As a business owner, you likely hear talk of growing your brand or developing your brand strategy everywhere you look.
It’s on your Instagram scroll, in the business books you read, and well… if you’re a reader of my blog (and if you’re reading this, you are 😊) or
subscribed to my email list, you hear it from me, too!
Although it might seem like the talk of brand strategy is saturated and you might be tempted to give a big eye roll when you hear about it, it truly is one of the most important things for your business.
And I know, I know… of course I would say that as a Brand and Website Designer! But it’s true.
Brand strategy is the foundation of your brand and business and is one of the things that can really create a ton of growth for you over time.
What Brand Strategy REALLY Means & Why it Matters
Because I know that the talk of brand strategy can feel pretty vague, I want to break down what brand strategy REALLY means and why it matters for you specifically, so you can fully understand why spending time on this aspect of your business is so important and worthwhile.
From my own experience, I know that people tend to be super quick to tell you that you need a brand strategy or will talk all day about how important it is, but they leave out the part where they explain
what it is.
As a Brand and Website Designer who truly cares about this side of your business, I don’t want to be another one of those people.
Instead, I want you to read this blog post and walk away with clarity on brand strategy AND have the tools to actually implement it.
In order for that to successfully happen, you first must understand what brand strategy REALLY means!
What is Brand Strategy?
As mentioned above, brand strategy is the foundation of your brand and business and when done correctly, it can be the very thing that helps you reach your long term business goals.
Brand strategy involves different components that gives you full clarity about what you do, your why/your story, who you specifically serve and what sets you apart from others in your industry.
These components typically include:
- Brand Purpose - aka why your business/brand exists and what it stands for
- Brand Values - aka your core beliefs and principles that guide your decision-making
- Brand Positioning - aka how you are perceived by your audience and customers in comparison to others in your industry (your positioning is your differentiator)
- Brand Messaging - aka your tone, core message and visual identity
- Target Audience - aka the specific group of people that your business/brand is trying to reach or influence
Each of these components work together to create your overall brand strategy and allows you to make decisions much more effectively in your business because you have full clarity.
To understand this further, let’s look at an example:
Let’s say you are a copywriter. There are lots of copywriters out there, so your brand strategy can be the thing that really sets you apart.
Your brand strategy as a copywriter might look like this:
- Brand Purpose - your business exists to help other business owners write words that sell
- Brand Values - you deeply believe that all businesses need personality packed copy in their business and that comes through by using storytelling techniques
- Brand Positioning - because of this belief, your differentiator is storytelling. This is how you approach copy for your clients and you use storytelling as your positioning in the market.
- Brand Messaging - because you believe in personality packed copy with storytelling being the main factor, your messaging comes off the same way. In everything that you do, you use storytelling techniques, making your messaging casual, personal and playful.
- Target Audience - your target audience are business owners who want to add more personality to their brand and sell through storytelling
Without identifying each of those components, you might be tempted to jump at any potential client that comes your way… even if it’s a corporate law firm that values professionalism and wants that to shine through in all that they do.
A client like that is probably not a good fit for you, but you wouldn’t be able to clearly identify that without first developing your brand strategy.
It’s for this reason that you want to make sure you are treating your brand strategy as something that comes sooner rather than later in your business.
When you identify your brand strategy FIRST, you can start confidently making decisions that align with who you are and what you ultimately want to do, while simultaneously driving business growth!
Which leads me to why brand strategy really matters…
Why Does Brand Strategy Matter?
From the example above, you can hopefully see the huge difference having a brand strategy for your business makes.
But in case it wasn’t clear, let’s dive into a few specific reasons brand strategy matters so much!
- Direction and Clarity
The first and probably biggest thing a brand strategy does for you is brings CLARITY. And having clarity as a business owner is huge!
When you’re unclear about who you are, what you do, why you do it and who you serve, it makes it really hard for you to produce any real and long lasting traction in your business.
Without clarity, you will likely jump at any opportunity that comes your way (like I described above) without really acknowledging if it aligns with you, your business and your goals.
