olors and the design on your website countless times, only to feel like something is still off and you only hear crickets?
Believe me, you are not alone. I see you struggling over there to grow your business, feeling overwhelmed by all these things and still unsure of what to do. Let’s be honest, it is not easy to be an entrepreneur, and by tweaking your brand design (over and over again) won’t solve the issue. You’re actually just avoiding the hard work by spending time on something that’s way more important.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed and stuck trying to scale your business, it’s not because the colors of your brand aren’t just right. You probably just don’t have a clear brand strategy as a foundation for marketing and growing your business.
Are you here because of the following reason – If yes, this is the perfect article for you
- You are struggling to grow your business? Or not seeing the growth in your business like you want to?
- You’ve put countless hours, effort and invest lots of money on ADs but still hearing crickets?
- Overwhelmed and not sure who you should be selling to or targeting?
- You have the most amazing product but nobody seems to buy from you?
- Trying to figure out all of these on your own?
Let’s start with Brand Strategy First
I see so many business owners who are struggling to market and grow their business. They feel like they are doing everything and taking the right steps but aren’t seeing the needle move towards growth. And when I took a closer look at why so many were struggling, I saw a common thread – they weren’t focusing on the right thing.
Before considering brand performance and concentrating on the ROI (return on investment), first thing first, you need to start with getting your brand strategy right before even jumping into design, I know although it is just fun to focus on the pretty stuff. Once again, I can’t emphasis this enough, branding does not equal to your logo and it is not always about the visual aspect of your brand (although that’s also very important, but branding is so much more than that). The best brands have effectively mastered their brand strategy that even without the presence of their logo and regardless of which platform you find them on, you recognize exactly which company you’re interacting with. It might be their brand voice (the way they speak, their messages, their content), their story or the philosophy they promote. Whatever that is, it’s instantly recognizable and it’s undeniable.
And here’s the truth
“People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it – Start with your why?” – Simon Sinek
In a time where consumers demand authenticity and values they can align themselves with, it’s more important than ever for brands to be crystal clear on what they stand for (who they serve/help and how they can provide value/transformation for their audience). If you do not have a solid foundation, effective business & marketing plan with clear strategy in place, you will end up talking to nobody. The information age has no place to hide and brands without a strong beliefs on who they are, what makes them unique will quickly get found out – and forgotten about. Giving your business an authentic and distinct brand strategy will help it stand out from the competition and create more meaningful connections with your customers. Without a clear brand strategy, it just doesn’t do any good to invest time and/or money into a brand or website design. Otherwise, your brand and website won’t help you to stand out from the competitors, attracting your ideal customers, boosting your sales and revenue and you’ll end up having to go back and tweak it again and again.
By defining this foundational strategy for your business, you will be able to better understand and communicate your message to the right audience. You’ll have a guide for the rest of your business growth, marketing, and decisions that will keep you on track instead of wavering inconsistently once you learn this process.
What is brand strategy?
So by now, I hope I successfully convinced you that having a clear brand strategy is the first approach to build a successful brand, but what is a brand strategy? Where and how can you start?
Your brand strategy sums up why your business exists beyond making money. It defines what sets your business apart from the competition and how you want your customers to perceive it. It’s basically what other talks about you when you are not in the room. It’s about the impression that you are giving to the audience. Your brand strategy should encapsulate the problems you are trying to solve in a way that will instantly resonate with those who have suffered them. And just like that you’ve captivated the hearts of your ideal customers. The ones you were empathizing with and trying to benefit. Without shouting out how great your product or service is, you’ve said something far more valuable. You’ve shown a specific selection of people (based on your brand strategy) that you understand them. And you’ve told them exactly what you can do for them.
How do you develop a clear brand strategy?
Your brand strategy should answer the following questions – Where you’ve come from (where it all started, what you’ve learned along the way), what makes you unique (what it is that sets your business apart), how you want to position yourself moving forwards and why you do what you do. I am a firm believer that if you are taking the time to establish a strong foundation and spend some time analyze your own brand you will be able to create an authentic and distinctive brand that consistently engages with your audience. Remember, it is never the wrong time to define (or redefine) your brand strategy. Particularly if you’re on the quest for brand performance.
- Draft your business plan with clear mission statement: These are the core components of your business and your branding. The values, traits and vision that sets your business apart and is underlying everything yo do. In one sentence, answer what, why, how your business do and can solve a specific problem.
- Start with in depth market research: Analyze what people actually want and need and not what you think what they need.
