And how to set your organization up for long-term success
Picture this: Your business has enthusiastic customers, a team of rock-star employees, effective marketing and is on track for long-term success.
This may seem like a far-off utopia from the tales of business folklore, but this fantasy can turn into reality by constructing a forward-thinking brand strategy that keeps all aspects of your business in mind. All you need is some planning, hard work, patience, focus and this guide to building the modern brand.
For a long time, when businesses thought of their brand, their first priority was their logo. Believe it or not, your brand is not your logo. It’s also not the name of your product or even the product itself.
Savvy leaders have come to understand that every single aspect of their business’ marketing has an impact on their brand. Further, modern brands have the ability to take a holistic approach when planning for future growth, which is where brand strategy comes in. A brand strategy is the master plan implemented to help manage everything that exists in the marketplace about your company.
This blog post outlines the three aspects your business needs in order to make sure you obtain a cohesive brand strategy: a strong internal culture, an engaging customer experience and compelling external marketing.
Start by establishing your internal culture.
Internal culture determines the behavioral environment, direction and focus you want your brand strategy to encompass.
Further, it will create an environment in which your employees can thrive (they are your biggest brand ambassadors, after all), and provide opportunities for your company to grow.
These opportunities are born out of core values, which are the building blocks of any great brand strategy.
Once your internal culture is well on its way, it’s time to start thinking about how you want your customers to interact with your brand.
Next, identify your desired customer experience
Customer experience is the desired relationship that you want your customers to have with your brand (and vice versa).
This portion of your brand strategy should define how you want your customers to think and feel about your brand at each touchpoint. A touchpoint is any interaction the customer has with your brand, whether they are seeing, hearing, searching, saying or writing about it.
After breaking down how you want your customers to think and feel about your brand, you can get to work on getting the word out.
Finally, develop external marketing materials
External marketing should identify and present the promise your brand is making to your customers and the general public. It should also encourage your customers to be a part of your company mission.
All of your external marketing materials, from your brand identity to your website, should unlock what your brand means to your customers and reflect that message throughout.
What’s next
Now that you have a brand strategy framework, you’re ready to start building it.
When doing so, keep in mind that your brand strategy is not a constant. For progress to be made, trial and error are essential.
Recap
Your brand is everything that exists in the marketplace about your company.
Your brand strategy is the master plan implemented to help manage your brand. A good brand strategy focuses on these three key areas:
- Internal Culture: the day-to-day experience of your employees.
- Customer Experience: the desired relationship that you want your customers to have with your brand (and vice versa).
- External Marketing: the promise your brand makes to the general public.