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Brand strategy is something people often struggle to get to grips with. When people are told “branding isn’t just pretty pictures” - this is what we mean. Let’s break it down. #branding #marketing #MarketingTwitter
1) Customer Personas. Who are you selling to? What pain points are you solving for them? Why will they buy from you? Without having razor sharp detail on your customers, you’re shooting in the dark, unlikely to hit a single thing.
2) Competitor Research. Who are your they and what are they up to? Are they doing things your not, and is there room for you to manoeuvre into their space? Or, are you looking to fly in the opposite direction entirely? Document on a local, national, and international level.
3) Brand Positioning. How you fit into the competitive landscape, and where you sit in your customer’s minds. Think of beans, are you the value supermarket line, or premium Heinz beans? Heinz Means Beans. They’ve positioned themselves as the best beans in customer minds.
4) Brand Story. What got you to where you are today, and more importantly, why should people care about you. Everybody loves a good story. Try answering “why do we do what we do, and why would anyone care about it?”
5) Brand Values. What do you care about as a company? Apple was to push technological boundaries and create the best products. Internal values help when bringing new team members on board. External values help with winning customers. We align with companies that are just like us.
6) Brand Mission. This is your why. Why do you do it, and what are you setting out to change. How do you plan to make a change and an impact on the world? (Sometimes called a brand purpose or vision statement.)
7) Brand Touchpoints. This is every instance one of your customers might come into contact with your brand. It’s your website, the way you answer the phone, your marketing brochure, and your social media profiles. Anything a customer can interact with, is a touch point.
8) Brand Messaging. This is how you take everything above, and distill it down into easy to understand messages. It’s what you say to customers, potential employees, partner brands etc. There are some great frameworks that can help you out here.
9) Tone of Voice. This is how you say it. Are you ballsy and brash? Professional and to the point? Your tone of voice will dictate the type of language your brand uses to communicate what you’re about.
10) Brand Identity. See how much comes before creating the visuals? There’s a surprising amount, right? Your brand identity is the visual manifestation of your brand strategy. It’s the look and feel of your business. This is the part that people will see and remember!
That’s it, brand strategy in a nutshell. Feel free to pop any questions below! Thank you for reading 
