Brand strategy is one of the most important steps in the marketing plan process and getting your business projected correctly. It’s often the element that most serious-minded businesses don’t leave behind or joke with, and it is very crucial in creating a company’s identity and purpose.
There are main tactics your brand strategy must adhere to, they are simply the Purpose of your brand, why are you in business? Secondly is Consistency – Without consistency, a business will struggle to grow and may not survive and lastly is how well you can connect with your customers or followers.
Defining your brand strategy
Mostly in the initial thought of it, it usually seems easy to do but it does need some data gathering and a lot of work to get it done right. Imagine someone that sells beauty products, and wants to define his /her brand. It might seem like it’s all about beauty but it does need some definition, needs to be scaled down to what kind of beauty products this entrepreneur wants to sell, herbal, organic, natural, or chemical-based. This means streaming down to the categories of people you need to target and how to relate with them.
Brand Clarity
This is where brand clarity comes into play. Let your brand be well-defined to be able to speak to the end user easily.
1. List out what you are a master at and what you want your customers to think of when your brand comes to mind. Your unique set of skills will form the basis of your brand definition.
2. What are your customers’ needs? You need to identify your customers’ needs since you are in business because of them and tailor your brand to their needs.
3. Differentiate your brand from your competitors, let there be clarity in a way so that you do not get lost in the market pool with them.
A boutique would not just say We sell clothes, the company needs to define the kind of clothes they sell and state more clearly what is being offered. There should be a definition like, “We sell corporate office style clothes fit for the young women of style…”
It’s important to define your brand clearly, it helps set your business apart from the rest.
While it’s important to be as specific as possible, you also want to be careful not to box your business in with a tightly constrained brand definition. Don’t just sell off a little niche of the industry when you can reach a larger audience. For example, don’t say We cater to little kids’ party dresses and wear only when you can also reach a larger clientele base in need of active kids’ wear and accessories. Be careful not to define the brand too strictly, which would close out future business-building activities.
The main idea is to balance the areas you cover, focus, and differentiate with the ability to expand over time.
