Adopting a brand strategy can have huge benefits for your company. A brand strategy is a plan which sets out your long-term goals and how they can be achieved throughout the evolution of your brand.
Having a well-thought-out brand strategy is important for every business. It can be a particularly powerful tool when introducing a new organisation or product; re-positioning within the marketing; attracting investors, staff or customers; or rebuilding reputation.
Having a brand strategy can help your business keep communications consistent and stand out from competitors.
Brand Personality
When building your brand’s personality, it can be useful to think back to how it all started. Understanding your brand’s story can be a great way to get to grips with its character. Sharing this story with your employees and customers is also a great way to spark their emotional interest in your brand and start forming an attachment.
Two critical aspects of what makes your brand unique are its values and its vision. These are a good way to communicate to employees and customers alike what is important to your company.
Having thought about how your brand started, it’s now time to start thinking forwards. Obviously, all companies have an ambition to make money. However, it is also important to consider the purpose of your brand. What does it stand for? What is the vision for the future?
This vision will to be informed by the company’s values. When thinking about your brand strategy, it can be useful to consider what responsibilities your brand takes ownership of. The beliefs and aspirations that underpin these values can enhance emotional ties with your customers.
For example, lots of brands are now considering their environmental impact and it is productive to clearly communicate these passions. Whether your products are made sustainably, or you are raising funds to support a charity, make sure to share these points of interest with your clients and community.
Brand Community
Customers are not always rational with their choices. Building up your company’s brand will add value to your products or services. This is because rather than simply buying a commodity, customers are also buying into a community. This relationship with your customers is why a carefully designed brand strategy is so important.
A tight-knit brand community may mean that you have a niche audience. Try to stick with your brand, it is not always possible to meet the needs of everyone everywhere. Understanding your audience will help you to further develop your brand strategy. Persona segmentation can be a great way to visualise your customers and understand their needs and expectations.
Assessing the journey that each customer type makes will let you identify the strengths and weaknesses in your communications. Reviewing each touchpoint will enable you to make sure that engagement is consistent, and your brand’s personality is displayed.
Company Culture
As previously mentioned, a brand’s values and visions should be communicated to customers. However, it is also important that these are shared with, and adopted by, your employees.
Brand values and visions will inform the mission statement. A mission statement should be inspiring for stakeholders and employees. When those working for your company support the mission, staff satisfaction will be higher and, therefore, sales will increase.
As your company expands, recruiting people for their values and encouraging all staff to promote the brand values will help with developing a productive company culture.
A strong company culture can be the brand’s most significant asset due to its power to engage staff and, therefore, attract customers. Look at each touchpoint of the recruitment process as an opportunity to practice and promote brand values.
Overall, a holistic approach to your brand strategy is the best way to ensure that you keep the consistency required to become a recognisable brand. Your values, vision and mission should inform everything from customer service to production.
How can we help?
If you would like one of the specialists at Mackman to provide a comment or write an opinion piece for your publication, give us a call on 01787 388038, or email customerservice@mackmangroup.co.uk