We all know every business needs a strategy and can’t just throw spaghetti at the wall all the time in the hope to get your marketing and your messaging just right, but what is a brand strategy and what might it look like?

Targeted marketing can be a bit elusive when it comes to business strategy so we want to break it down and show you rather than tell you, what a brand strategy can do to develop your brand long term.

If you are still at the stage of defining your brand you may want to check out what the funk is branding first.

Now, let’s crack on with polishing up your brand identity to conjure up the right brand associations when it comes to your target audience.

 

Key objectives

Every brand strategy must honour specific key objectives and be based around such, be it to increase organic leads or improve aesthetics within your brand identity to further resonate with your target market, objectives must be set out and agreed before any brand strategy pathway is mapped out.

We would advise not to start creating a brand strategy until your brand positioning goals and objectives are clearly defined.

 

Design elements

A strong brand should withstand market fluctuations and flash in the pan trends.

Your products and services won’t sell themselves in most circumstances, so your brand identity cannot just be a favourite shade of say green or a quick witted tagline, it needs to delve deeper into the positive perceptions of your target market.

Their views surrounding your brand mission and story lay the foundations of an epic brand image.

 

Remember…

A product is what you sell, a brand is the perceived image of the product and branding is the strategy to create that image.

When you merge creativity and great design with data driven strategy, you may just hit the sweet spot!

 

Customer journey

The before, the during AND the after.

This is a strategic process often overlooked, particularly post sale.

 

Which leads us onto…

 

User experience (UX)

From website navigation, to how a reader consumes your content, are you ensuring a first-class user experience?

UX is all about the user and how to guide them to their (and yours) desired outcome. AKA what they are going to do on your website in an ideal scenario.

User focused design is crucial and often overlooked as particularly new businesses run with their heart rather than UX research when it comes to elements such as website wireframing and site navigation.

 

Content Strategy

Building a brand takes time and a well thought out content marketing plan can make or break a potentially successful brand.

We have found content can often be sporadic, barely thought out and winging it for many businesses that are caught up in the day to day business activities.

We like to keep content simple yet informative, no fluff and data and design driven where possible.

 

SEO strategy

Provided basic SEO practices are in place search engine optimisation is a great move to apply to your content.

In one way or another, from advertising flyers to blog posts, you will need content that EATs your competitors in your industry to have a chance at getting your brand messaging heard above the noise!

 

Social Media Marketing

Social presence is important, even if it is not your main source of converting leads into paying customers an outdated, stagnant social presence does not look good when potential customers and clients check you out.

On the other hand some businesses admit spending way more time on social media hunting for leads than they would like to admit, a good balance can be using your website content strategy to transition into snippets to post on social with an automated tool or outsourcing your social media management strategy.

 

 

Taking into account all of the above, what might a brand strategy look like?

If we use our typical processes we focus on 3 key phases, do note each business may begin at any given stage depending on many elements so here is one example of a process over just 4 weeks!

The process can be tweaked, repeated (often on a retainer basis) and shuffled dependent on client needs and brand strengths and weaknesses.

 

Phase 1: STRATEGY

 

Phase 2: CREATION

 

Phase 3: GROWTH

 

STRATEGY

-          Define desired, realistic key objectives in alignment with brand values and mission within the scope of the team or hired professional.

-          Audit UX (user experience), sales processes, existing brand elements, web copy, and blog content value

 

CREATION

-          Create and deliver new graphic design elements such as logo upgrade, colour palette, font review, image library

-          As per copy and content analysis create SEO friendly blog articles, or service pages to highlight local SEO analysis

 

GROWTH

-          Provide client with a content model to adhere to thus aiding meeting agreed key objectives (EAT*)

-          Upgrade existing web pages in line with SEO software to optimise current content

 - Research and advise on other options such as Pay Per Click marketing 

 

This process is not static or a one size fits all example, when it comes to brand strategy the complexity can be overwhelming for the business owner, which is why phase one is crucial before creation stage to ensure effective branding that stirs up not just sales, but emotion in your customers and clients.

We at Brandfunk hope this article has helped you to pinpoint an area to prioritise within your brand strategy, so you can map out your next business growth objectives.

In fact, we have created a brand strategy checklist just for you to pinpoint where to focus on your brand marketing, just get in touch to request it or reach out on our social channels if this would help you in your own brand strategy.

Here's to an epic 2020 from all of us at Brandfunk!