At the core of every brand is a brand strategy that helps inform the different choices made. These choices could be, the look of the brand’s website, the tone of the email campaigns, or the story behind the brand. Therefore, it is essential to understand the concept of brand strategy as this determines how much a business thrives.
Your brand strategy encapsulates different elements including the voice used to communicate to your audience, or the values driving you forward. It involves everything that uniquely contributes to building a brand that leaves a lasting impression. Consequently, you must get it right as it determines how far your business will go in the competitive marketplace.
This blogpost sheds light on brand strategy as one of the emerging marketing trends, and the laws guiding it.
What is a Brand Strategy?
A brand strategy is simply the comprehensive approach that ensures a brand builds recognition and favorability with its audience. It encompasses different brand elements, including voice, storytelling, brand values, brand identity and a brand’s overall outlook.
If your brand is how you present your business to the world, your brand strategy is the platform that holds it up. Your brand strategy is a playbook for you, your teams and anyone acting on behalf of your business. It answers questions about how your brand responds to certain situations; it defines what your brand is and what it isn’t.
Why is Developing a Brand Strategy Important?
In a highly saturated market space, brands without effective brand strategies can become weak, diluted, or forgettable. Customers easily move on from brands that don't leave a lasting impression, but a strong brand strategy can keep them.
A strong brand is vital for any business that desires to build long-term connections with customers, and recognition in the market.
A well-executed brand strategy is important for the following reasons:
It improves loyalty: Customers look out for a brand that leaves a lasting impression, and once they find it, they can be loyal for decades. They even go as far as propagating the brand’s gospel.
It drives brand awareness and recognition.
It attracts target customers: A fundamental tip about branding is knowing that not everyone is your target audience. An effective brand strategy focuses on the right people for your business and attracts them to you.
Brand consistency: A solid brand strategy builds brand consistency which results in increased market share and better brand recognition.
It also inspires word-of-mouth marketing and referrals.
The Laws of Brand Strategy
The Law of Purpose
There's a common saying: "If the purpose of a thing is not known, abuse is inevitable." Interestingly, this quote applies to your brand and brand strategy because you need to know why they exist. A lot of businesses are driven by the euphoria of having a brand and they end up creating one without a purpose. The result of this is being buried in the sea of competition.
The purpose of your brand should be one of the first questions you answer. Defining your brand’s purpose answers the following questions:
“Why does my brand exist?”
“How will my brand achieve its purpose?”
“What type of brand strategy do I need to adopt to ensure my brand achieves its purpose?”
As you define your target audience, your mission statement, and your values, your brand’s purpose becomes clearer. Apart from influencing the type of brand strategy you adopt; your brand’s purpose serves as a motivation in challenging seasons.
The Law of Research
This law ensures that you look before you leap. Before you adopt a brand strategy, you must conduct some market analysis. This helps you know your target audience and competitors vying for their attention.
Market research helps you understand the gaps in the market, and the distinct brand voice and channels you need to exploit. It also helps you build your unique selling point and incorporate it into your brand strategy.
The Law of Effective Storytelling
Storytelling is an integral part of your brand strategy, as it gives your audience something to relate their experiences to. Your brand story is the narrative used to communicate key moments in your business’ origin, values and purpose.
It builds a connection between your business and customer base as you share what you stand for and why the business exists. This creates an open environment where people relate to your business on a deeper level.
The Law of Uniqueness
The marketplace is highly saturated, and this means you have to develop a brand strategy that sets you apart. It is easy to get lost in the arena of stiff competition if you do not stay true to your brand and what it offers.
Your brand strategy has to include a unique voice, identity and value that cannot be gotten elsewhere. This is integral to your standing out among competitors. Your brand strategy has to give your target audience a reason to prefer you over other brands.
Guard your uniqueness as much as you can and don’t sacrifice it for popularity. Not everyone is your audience, but staying true to your brand helps you build a solid customer base.
The Law of Consistency
Being consistent is very similar to having a unique focus. It is easier to be known for something when you constantly create a brand strategy around it. Consistency should be reflected in your communication, gravitas, and appearance.
There are some customers you will never be able to convince if you are not consistently in their faces. Therefore, consistency must be at the core of your brand strategy.
Note that there are days you won't feel like showing up to talk about your brand. This is why you have to build a solid brand strategy that does the talking whether you are there or not.
Conclusion
Just like there is no building without a foundation, there is no successful brand without a solid brand strategy. Your brand strategy is integral to how far your business will go. This means you need to come up with a solid one that will stand the test of time and the demands of the market.
Start developing that brand strategy today!