What is included in the brand strategy

Do you know that 81% of consumers consider buying from trusted brands? How do brands earn their potential customer’s trust? It’s their strong brand strategy. That frames trust among the consumer through a unique voice, storytelling, and interconnected identity. Moreover, it builds brand perception with the target audience through consistent message follow-up encompassing all touchpoints. Let’s jump in with both feet to understand what’s included in the brand strategy better.

What is brand strategy?

A brand strategy is a framework to represent your business to potential customers. Your business is not all about name, font, logo, and color–it’s a unique personality, value, voice, and beliefs aligned with the customer. At the same time, it builds a brand identity to stand out from the competitors in the market. Brand strategy feeds the belief that a product will repeatedly provide the same results. To create a brand strategy, you need to hear the following prospect:

• Target market
• Your target audience
• Competitors and their branding strategies

Importance of brand strategy

Brand strategy is food for your business. And Business is meaningless without a strategy. Let’s take a look at what makes it so important and what’s included in the brand strategy.

Brand strategy communicates a company’s core values.

A value proposition is not just a company’s unique selling point. It’s a bundle of benefits customers get after purchasing brand products. Customers buy because of brand values aligned with their beliefs. By creating a strategy, brands figure out what they stand for and how they can provide value to consumers.

Brand strategy detects flaws.

A successful brand strategy identifies pitfalls from lack of clarity to consistency, ignoring competition, failing to improve brand performance, neglecting employees to stakeholders, and overpromising to underdelivering.

The brand strategy helps designers and creatives exceed in their work.

Designers and creatives can effectively create a logo, palette, tagline, and website copy with a crystal clear brand strategy. As a result, marketing teams work toward the same goal that is aligned with the brand’s personality. 

Meaningful conversation with customers

With an effective strategy, the brand builds loyal consumers through a significant conversation with them.

So, now you get why brand strategy is important for your business to succeed. Meanwhile, brand strategy is a secret sauce that differentiates you from the rest.

4 Types of brand strategies

Are you wondering what brand strategies most brands use to excel among their competitors? Yes? The brand strategy makes up a brand identity because an effective brand strategy creates a good brand that demonstrates who you are as a business, your target audience, and long-term goals.

However, picking the right type of brand strategy will promote your business and help you thrive in the market. Let’s explore the different types of brand strategies for your business.

1. Personal Branding

Personal branding emphasizes an individual’s unique qualities, perspectives, and capabilities. Celebrities, influences, thought leaders, and politicians come under the umbrella of personal branding. Personal branding is your game if you are an expert in your field and crave to foster yourself.

Let’s take Elon Musk as a personal branding strategy example. Who does not know him and his strategies for building a brand? Everyone does. His powerful branding strategies make him unique from Tesla to buying Twitter.

2. Product Branding

In product branding strategy, the business picks one king product and brand around it. When consumers see this particular product, they automatically remember the brand. Coca-Cola and Pepsi are popular examples of product branding strategies.

3. Services Branding

This is identical to product branding, but it’s particularly for businesses offering services instead of products. Airbnb is the best service branding strategy. We will discuss this later in a blog post.

4. Co-branding

When you look at the several brands working together to promote their products or services, they follow co-branding strategies. This really benefits the brand and boosts sales by reaching a new audience. Do you crave McFlurry Oreo? Have you ever thought about Oreo’s collaboration with McDonald’s ice cream? Yes, this is a co-branding strategy that 71% of consumers appreciate and encourages more companies to collaborate on marketing their products.

7 key elements of brand strategy

A number of crucial elements make up a successful brand strategy; let’s delve deeper into some of the key elements included in the brand strategy.

1. Purpose

Brand purpose is a business motive, and that is why they exist apart from the company goals. It reflects the company’s value and the impact it wants to have on the customer while building an emotional connection. In 2004, the popular beauty brand Dove launched a groundbreaking campaign to burst the bubble of beauty–they show women of all colors and sizes to show empowerment as a brand purpose.

2. Target Audience

Defining your audience, their faith, challenges, behavior, and emotions is vital for a thriving brand strategy. Every brand message is planned to attract the researched target audience by aligning with their beliefs and problems. Over 63% of consumers and 76% of B2B buyers expect companies to understand their specific needs and expectations.

When you get into your target audience’s head, you can effectively connect with their emotions and build a loyal community. Now you know how important it is to research the target audience in building a brand strategy.

