Branding Strategy – Part 1: An overview
This article details an overview of what a branding strategy might include. In later articles, we will look at some more detailed examples. Any strategy will include a host of things that I have already covered in articles here. These include mission and vision statements, tone of voice, and style guides.
Branding strategy can be a nebulous thing, but like all strategies, it must be devised and created for each individual organisation. There are many books written to help people understand a branding strategy, including my own.
So let’s start with an overview of the stages you might want to take when creating a branding strategy.
Step one: know your market
No matter what your organisation does, its services or products will already have a market out there delivering the same or similar. Even if you are a ‘disruptor’ or think you have an entirely new and unique offering, there will be something or someone doing what you want to do. Make it your business to know their business. Document it.
Step two: know where you want to be
Define where you want to be in that market. If you honestly believe you are aiming for a new market – define it. Who is going to buy what you have to offer? Why will they buy from you rather than your competitors? Profile your audience. It is not enough to say ‘everybody’ because there are very few products or services in the world that appeal to everyone.
Step three: define who you are
Set out how you (your service, product, etc.) would like to be perceived. Once you know who you are up against and where you want to be in the market, you can begin to define how you would like to be presented to your customer base. Are you all about the environment? Or maybe it’s value for money. Perhaps the opposite; exclusive luxury. Document it. In fact, document everything.
Develop a mission, vision, and descriptor. Your design and marketing agency can help you with this. If they are performing a corporate identity review or new branding project, they should be working with your marketing and management team to get this right.
Step four: what will your identity and branding look like?
Write a brief to commission a design agency and branding expert. Try not to direct them to a solution you have in mind. It rarely works. Instead, detail the issues and opportunities and let them create solutions.
Provide all the market intelligence you have, as well as your personal and managerial hopes and dreams. What do your competitors get right? What do they get wrong? Define the ‘look’ you want, but tell them/us why you want it.
Step five: how will you communicate and market to your audience?
It does not matter if you are launching a new entity or reviving an old one. Looking at innovative ways of communicating with your customer base and developing a branding strategy to maximise impact, perhaps for the launch or long-term engagement, is vital. Make sure you set aside a budget for this and remember: it may take time to deliver tangible results. Done well, the result can be remarkable and even business-critical.
Step six: develop a plan for delivery
Working with your marketing team or marketing agency, develop a delivery plan. Initially, this is a ‘front-loaded’ process, but once in place, you can begin to deliver your communications plan and engage your audience.
It will be and should be, an iterative process. Review, test, change and improve to get the best ROI and convert your activities into sales.
Step seven: deliver
Deliver your brand and all that comes with it. Begin your marketing and engagement. Roll out your marketing plan and your branding strategy. Think outside the local area, if you are in London, there may be markets in Margate or Singapore. Stick to your guns and have faith in your research, but be open to new ideas. Make sure you have a proactive team working with you to deliver benchmark design, marketing, and social media activities.
Step eight: review
Monitor your results and review steps one to seven. Do you need to adjust? Set aside ego or predetermined perceptions. Focus on reviewing for improvement. Branding strategy and its delivery is an iterative process; one that can transform a business. Look at the organisations that do it best: Dyson, Apple, even EasyJet; they all flex within the market, but they all have core brand strategies and corporate identities that remain the foundation of everything they do.
Your job, when defining a branding strategy is to set those core foundations.
To see some of our branding and rebranding case studies, click here. If you are looking for a design and rebranding agency to help you implement a branding strategy: