Filed in Business Planning, Business Strategy — January 27, 2021

Why Every Business Owner Needs A Brand Strategy

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It is estimated that the average person is exposed to anywhere from 4,000 to 10,000 ads each day. Not only is that overwhelming for the consumer, but it makes it increasingly difficult for your brand to stand out and rise above the noise.

The only way to navigate these noisy waters is to have a plan and a strategy. Your business needs to have a clear and identifiable strategy for how to stand out and dominate your niche. You need to have a plan for what your brand will look like and feel like, your position in the market, and the knowledge of which messages and marketing will work to attract your target audience.

This is better known as a brand strategy.

Today, we will be discussing what elements you’ll need to consider when creating your brand strategy, top questions to ask yourself, the rules we swear by, and the top five reasons brands fail.

elements of brand strategy

Your brand is a living and breathing thing. It.will, and is supposed to, evolve over time. As you start to create your brand strategy, think of it like your business blueprint. Just like building a house, you want to ensure you

have a solid foundation before adding to the structure. A strong brand strategy will need to be meticulously crafted, taking into account all aspects of your market, your niche, your product or service offerings, your competitors, and customers. Let’s dive into the elements that encompass a strong brand strategy.

Brand Objective

Your brand’s objective is simply its vision, mission, and purpose. It’s the “why” behind why your company exists, what problem you solve in the world, and what impact you have on your customers.

To define your brand objective, you will want to ask some questions like:

  • What problem does my brand solve?

  • How does my brand make customers feel?

  • What is our brand story? Why were we created?

  • What is our vision statement? Mission statement?

Target Audience

Connecting with your audience is one of the most vital elements in creating a strong brand. To do this, you need to understand not only who your target market is, but understand their emotions behind purchasing your product or service. It is impossible to create an emotional connection if you don’t clearly know who you are speaking to, which is why you will want to create a customer persona or ideal client avatar.

Some questions you will want to ask to create your customer persona will look like:

  • What are their demographics? How old are they? Are they married? Kids? College educated?

  • What industry are they in?

  • What are their biggest challenges?

  • What keeps them up at night?

  • What do they fear?

  • What inspires them?

  • What products have they tried to fix this problem already?

  • Where do they shop?

  • Where do they get their information from?

  • What problem are they looking to solve right now?

Brand Positioning

To rise above the noise in a crowded market, you need to establish your brand positioning. This is basically carving out your small slice of the market.

Some questions you want to ask are:

  • What makes our brand different?

  • How does our brand fit into our customer’s lives?

  • How can we make more of an impact in the daily life of our customers?

Brand Identity

Your brand identity is everything that makes your brand, your brand. It’s all the visual elements a client sees and interacts with like your logo and website. It’s also things they can’t see, but instead feel like your brand voice and story.

A strong brand identity will have all of these elements including:

  • Company Name

  • Logos (including primary, alternate, and sub marks) and slogan

  • Color Palette

  • Fonts

  • Brand Photos and Art Direction

  • Brand Voice and Tone

  • Brand Story

  • Beautiful and Responsive Website

If you are looking for a full brand identity and beautiful website, we have got you covered! Sarah Rose Inc offers both custom and DIY options to get your brand looking beautiful and strategic. If you’re ready, let’s chat!

Marketing Strategy

You’ll need a strategy to get the right audience to find out about your products and services. With marketing, it is much better to play the long game by focusing on building and nurturing your audience.

Some of the best ways to do this include:

  • Sales Funnels

  • Social Media Marketing (especially those more focused on SEO like Youtube and Pinterest)

  • Content Marketing

  • Email Marketing

Key Takeaways: Remember, creating a brand strategy is a long game and your brand will evolve over time. The key is to get started and to be consistent! Don’t skip over the key steps of creating your foundation and move to the more fun marketing and branding before you understand who you are as a brand and who you want to attract.

Brand Strategy Rules To Guide You

As you are crafting your brand strategy, use these rule to help guide your efforts and aid your clarity in the process.

  1. Being better is not a differentiator. Be unique or different.

  2. Whoever can spend the most, wins. It’s not the best, but the most well known that wins the market.

  3. If you can’t outspend in the market, be the most clear. Clarity and specifically solving an identifiable problem will always rise above the noise.

  4. Lead with your story, not with your product. Win their hearts first.

  5. Make your customer the hero. You are not the hero; you are their guide here to help them win.

  6. Sell a transformative vision based on hope, not fear.

  7. Ask is the opposite of our strategy a good strategy? If you want to target wealthy customers, who are looking for your product, would the opposite strategy be good? Would anyone want to target poor people who weren’t looking for your product? If not, you need to refine your strategy until it is a true strategy that actually stands out in the market.

The Top 5 Reasons Brands Fail

Unfortunately, not every brand in a crowded market will be able to succeed. Despite the prevalence of information in today’s age, not every brand is able to follow or execute on creating a strong brand strategy that I have listed above.

Here are the most common reasons for a brand to fail:

  1. Lack of long-term vision.

  2. Not solidifying the brand identity and message.

  3. Inconsistent creative.

  4. Not understanding their ideal customer.

  5. Product-to-market fit that is now outdated or never hit the mark.

Every single business absolutely needs to have a strong brand strategy. It is at the core of everything your business touches, your customer sees, and your long-term stability moving forward.

What questions do you have about crafting a strategy for your brand? Comment below and let me know!

