What is a Brand Strategy and Why is it Vital for Business Success?
“77% of brands could disappear and no-one would care.”
-Havas Group
One of the biggest misconceptions in the business world is that “brand” is just “the creative.” It’s often reduced to a logo, a color palette, and some well-chosen fonts. But this misconception is what sets the winners apart from everyone else. A brand isn’t merely the mark you place on your business—it’s the idea about who you are as a company. And that idea is why your customer (or client) will or won’t choose you.
Let me break it down.
When I say your brand is an idea, I mean it’s an intangible construct formed in the minds of your consumers about who you are and what you offer. You become recognizable through your logo, but consumers don’t make purchase decisions based solely on it. They decide based on the idea that has formed over a series of micro-moments: seeing an ad, walking into a store, visiting a website, or talking with a sales team member. Maybe it’s from interacting with customer service, browsing your products or services, reading an article, getting a recommendation from a friend, or checking reviews. All these individual elements, these micro-moments with your customers, come together to form a thought or idea about what your company is or does. It’s the SUM of all these parts that leads to an impression—or idea—about what your company does, who you’re for, what you offer, and why they should choose you. It’s that simple (and daunting at the same time).
The value of branding
So, are these “ideas” really that valuable? Test it out. Ask someone next to you, “What is Nike?” Then ask, “What is Asics?” Keep going with, “What is Apple?” and then, “What is Dell?” See what they say. Now for the fun part: ask them, “What is [Your Business Name]?” See where I’m going with this? What they say, that idea that comes to their mind, is that company’s brand to that person. And the industry winners—they intentionally craft what they want their brand to be.
Need more proof outside of your experiment? Here are some key statistics:
81% of consumers need to trust a brand before buying from them (Edelman).
Brands that are meaningful to consumers outperform the stock market by 134% (Havas Group).
77% of consumers buy from brands that share their values (Havas Group) while 77% brands could simply disappear and no-one would care. ( Sad, I know.)
Brand equity can account for up to 20-80% of a company's overall value (David Aaker).
Consistent branding across all channels increases revenue by +23% on average (Forbes).
Strong brands can command a price premium of up to +20% compared to generic alternatives (McKinsey).
What is a brand strategy?
Now that we understand what brands are and how they form in the minds of your consumers, let’s talk about the tools we use to shape those ideas. Enter your brand strategy.
Your brand strategy is used to shape how you want your target customers to think about you. It impacts every area of your business—from marketing to product development, customer support, sales, HR, and beyond. All these areas play a role in shaping how your customers and clients see you, and your brand strategy becomes the guide to aligning everyone in the same direction.
You might be thinking, “We can’t all be Nike,” or “We don’t have Apple’s budget.” But remember, Nike started in the back of a car, and Apple began in a garage. Most businesses start small. The key is to approach your business strategically and understand how to build your brand—the idea you want consumers to have about you. That’s when you lay the foundation for greatness. And it’s never too late to build that foundation.
So, how do brand strategies work? Your brand strategy ensures that all these micro-moments tell the same story, so every moment and interaction builds the idea you want your customer to have about you—an idea that sets you apart from others in your industry and resonates with your ideal consumer. How do you decide what you want your customer to think about you in a way that appeals to them and positions you as a front-runner against the competition? You guessed it—your brand strategy.
How you can build your brand strategy- no experience needed
And here’s the great news—you can build it. No, you don’t need to hire an expensive consultant (though if you want to go that route, my door is always open). You can take my brand strategy masterclass, where I’ll walk you through the process from start to finish. When you’re done, you’ll have the blueprint to leverage every facet of your business to grow the value of your brand.