Defining your brand strategy means that you are becoming crystal clear on your purpose, values, mission and vision, which allows you to make decisions with all of those things in mind!
- Sets You Apart
In the example above, I took a very common industry (copywriting) and quickly created a brief brand strategy. That alone set that copywriter apart from others in the industry.
The SAME exact thing can happen for you when you define your own.
Sure, you might do the same or very similar thing as someone else, but I’m willing to bet that the reason and the way you do it is very different.
And those two things are a key part of your specific brand strategy. It can be the reason someone picks you over someone else.
- Increases Brand Recognition
When you identify your brand strategy, you start to show up in a very specific way in all you do - from social media content, emails, blog posts, etc.
When you do this, your audience starts to recognize you and become very aware of your brand as a whole!
As you continue to show up consistently overtime, your audience and potential customers will remember you and start to associate you with certain things.
It’s sort of like when your friend sends you a random Instagram post or TikTok video and says, “this made me think of you.” That’s because they identify and associate you with something specific.
The same starts to happen with your brand and business when your brand strategy is clearly defined and THIS is the ultimate goal!
- Attracts and Retains IDEAL Customers
The keyword here is IDEAL. When you don’t have a clear brand strategy, you can attract people to your brand or business all day long… but it doesn’t really matter if they aren’t aligned.
Take the example from above – a law firm who values professionalism probably isn’t going to seek out a copywriter who values personality packed copy and storytelling.
They simply aren’t aligned and that’s okay!
Remember: you aren’t for everyone and everyone isn’t for you. And it’s time you STOP trying to be. 🛑
A well defined brand strategy can help you attract those that are right for you, repel those who aren’t (which is a good thing) and ultimately retain clients for years to come – helloooo, customer loyalty. 🙌🏻
So, now that you know what brand strategy is and why it matters, you might be wondering HOW exactly you can develop your own.
How To Develop Your Own Brand Strategy
Even though brand strategy might feel like this huge thing that will take you a while to figure out, I’m here to tell you that it’s really not as complicated as it may seem.
To help you get started, let’s look at the basics – grab your journal or open up a fresh Google Doc and answer these questions:
- What do you do? Don’t make this complicated or emotional right now. It can literally be a one liner. Simply write down exactly what your business does for people.
- Why do you do it? There’s a chance you’ve done “Define Your Why” exercises in the past and I know they can be really hard and feel like some crazy thing you have to define. But again, don’t make it complicated or emotional right now. Just write down a few sentences about WHY you do what you do.
- What makes you different? There’s probably a lot of people out there who do the same or very similar thing as you. That’s okay! Write down what makes you different or why someone would choose you over someone else. You might have to dig a little deeper for this one, but simply write what comes to mind. Let your thoughts flow!
- Who do you ideally love to serve? The reason I asked this question this way instead of “who do you serve?” is because there’s a chance you’re currently working with people who aren't actually a good fit. Instead of thinking about all of the people that you currently serve, think about the ones that you LOVE working with. Why do you love working with them? Write that down.
- What are a few of your core beliefs or values? Again, you might have to dig a little deeper to get these out onto paper, but simply write what comes to mind. There are beliefs and values inside of you that directly impact what you do and why you do it. We just have to get them out of you so that you can clearly make the connection!
When you answer these questions, you’ll be on your way to clearly identifying your specific brand strategy, which includes: brand purpose, brand values, brand positioning, brand messaging and your target audience.
After you complete this exercise, you should have a new sense of clarity around your brand and business, but I know that sometimes it’s nice to workshop this type of stuff through with someone else.
And good news for you, that’s exactly what I’m here for!
CLICK HERE
to learn more about my Brand Strategy and Design Services.
Or, if you have a simple question that you’re curious about, I’m all ears
HERE.
Here’s to developing a brand strategy that is specific to you, friend. 🎉
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Cheers !! 🥂
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I get to use creativity everyday to help entrepreneurs focus on their passions to discovering their brand's "sweet spot" in the marketplace...and I absolutely LOVE IT!
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STUDIO A DESIGNS 💗 AMES, IA
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