Investing in a brand strategy will actually save you money if you are looking to grow your company to the next level.
Establishing how your company is perceived is critical but is often an afterthought as most companies focus on their product or service. Having a brand strategy is important for all companies, despite size, vertical or industry served.
The Value of a Brand Strategy
A brand strategy is used to determine the wants, needs and motivations of your target audience through research. It will change the way a company conducts its business. It is instrumental in providing a platform that brings internal cohesion to an organization, including the way it is run and how it distinguishes itself from its competitors.
We’ve seen it time and again with our clients. Developing a brand strategy is central to driving all areas of business performance as it increases revenues and overall company growth, proving to be an invaluable investment with a high rate of return.
To be clear, a brand is not a name, logo, color, tagline, product or service. A brand is defined by how people feel about your organization and what you offer that your target audience is willing to buy.
Without a brand strategy, companies lack clarity, consistency and do not have a clear plan on how to pursue their target market. This puts your company at a disadvantage, as the battle for mindshare continues, while your brand remains undifferentiated from your competitors.
Strong brands help build credibility and trust by clearly defining their target audience. A brand strategy determines how you speak to your audience and in the language that appeals to them. Strong brands do this by strategically connecting with their target audience on an emotional level, motivating them to continually buy. This creates long-term, loyal customers.
From an external standpoint, it provides the consistency and clarity required to truly resonate with your target audience at every communication touchpoint. It will also help you to outperform the competition as your target audience will see you as the only solution to their problem. Research will also reveal how to truly differentiate your organization from your competitors through a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis.
Branding and the Customer Experience
Today’s brands have evolved to reflect the entire customer experience in a consistent manner. Forbes magazine recently reported that “Consistent brand presentation across all platforms increases revenue by up to 23 percent. The article corroborates, ….”branding is more than just a logo design. Every piece of collateral – from social media channels to website designs to product packaging – should maintain a similar color scheme, tone, overall aesthetic, and communicate a similar message that fits your brand identity and core values.”
All parts of the organization need to reflect and support the brand starting with an organization’s most important asset – its people. All employees must be able succinctly and clearly articulate and deliver your brand experience.
Strategic Brands are Cohesive, Clear and Consistent
A strategic brand helps to align business processes, establish company goals and objectives (including integrating new lines of business) and defines the brand promise and values. Brand strategies provide the opportunity to bring cohesion to all brand touch points by clearly defining your vision, mission, goals, brand personality, characteristics, image and your core competencies.
This is encompassed through the brand positioning statement which speaks directly to and is uniquely relevant to your target market. Like your brand personality, it may not reflect where your company is currently but where it needs to be. The subsequent tagline and key messaging developed for your target audience will support all of the above and further encapsulate the entire brand experience.
Research is also used to identify the best ways to promote your brand from a both a positioning and tactical standpoint. It may require changing your logo, creating new visuals or engaging on platforms you have not previously considered.
Why A Brand Strategy is Critical to Your Growth
- Drives marketing strategy
- Uniquely distinguishes your company from your competitors
- Identifies the ‘why’ not the ‘what’ for your target audience
- Defines how you engage with your target audience by understanding their needs and wants, providing an emotional connection to motivate buyers
- Provides ongoing consistency and clarity which fosters trust/credibility and drives loyalty
- Provides internal cohesion for employees as everyone is aligned with the same goals and objectives
- Delivers a clear path to become an influencer and leader when executed properly
- Drives overall brand awareness and is key to attracting new customers and top talent
- Is used as the basis to design a distinct visual identity
- Provides return on investment
Brand strategies are worthy of investment and protection as they span the organization, create corporate culture and are integral for communications, products and services at all touch points. In turn, they drive revenue and growth and deliver ROI.
For your free consultation regarding your current brand and how to take your company to the next level, please contact hi@wearebrandingafrica.com