- Define who your ideal client is: If you water down your message, trying to make it appeal to most people, you will end up attracting no one. Hone in on 1 customer type, your ability to articulate exactly what they are struggling with and want most from a solution will prove that your product is the one for them. You message will gain the clarity and focus needed to make a significant impact.
- Brand statement purpose & promise: sum up your brand purpose in a clear and concise brand statement with maximum impact by defining the results or transformation you provide.
- Define your Brand positioning & differentiation: This is to answer the question WHY you? Why you do what you do differently than someone who does the same thing you do. The type and positioning of your brand and how it speaks to your customer
- Brand offerings: How are you solving people’s current issue? Successful procedures
- Brand voice and personality: Define the right message, brand voice and content so you can deliver the message or say the right thing to the right person
- Provide an excellent Customer journey and experience: Map out your on boarding off boarding customer journey so you can ensure to achieve their goals and expectation
- Brand message: Produce valuable and memorable content with your brand through storytelling and messaging based on your brand strategy.
How to start implementing brand strategy
I know it can be a little overwhelming to have to go over the entire list for your brand strategy, but once you do you will have so much confidence and clarity in growing your business. No matter what kind of business-related aims you may have, strengthening your brand will help you close in on them.
You will have a clear image on who you are serving, what issues are you helping them to solve, what transformation and value are you bringing them, and how to communicate with them. Every time when you post a instagram post, story, TikTok, even on Clubhouse or starting a conversation about your brand, you’ll know exactly what to say and be able to stay focus on the growth.
Now answer these core questions to start clarifying your brand strategy:
- Goals? Who does your business serve? Knowing exactly who you’re speaking to will help you understand what you need to communicate about your brand to convert them to a paying customer.
- Client Needs? Your clients are such a vital part of the health of your brand. In the end you are building your brand for them not for you. So define what results or transformation do you provide? What is the core result or transformation that you are trying to provide people?
- How do you provide those results? How do you package up your results into a product or service that people can buy to get those results?
Essentially, every time when you create a new branded materials, building your email list, investing money on paid ads, hire a designer or copywriter, or create a new website, figure out your brand strategy. You can use the above framework to determine whether the decision is right for your brand or not.
Some examples of brand strategy goalsHaving a clear brand strategy, a consistent message and identity design will help you with the following objectives
- Raise brand awareness: Helps you to get your name out there. Do you know that it takes multiple impressions before a person will start to take note of your brand and you want to make sure they can make a connection between those impressions. There should be a uniformity in the look, sound and feel of your branding.
- Earning brand loyalty: This is the key to build lasting relationships with your clients and a part of building a thriving community of people who like and follow your brand. People who are loyal to your brand also make great brand advocates and this can go a long way towards building trust quickly with new prospects and ultimately gaining more clients.
- Improving Brand equity: Brand equity represents the overall image of your brand and the value this brings to your business. Positive brand image helps your business be more profitable, while negative brand equity hurts you. Very positive brand equity also makes your brand look like a more valuable choice over your competition and help you to attract high-end clients.
Some examples of how lack of brand strategy hurts your business
Let’s say you have a beautiful, sleek website where you sell high-end luxury goods, but then potential customers are faced with a clunky-looking checkout system. What’s the likely result? You will lose customers. Why? Because the brand experience from your website and experience from the checkout don’t match. The customer will start questioning whether your brand is really for them or not. This is exactly why having a brand strategy in mind when developing your business is so important. Maybe having a very basic design allowed you to cut costs. But what are the cost of damaging the impression of your brand?
Final thoughts – Recap
So, what i want you to take away from this post is: be strategic with your branding.
You might think building a brand is all about having a nice logo with pretty colours and professional photos, but unless all those things are created with a strategy in mind, then there’s no real way to know if they will actually help your business to grow, attract more ideal customers, and make you profit. While you can build a brand without a clear strategy, you will do it haphazardly, feel scattered and inconsistent, and struggle every step of the way – even if you are getting good sales and income. With a brand strategy in place, you’ll be able to clearly and confidently grow a brand that is wildly successful and widely known without doubting yourself. You’ll have your own blueprint for building your brand based on a foundation that is tailored for your business.
To get started with your brand strategy, check out my free branding guide: How to create a successful brand
What’s next?
Now that you know what a brand strategy is and that you need to have one for your business, it’s time to make it happen. And just so you know, brand strategy is included in all of my branding and web design services. If you feel overwhelmed and looking for someone who can help you with the brand strategy Blueprint with intentional brand identity and web design – minus the headaches, countless hours spend on doing researches and endless googling. I will help you to elevate your business to the next level, attract your ideal customers and most importantly having a thriving business while doing what you are passionate about.
Ready to elevate your business?
Head this way for your next step →
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