3. Competitive Awareness

Learn from your competitors, examine their strategy, and see how it works for customers. At the same time, you both have a similar target audience. Right? So why not find out which strategies work for them? Or in which they fail. Then, position your brand based on their experiences to go ahead of them in the market. But don’t lose your uniqueness. 

Although other companies may offer comparable products or services, your brand is distinct and notable. Dwelling too much on their every move may result in losing your uniqueness. Remain confident in your brand’s abilities and focus on your strengths to achieve success.

4. Brand Positioning

Brand positioning is an essential aspect of standing out in the market and is included in the brand strategy. It’s all about identifying what makes your brand unique and different from competitors. By doing so, you can target the right audience and ensure that consumers perceive your brand in a positive light. With effective brand positioning, you can confidently showcase your brand’s value proposition and key differentiators. It’s an exciting process. Isn’t it? It opens up new opportunities for growth and success.

5. Consistency

Always communicate with the audience consistently and clearly, which aligns with brand personality. Don’t say anything that doesn’t relate to your brand image. Every press release, tweet, Instagram post, memo, and Facebook post is designed through the lens of brand identity.

6. Loyalty

Business statistics reveal that 75% of consumers support businesses that present rewards. When you build up an audience that cherishes your brand services, reward them for their devotion. We all know that having customers who genuinely love your company and brand is a true blessing. They go out of their way to spread the word about your business and act as your ambassadors. 

It’s essential to show your gratitude and appreciation towards them. You can create a profitable and long-lasting relationship by nurturing and cultivating loyalty with these customers.

• A heartfelt thank you can go a long way, but sometimes, you need to step up your game. 
• Consider writing a personalized letter.
• Points programs in which customers can earn points on every purchase that can be saved for credit, discounts, or giveaways.
• Send them some exclusive gifts.
• Or feature them prominently on your website by asking them to write a review. 

Whatever you choose, make sure to go above and beyond to show them how much you value their support and loyalty. These rewards pay off for you in the long run.

7. Adaptability

Along with consistency, adaptability is vital in creating a booming brand strategy. It might sound confusing to you how both of these work together.

Let’s understand it.

You need to find the right balance between consistency and ability. Consistency sets a standard for your brand to make you noticeable.

However, with time, consumers get involved in new things, and industry trends change, so to make your product or service relevant, you need to adjust without sacrificing your values.

How to build a brand strategy?

1. Know your brand

Defining your brand is the first and foremost step toward building an effective brand strategy. Whether you’re creating a new brand or bracing an existing one, you need to establish its personality, voice, identity, and values. 

2. Define your buyer persona.

Create a buyer persona to resonate with your audience through a brand strategy. Collect key information about your target audience, analyze customer data, research the market, and check out your competition to create a profile of your ideal customer.

3. Position your brand

Next, position your brand. It is a powerful way to distinguish your business from others by highlighting its unique value proposition and features that set it apart. This process can help you establish a strong competitive advantage in your industry.

4. Design visual identity

Strong visual design is critical for creating a lasting impression on your audience. Create your brand personality by designing logos, color palettes, and fonts to reflect the brand message. Your brand visual design has to speak your brand style guide. Moreover, include these key elements in your style guide for consistency across all touchpoints, from websites to social media to marketing content. 

3 Top Brand Strategy Examples

At the moment, you are well aware of what is included in brand strategy. Let’s look at the renowned brands’ strategies that turn them into industry giants. Here are brands that use a purpose-driven brand strategy that helps them succeed in the long run.

1. Tesla

Do you know how Tesla hit a market cap of about $60 billion? All because of its compelling vision and forward-thinking ideas. The company offers premium electric cars that cater to the discerning consumer seeking speed and sustainability. Tesla’s firm commitment to customer satisfaction keeps it pushing the boundaries of innovation.

2. Apple

Apple’s brand is built on novelty, design, and customer experience. This enables them to have a powerful identity and outperform competitors. How does Apple position its brand? The following are key elements;

• Providing consistent brand value
• Sell emotions, not their product
• A simple and inspiring logo
• Customer-focused approach

3. Starbucks: Premium Coffee Experience

Starbucks has positioned itself as a first-rate coffee brand, offering a unique and comfortable coffee shop experience. They emphasize the quality of their coffee and the ambiance of their stores. Mainly, Starbuck’s brand strategy stands on two pillars:

• Strong brand value; quality of coffee
• Customer experience

Wrapping up

In today’s competitive market, staying true to your values and building an effective brand strategy is more important than ever. We have presented you a list of what is included in the brand strategy and its importance to reach new heights in your business. Let’s shine your brand with an effective brand strategy!