Developing your brand strategy: basics

Brand strategy is at the heart of any truly impactful brand. I’ve listed below four key steps I want to walk you through in order to define your brands strategy. The process I take clients through is the 4 E's - Envision, Empathize, Elevate and Express.

1. Envision - purpose, vision, values

This is about nailing the ideal future for your brand and business - diving deep into the “why” you do what you do.

Why this is important? Before we define how we are helping your customers, we need to know ourselves, our motives, drivers so we can position our business in a way that helps our customers and aligns with us as people.

• Purpose: Why you are in business? This level of clarity is essential to ensure you connect with customers. Consider contribution and impact.
• Vision: Let’s now shift to the future. What is your company’s long-term vision?
• Core values: What values are at the core of your brand?
• Contribution: What is the specific contribution you make to the lives of others (starting with an action verb)?
• Impact: What’s the impact? What’s the result of that contribution? Impact is what you allow others to do or to be.

Through this we want to define your mission statement. They typically look like: "To ______(contribution you want to make) so that __________ (the impact that has).

See the top examples of mission statements here.

2. Empathize - target audience

This is an idealized representation of your business’ target audience. Although fictional, profiles should be based on market research and real data on your existing customers. Having a clear persona helps you make more informed decisions that better serve your customers needs.

Why this is important? Think of it as a rerference point when creating new content for social or mapping out your next product - is it in the best interest of your customers?

Things to consider - The more realisitic this persona is for you the easier it is for you to empathize - I suggest surrounding yourself with your ideal customers to get more of an understanding of what they really want.

Top tips on empathizing with your audience here.

• Problems and fears: What are the problems your customers face before they can get what they want? What are their pain-points and challenges?
• Impact: What do they fear because of those problems? How does that impact them internally? What emotions and feelings are they experiencing?
• Desires: What do they desire to experience? imagine what would be the best case scenario. List the opposite of their problems and fears.
• Goals: What objectives and goals do customers have in relation to your offering? What kind of strategic aspirations or hopes do they have?

3. Elevate - market positioning

The objective of market positioning is to establish the image or identity of a brand or product so that consumers perceive it in a certain way.

Why this is important? This can be very difficult to do with little data, I suggest receiving extra help to help you define the best two areas to be competing on.

• Extremes: Pick two extremes, choose to stand for something not everything. Find something that people care about that aligns with your values.
• Difference: Look for gaps in the market to find what differentiates you and how you can stand out in the competition.
• Benefit: What is the end benefit? State what your brand does for the target audience that is emotional and intangible.

Through this we want to define your positioning statement. They typically look like: "We help ______(your customer) who __________ (problem) to achieve/experience _________________ (benefit). Unlike _________________ (competitive alternative) our solutions are  _________________ (difference).

4. Express - voice and personality

Defining personality helps you resonate with your customers. These are rough examples of directions other brands have taken when associating their brand with personality.

Personality

These are references to a few of the factors that influence the behaviour of some brands. Although some are quite generalised, see what personality traits resonates the most with your mission statement and who you are talking to.

• Be disruptive Brand voice: Disruptive, rebellious, combativeBrand message: Don’t settle for status quoDrivers: Liberation, change, independenceFears: Servitude, conformity, dependenceEmotional response: Disrupt and shock
• Be braveBrand voice: Honest, candid, braveBrand message: Make the world a better placeDrivers: Growth, courageousness, masteryFears: Incompetence, cowardice, incapabilityEmotional response: Prove people wrong
• Be funnyBrand voice: Fun loving, playful, optimisticBrand message: Let your hair down, start livingDrivers: Laughter, happiness, positivityFears: Boredom, gloom, negativityEmotional response: Make them laugh
• Be magicalBrand voice: Mystical, informed, reassuringBrand message: Tomorrow is brighter than todayDrivers: Belief, discovery, transformationFears: Stagnation, doubt, uncertaintyEmotional response: Develop a vision and live by it
• Be romanticBrand voice: Sensual, empathetic, soothingBrand message: Striking beautyDrivers: Love, affection, indulgenceFears: Isolation, loneliness, rejectionEmotional response: Reaffirm beauty
• Be caringBrand voice: Caring, warm, reassuringBrand message: Everyone deserves careDrivers: Support, help, recognition, gratitudeFears: Neglect, helplessness, ingratitudeEmotional response: Others before self

Through this we want to define snippets of your tone of voice. They typically look like: "We are_________, but we are not ____________."

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