How to build a competitive branding strategy
Marketing
If you think a brand name or logo makes for a branding strategy, re-think. It’s a misconception small business have of a branding strategy. Your brand name or logo are brand touch points. Their role is to communicate the branding strategy. So, what’s in a branding strategy?
1. Why your business exists
What matters more to your target audience is the reason the business exists for them. In other words, how your business transforms their lives for the better. You’ll need to be clear of this before you build the other pillars of your branding strategy.
2. What matters to your business
Every business needs to make money to survive and thrive. But beyond this hygiene quality, what else matters to your business? This group of factors are often referred to as your brand values. So, whilst making money is important, you will not compromise things like integrity, bringing a smile to everyone or protecting the environment. They are values you want your brand to be associated with.
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3. How would you personify your brand?
It’s the most fun part of building a branding strategy but also the trickiest. A brand is a living, breathing entity, just like human beings. Hence, it must be relatable at that level. To this end, it needs to have a personality, like every human being. Is your brand young and witty or mature and stable? Maybe it is aggressive or a go-getter. Your brand’s personality will dictate how you will appear to the public – in other words, your communication tone and style.
4. So, what does your brand do well?
In marketing language, this is labelled as brand positioning. Think of every person (and so brand) you know well. They’re probably known to you for a specific quality – Helen, the chatterbox; Joe, the funny guy. It’s not about being different or better. More importantly, it’s because your brand does what it does well. Perhaps not for everyone, but for a specific group of people – your target audience. After all, Joe may not be funny to everyone.
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