning behind anything that your brand creates and says.
Then ask, “What does my brand offer?” and write it in a sentence. Make sure you’re detailed with your answer so it’s easier to understand everything afterward.
Last but not least, “How does my brand offer that product?” Make sure you understand that this question is all about how your brand presents itself and its products to the world. Is it easy to purchase? Does a client need to jump through hoops to buy it? If so, which ones?
By having all this answered, you’ll get a better glimpse of what your brand represents as a whole and what it can offer to its target market.
What is your brand’s end goal? What are you trying to achieve as a company?
What is it that your brand is pursuing? Can you explain it in one paragraph?
Here, you’ll want to talk about your brand’s values and purpose in a way that anyone who isn’t you can understand. This paragraph will inform everyone who is interested in your brand and wants to learn more about it.
Don’t make it a thousand words long, though. You want to try to be as concise as you can so people can quickly understand it all.
Do you have a detailed roadmap as to how you are going to get to that goal?
This answer is unique to every brand. Try to picture yourself 5 to 10 years from now.
How do you want your brand to look? What is it doing?
Now, think about what steps your brand needs to take to achieve this.
Don’t overthink it since these are not rules you’ll follow forever.
Instead, focus on making several steps that all work toward one main goal.
Does your brand affect and improve something outside of your control, such as society, the environment, or a specific part of the market?
The way you get to your main goal can always change depending on how you approach different obstacles throughout the years.
Don’t be afraid to modify your steps as the years go by so they align with what you are currently doing.
How do you want the world to see your brand? Do you want your brand to act in some type of way?
Customers like brands that are true to themselves and aren’t afraid to show the world who they are and what they represent.
To do this, you need to create the values your brand should have and always follow. You should always follow your core values, no matter what.
Your brand can hold as many values as you see fit, but limiting them to a maximum of seven will help you keep things clear and direct. Also, a shorter list will be easier to remember and internalize than a list with thirty different core values.
Some good values can be around sustainability, inclusivity, and diversity.
That being said, don’t be afraid to add your own values that are completely detached from any of these.
All of this information will help lay the foundation for everything else your brand does.
2. Who Are You Marketing and Talking To?
Knowing exactly who you’re talking to is vital for any brand strategy.
How are you supposed to create and market a product if you have no idea who would want it?
Defining your customer persona as soon as possible is a necessity if you want to grow and prosper as a business.
Think of it like archery. With no customer persona, you’re shooting arrows in the dark, and while you might hit the target once in a while, it’s not consistent.
With a detailed customer persona, you can instantly see your target and save yourself from any sort of guessing when shooting.
Take some time to analyze your industry and its market, then focus on finding your main audience.
Once you have this, focus on trying to understand them. What do they like, what do they hate, what issues do they face daily, and what inspires them to keep going daily?
Make sure you go deep when defining your customer persona. You don’t want a simple and basic customer persona; you want one that feels real and fleshed out.
Don’t just stop on a singular customer persona though. Instead, develop at least three unique profiles that showcase diverse and varying customer needs, motivations, or use case for your products.
This way, all of your marketing efforts work better and feel genuine.
Customers don’t want to feel like one more person in a group of people you’re talking to. They want to feel like you’re talking directly to them.
Once you have multiple customer personas set, we can move on to the next step.
3. Explain Your Story and Connect With People
One of the best ways to connect with your audience is through storytelling.
A strong emotional connection instantly builds trust with a potential customer and that is only achievable with a compelling brand story. When your narrative resonates, customers become invested in your brand in general, not just your products or services.
Avoid writing a simple and surface-level brand story. Those don’t connect with anyone and will make potential customers see you as generic and boring. Instead, develop a story that is compelling and meaningful. This isn’t throwaway content, this is a piece that will be set as the foundation that defines how your brand is perceived.
Talk about how the brand started, why it started, and what it wants to achieve (remember step 1).
Think about what sort of personality you want your brand to project. Are you looking to come across as inspirational, approachable, or collaborative? Whichever you end up picking, make sure that both your voice and storytelling approach supports it.
You don’t want to be all over the place with your voice, or people won’t connect with your brand. You want a consistent voice that represents your brand.
You should use this voice everywhere, from your website to your social media content. Customers shouldn’t be able to tell the difference between copy from your website and copy from any other place.
Find out what type of voice you should be using by taking your customer persona as an example. Consider how they would prefer you to talk to them.
Should it be professional and casual? Or should it be playful and daring?
Make sure you pick what type of voice you want your brand to have before doing anything else.
4. Focus on Your Design
Now that we have all of the important sections of your brand strategy covered, let’s go over the visual side of your branding.
The power of good design is evident everywhere.
Whenever someone says “swoosh,” you instantly think of Nike. There is no way around it; well-thought-out design is necessary if you want to stand out.
When you think about your brand, how do you want people to perceive it?
This should be a question that you can answer with all of the information you’ve worked on before this step. Be as detailed as possible.
If it helps you, try to see your brand as an object of your choice, and then start working on the look.
Think of your brand as plain white t-shirt. As you add colors and accessories, ask yourself “does this make sense with the narrative I’m going for?” or “Am I being too casual despite my main target persona being in the B2B sector?” and “Maybe I’m dressing the shirt up too much and being too formal despite working with a young audience?”
Every choice you make should reinforce the identity you want to express to the world.
Make sure the design aligns with the values and your voice. The last thing you want is a disjointed mess.
Don’t be afraid to ask your team for input here. Brainstorm ideas and don’t be afraid to get creative.
Remember, when we’re talking about design, we mean EVERYTHING. This includes color psychology, fonts, logos, brochures, videos, illustrations, etc.
In need of a website redesign but don’t know where to start? Let us help.
5. Don’t Rush It
We see this all the time. Brands want to launch as soon as possible and end up not focusing on their brand strategy as much as they should. This will only set them up for failure.
No strategy works or looks great when rushed, and your brand strategy is definitely no exception. Considering it’s the foundation of where everything else stands on, if it isn’t properly developed, you’ll start running into issues as soon as you create marketing and business strategies with it.
When we say “don’t rush it” we don’t mean you should take a whole year to create your brand strategy. We mean that you should create it, give it time to sit there after you created it, then you can go back and review it again to make appropriate changes.
You can set a deadline to get your brand strategy done, but make it reasonable so you have time to make any changes you might want to make.
Get someone to look everything over and share their honest thoughts. It can be a teammate, a friend or a co-founder. As a rule of thumb, you should not be the only person signing off on every design detail. Your expertise and knowledge regarding your brand is only yours, from an outsiders perspective, an idea that in your eyes might seem simple and obvious, can be obtuse and complicated for others.
An idea or statement that makes sense for you might not be exactly what your brand needs or should say. Having different perspectives from people that are involved with your business in a different way is vital for a brand strategy.
Most of this brand strategy should work for years, so make sure to take your time at every step.
Get a Custom Brand Strategy That Converts With Blacksmith
You now know all of the steps needed to make a solid brand strategy from scratch; all you need to do now is implement it.
But creating a brand strategy not only takes a lot of time. It also takes knowledge in certain areas that you might not know about.
What now?
That’s where we come in.
Here at Blacksmith, we’re experts in everything branding-related. From creating the best branding strategies from scratch to updating an existing one, we’ll make sure your company has the brand strategy it deserves.
As a full-service branding agency, we have a group of seasoned graphic designers ready to work day and night to make sure your brand ideas become a reality. Don’t have a clear idea and want suggestions?
We have you covered as well.
Still unsure if a brand strategy is what your company needs to grow? Click here to schedule a call with us. We’ll audit your brand and show you what branding issues you have and what we can do to solve them.
