The 4 Key Essentials of a Brand Strategy That Gets Results
So first, before we dive into the 4 essentials, let’s define what exactly is a brand strategy and why you need it.
A brand strategy is basically the guide for making branding decisions that help you hit your business goals to attract more of your ideal clients by creating the right perception of your business in the market.
Too often people jump straight to designing with no strategy behind it and this is usually why their designs are often less effective. Designs that lack business and brand strategy will always miss the mark. And business strategy that lacks the right design to support it is also ineffective, as well.
All major corporations have developed specific brand strategies that allow us, the public, to perceive them in a certain way. Whether it’s Louis Vuitton, a company that’s positioned itself as a luxurious shoe brand or PayLess, a company that’s positioned itself as the bargain shoe brand. We all know these brands for specific things and it makes their marketing more effective.
When you go into a Louis Vuitton store, you already know you’re going to be spending a significant amount of money and you know you’re investing in a “status symbol” because the company has positioned itself as a luxury brand. Therefore, Louis Vuitton stores attract certain people who want luxury, status, elegance.
And when you go into PayLess, you know you’ll get a deal on shoes that simply “do the job” because they’ve positioned themselves as a bargain brand. And PayLess attracts people who want to bargain shop and spend as little money as possible.
Another example is Whole Foods. When you go to Whole Foods, you know you’re going to be spending more money on organic food options and food brands that use only natural ingredients. So Whole Foods usually attracts health conscious people, who don’t mind paying more money for foods to support their healthy lifestyles.
But when you go into Wal-Mart, you know you’re going to spend a lower amount of money on food with fewer, non-organic, non-natural options. Organic and natural doesn’t matter as much to Wal-Mart shoppers. They just want to fill up their carts and move on. So Wal-Mart usually attracts bargain shoppers and shoppers who aren’t as concerned about paying more for quality.
For all of these stores, their positioning/brand strategy does a lot of the marketing for them, helping them draw in more of their target customers into their stores.
So here are the 4 key essentials for creating a brand strategy that gets results.
The essentials will help you market your small business as effectively as large corporations do!
Mission/Purpose: Have a clearly defined mission and purpose that your business serves. Know what specific outcome you create for your clients and be sure your branding and website communicates it.
Value Proposition: Know what you unique selling proposition is. What makes you unique in your industry? What’s different about how you get results for your clients? Communicate that in your branding and website to make sure you make a memorable impression quickly with your target clients.
Brand Attributes: What adjectives would you use to describe your brand? How do you want your brand to be perceived? Use descriptive words for this and make sure your branding is giving off the right perception that matches those words.
Client Avatars: Finally, get specific about the types of clients who you most want to serve. What problems are they experiencing that you can help them with? How will their lives be better after working with you? Make sure you’re clearly communicating to these specific people about exactly how you can help them with your branding and website.
Want help positioning your business properly so you magnetically draw in your target high caliber clients? Set up a complimentary brand discovery call. And we can chat about how I can help you develop a stand out brand identity and website that’s designed to support your marketing so you can draw in more of the right clients and create the right perception in the market for your business!