It is estimated that the average person is exposed to anywhere from 4,000 to 10,000 ads each day. Not only is that overwhelming for the consumer, but it makes it increasingly difficult for your brand to stand out and rise above the noise.

The only way to navigate these noisy waters is to have a plan and a strategy. Your business needs to have a clear and identifiable strategy for how to stand out and dominate your niche. You need to have a plan for what your brand will look like and feel like, your position in the market, and the knowledge of which messages and marketing will work to attract your target audience.

This is better known as a brand strategy.

Today, we will be discussing what elements you’ll need to consider when creating your brand strategy, top questions to ask yourself, the rules we swear by, and the top five reasons brands fail.

elements of brand strategy

Your brand is a living and breathing thing. It.will, and is supposed to, evolve over time. As you start to create your brand strategy, think of it like your business blueprint. Just like building a house, you want to ensure you

have a solid foundation before adding to the structure. A strong brand strategy will need to be meticulously crafted, taking into account all aspects of your market, your niche, your product or service offerings, your competitors, and customers. Let’s dive into the elements that encompass a strong brand strategy.

Brand Objective

Your brand’s objective is simply its vision, mission, and purpose. It’s the “why” behind why your company exists, what problem you solve in the world, and what impact you have on your customers.

To define your brand objective, you will want to ask some questions like:

  • What problem does my brand solve?

  • How does my brand make customers feel?

  • What is our brand story? Why were we created?

  • What is our vision statement? Mission statement?

Target Audience

Connecting with your audience is one of the most vital elements in creating a strong brand. To do this, you need to understand not only who your target market is, but understand their emotions behind purchasing your product or service. It is impossible to create an emotional connection if you don’t clearly know who you are speaking to, which is why you will want to create a customer persona or ideal client avatar.

Some questions you will want to ask to create your customer persona will look like:

  • What are their demographics? How old are they? Are they married? Kids? College educated?

  • What industry are they in?

  • What are their biggest challenges?

  • What keeps them up at night?

  • What do they fear?

  • What inspires them?

  • What products have they tried to fix this problem already?

  • Where do they shop?

  • Where do they get their information from?

  • What problem are they looking to solve right now?

Brand Positioning

To rise above the noise in a crowded market, you need to establish your brand positioning. This is basically carving out your small slice of the market.

Some questions you want to ask are:

  • What makes our brand different?

  • How does our brand fit into our customer’s lives?

  • How can we make more of an impact in the daily life of our customers?

Brand Identity

Your brand identity is everything that makes your brand, your brand. It’s all the visual elements a client sees and interacts with like your logo and website. It’s also things they can’t see, but instead feel like your brand voice and story.

A strong brand identity will have all of these elements including:

  • Company Name

  • Logos (including primary, alternate, and sub marks) and slogan

  • Color Palette

  • Fonts

  • Brand Photos and Art Direction

  • Brand Voice and Tone

  • Brand Story

  • Beautiful and Responsive Website

If you are looking for a full brand identity and beautiful website, we have got you covered! Sarah Rose Inc offers both custom and DIY options to get your brand looking beautiful and strategic. If you’re ready, let’s chat!

Marketing Strategy

You’ll need a strategy to get the right audience to find out about your products and services. With marketing, it is much better to play the long game by focusing on building and nurturing your audience.

Some of the best ways to do this include:

  • Sales Funnels

  • Social Media Marketing (especially those more focused on SEO like Youtube and Pinterest)

  • Content Marketing

  • Email Marketing

Key Takeaways: Remember, creating a brand strategy is a long game and your brand will evolve over time. The key is to get started and to be consistent! Don’t skip over the key steps of creating your foundation and move to the more fun marketing and branding before you understand who you are as a brand and who you want to attract.

Brand Strategy Rules To Guide You

As you are crafting your brand strategy, use these rule to help guide your efforts and aid your clarity in the process.

  1. Being better is not a differentiator. Be unique or different.

  2. Whoever can spend the most, wins. It’s not the best, but the most well known that wins the market.

  3. If you can’t outspend in the market, be the most clear. Clarity and specifically solving an identifiable problem will always rise above the noise.

  4. Lead with your story, not with your product. Win their hearts first.

  5. Make your customer the hero. You are not the hero; you are their guide here to help them win.

  6. Sell a transformative vision based on hope, not fear.

  7. Ask is the opposite of our strategy a good strategy? If you want to target wealthy customers, who are looking for your product, would the opposite strategy be good? Would anyone want to target poor people who weren’t looking for your product? If not, you need to refine your strategy until it is a true strategy that actually stands out in the market.

The Top 5 Reasons Brands Fail

Unfortunately, not every brand in a crowded market will be able to succeed. Despite the prevalence of information in today’s age, not every brand is able to follow or execute on creating a strong brand strategy that I have listed above.

Here are the most common reasons for a brand to fail:

  1. Lack of long-term vision.

  2. Not solidifying the brand identity and message.

  3. Inconsistent creative.

  4. Not understanding their ideal customer.

  5. Product-to-market fit that is now outdated or never hit the mark.

Every single business absolutely needs to have a strong brand strategy. It is at the core of everything your business touches, your customer sees, and your long-term stability moving forward.

What questions do you have about crafting a strategy for your brand? Comment below and let me know!

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Why Every Business Owner Needs A Brand Strategy

Why Every Business Owner Needs A Brand Strategy

Why Every Business Owner Needs A Brand Strategy

Why Every Business Owner Needs A Brand Strategy

Why Every Business Owner Needs A Brand Strategy

Why Every Business Owner Needs A Brand Strategy

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