Time to go back to basics.
Time to bust some myths.
Time to outline exactly what brand strategy is.
And, importantly – what it means to you – as leaders.
Busting the myths:
X It’s not (just) your logo
X It’s not (just) your website
X It’s not (just) your campaigns
X It’s not (just) your branding style guide
X It’s not (just) your values
X It’s not (just) a plan
X It’s not a ‘nice to have’
X It’s not ‘fluff and nonsense’
Now – don’t get me wrong, even when I started out on this path into brand strategy, I thought similar. I thought the above list WAS brand, branding and identity. And, yes, I’ve spent more years than most diving into this topic, understanding it and getting to the real value of what brand is all about – bring that to many organisations and female founders since.
I would love to show you enough to be dangerous, to know you need it and that it’s of huge value.
So – buckle up.
Enter Marty Neumeier (again). He describes brand strategy to be:
“A long-term plan to outmaneuver competitors through radical differentiation.”
Let’s look at the three key parts to this (beautifully short) definition:
Long-term – it’s not an overnight impact, brand takes time to establish and grow in the minds and hearts of your audience. So, unlike marketing campaigns or social media efforts, it’s a longer play, because it’s about building relationships, which takes time. It take consistency, integrity, reliability and a great experience. This doesn’t happen over night.
Outmaneuver competitors – this is a key piece. How do you outplay those in your field of work? What elements are you going to take on and own, in your own way, that can move you away from your competitors and into your audience’s arms? There are so many areas you can do this – your why, what and how namely.
Radical differentiation – Now this is the fun part. Not just being different but RADICALLY different. What’s your secret sauce that is going to help you stand out, stand up and resonate with your audience? You can learn more about this in his fab book ‘ZAG’. But essentially it means being bold and leaning hard into your uniqueness, no room for the timid. And it has to permeate every aspect of your brand – foundations, voice, design, experience. And one might argue that if you’re solid in your point of (radical) differentiation, you render competitors irrelevant.
OK – but what is involved in creating a brand strategy?
AI says:
“Brand strategy is a purposeful plan that defines how an organization shapes its brand’s identity and positioning within the market. It involves decisions related to brand purpose, values, personality, messaging, visual identity, and customer experience to create a unique and resonant brand image. This strategy aims to differentiate the brand, foster customer loyalty, and drive business success while staying adaptable to market changes and consumer preferences.”
Actually – that’s not bad….
It touches on the fact you ‘shape’ or design your positioning in the market – with intention. Knowing your space you want to take up and where you have opportunity to grow into. This is about understanding who’s playing in this space and seeing white space, opportunity.
It touches on differentiation. We’ve seen from Marty this importance of radical differentiation in the face of savvy audiences.
It touches on loyalty – this is the long-term strategy for repeat customers, happy customers that become your advocates and tell everyone about it, coming back time and time again.
It touches on adaptability, or resilience in the face of change. Having a core, solid brand narrative (“brand purpose, values, personality, messaging, visual identity, and customer experience” and I’d add vision here too) will keep you on the path, keep the team aligned and keep your audiences understanding what you’re about in times of change (which is, let’s face it, the norm). The thing that can change is the HOW you do it – that’s where the innovation and creativity can flex and change with your market.
So beyond having these things in place, the strategy is a summary of HOW you’re going to bring all this together.
Some examples from my clients:
The One Tribe is a full service offering for pre-natal, pregnancy, post-natal and motherhood. Their strategy was “In service of the mother”. It’s allowed them to make decisions of services, consultants, programming and growth bases solely on this principle.
Ruth Foundation for the Arts is a philanthropic organisation supporting grassroots arts initiatives out of the mid-west. Their strategy was “The Original Paradox” – it captures their guiding philosophy of adopting the artists way, one that is often contradictory and complex, flexible and creative whilst delivering solid grants and having a national, credible reputation.
SoundExchange is a nonprofit that distributes royalties to musicians across North America. Their strategy was “Powering the Future of Music” – which allowed them to own their investment and developments in tech, demonstrate their adaptability in an ever-changing market and positioning them as thought leaders in the space of musician rights and advocacy.
beelove is a social enterprise that trains social-justice-impacted individuals in honey and honey-derived beauty products so support integration into their community, equipping them with key skills, purpose and crossing over into permaculture education and environmental awareness. Their strategy was “There’s Power in Honey” – this double-meaning statement speaks to the passion and impact of both their product and their work.
These can be seen as the organisation’s guiding principle when, supported by all the other elements (vision, brand purpose, values, personality, messaging, visual identity, and customer experience) give them everything they need to know to go to market with confidence.
They now know who they serve, what they need from the organisation, how to engage with them
They now know how their values can show up and impact behaviours including their tone of voice
They now know how they want to leave their audience feeling – what that looks like, sounds like and key messages (so a logo, identity and website etc can be created)
They now know what the long-term ‘north star’ of the organisation is, how to rally the team behind a compelling goal and be adaptable on the path there
So hopefully this gives you an idea of what a strategy can look like for you and the foundational role it plays in building a compelling, differentiated position, enabling consistency, alignment and direction.
Over time this builds trust, recognition and regard.
And that has value.
Agree? Disagree? Comment below and let me have it!
L