A brand strategy and purpose to ground your design decisions are powerful. They ensure your brand stands out from the rest and communicates with your people.
As a brand designer myself, my goal for the clients I work with is to ensure that their brand strategy helps them say the right things to their ideal clients—this means no longer missing the chance for incredible sales or connections.
Let’s dive into what a brand strategy is and why a brand strategy is essential for every business to have.
What is a Brand Strategy?
A brand strategy is a rock-solid plan that forms the foundation of your brand and your branding. It defines the overall direction and messaging for your brand and business and includes elements like your target audience, mission, and voice. It’s not just your brand personality and values (while those matter) the messaging will be even more important.
Why Your Brand Strategy Is Important
Here are my top reasons why a brand strategy is a must-have in your business:
A solid brand strategy helps you articulate your core identity
Your core identity is your vision, mission, and values; your brand strategy helps you communicate it. This is crucial in your journey to attract and retain the people you want to reach while staying authentic.
It differentiates you from your competition
When you have a tried and true brand strategy, the clarity you gain can be used as a resource to understand how your brand stands out. Also, a brand strategy helps your business be taken seriously—just like it deserves.
There’s a lot of noise out there and oversaturation in the market but your brand strategy helps get your business seen and attract new opportunities.
It will help you scale and continue to grow your business
If you view your business as your long-term career path and legacy, with dreams of scaling, then a brand strategy is non-negotiable.
When your brand strategy looks and functions smoothly at every touchpoint, you will no longer miss out on real results like more revenue, opportunities, and impact. Instead, you can rest assured and feel confident in your business’s long-term success, career, and legacy.
Defines your people
A brand strategy helps you eliminate the question of who am I trying to speak to. It helps you clearly define your ideal client and understand their wants, needs, and desires. You’ll be able to more easily attract the type of clients you want to work with instead of trying to speak to everyone.
Your brand strategy can also help your audience determine what makes you different, why they can trust you, and why they should be loyal to you. People want to buy from other people and it’s important that you use your brand strategy to show off who you are and attract the types of people that are going to connect with you the most.
Contrary to what some people may say, your business should have a target audience that you are trying to speak to. If you are trying to attract everyone, odds are you aren’t going to be the perfect choice for anyone.
So, use your brand strategy to figure out who you truly want to work with—who brings you joy and who is going to get the most out of your services. This doesn’t mean that you can’t work with anyone else, but you’ll be able to more effectively use your brand strategy to target the people you know you want to work with.
Backs up your design
As your brand designer and strategist, I will use your ideas about your brand to determine your visuals. I use intentional, psychology-backed brand strategy services that help entrepreneurs and businesses create a brand strategy that truly showcases their story while communicating their value proposition to clients and customers.
Because I use psychology, your visuals always work for you to draw in your dream clients and speak to them on every level.
What Makes a Successful Brand Strategy
Here are the ingredients you need to create your successful brand strategy so that you no longer have to continue throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks when it comes to your business:
You understand your audience
A solid brand strategy consists of knowing who your target audience is. That means knowing them to their core—not just their surface-level problems. You understand what makes them tick, their interests, hobbies, passions, frustrations, values, and what you have in common with them.
You know how to position yourself
You know your niche inside and out. Also, you know who your competitors are and what they’re doing – but you’re not a copycat.
Instead, your brand strategy helps you take a closer magnifying lens and see where the gaps are – what aren’t your competitors doing, and where and how can you be the solution for your audience? This is also known as your brand positioning, which sets you apart from your competition.
You know your unique value proposition and your voice
RESULTS THAT SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES
Download our case studies + client experiences to review the impact of our website design and brand strategy services have beyond the stunning deliverables you’ll find in our portfolio.
A successful brand strategy enhances your reputation and helps your audience connect with your brand, your values, and you. Keep in mind, too, that your unique value shouldn’t be something that someone else can undercut.
There is always someone who is going to be cheaper, who has a faster timeline, etc. Instead, think about the intangibles that you bring to your clients. What are they constantly raving about or what drew your clients to you in the first place?
A great place to start with this, if you don’t know for sure what your unique value is, is to ask your clients directly. Get feedback from them and see why they hired you, what made you stand out, and why they chose you over someone else.
This is also going to give you insight into your brand voice and what attracted your clients. Did they like that you have a more casual approach? Or did they appreciate how straightforward and educational your content is?
You know and commit to your brand promise
Your brand promise tells your audience what they can expect and what they’ll experience if they choose to work with you. This isn’t a flimsy statement – it is something that you uphold and make good on, and in turn, it will build trust and loyalty with your business.
You know your brand identity
Your brand identity is designed to reflect your brand strategy—which you need to create first. While your brand identity is important and needs to be cohesive across all channels, it does not equal your brand. Rather, it draws on your brand strategy.
To put it simply, your brand identity is your visual brand elements, which include your logo, color scheme, typography, etc. Your brand identity should also convey your tone and your voice.
Ready to Create Your Brand Strategy?
If you want your business to have long-term success and to take it to the next level (the one you thought might be too good to be true), then you have to have a brand strategy in place that helps your dream clients understand why and how you are going to help them.
A brand strategy will ensure that you have made your why and how crystal clear. It will also help you connect with your cream clients and stand out in a sea of open tabs and never-ending noise.
Ready to create a rock-solid brand strategy that you are proud of and stop filing it away in the something-I-know-I-need-to-do-but-never-got-around-to category? Then, I would love to help bring your vision to life. You can check out my design services here or head over here to get in touch and start your brand transformation journey!
