A recognisable and consistent brand is one of the most valuable assets your company can own. Many people associate ‘brand’ with a logo and tagline. But it’s so much more than this – Your brand is the perception that consumers and stakeholders have in their mind of your product/service/company. This is why in brandwork it’s so important to define your values, your messaging, your brand personality, and your visual identity in such a way that it creates a consistent response in your customers. It’s this authentically expressed to your customers that is your brand.
Your brand strategy is how you engage with your audience. A brand uses distinctive imagery, language, and messaging to present to it’s target audience. This will express how you are different to your competitors. It will present your purpose, and how you will solve problems for your consumer. It’s essentially a blueprint for how you want the world to see you. An effective brand strategy contains a number of key elements:
1. Your brand purpose – this is the foundation to your brand and is often expressed through a vision statement and a mission statement. Before you can build a trustworthy brand you need to know what value your business provides. Your brand purpose can be expressed by answering questions like;
a. Why do you exist?
b. How are you differentiated from competitors?
c. What problem do you provide a solution to?
d. Why should people care?
2. Your target audience – who your ideal customer is – a profile or persona presentation. When you’re building a brand you need to keep your eye on exactly who you’re trying to reach – when you’re developing your message and brand story, you’re appealing to them. Your brand creation relies on absolutely understanding your target consumer; gender, age, location, education level, motivations, goals, pain points, desires, influencers and brand affinities – discover detailed behaviours and lifestyles of your consumers to create a buyer persona.
3. Your competition – Research competitor brands asking yourself ‘how well have they gone about building their brand?’ Assess their strengths and analyse their messaging – is the competitor consistent with messaging and their visual identity across all marketing channels?
4. Your brand voice and personality – A brand voice and personality are the words, tone, and visuals that communicate your brands’ personality – it refers to how brands speak to their audiences. Brand voice refers to what you say and how you say it. It helps set your brand apart and gives your customers an idea of who is behind the brand – it’s the unique way you present to the world. It must run consistently through all your communications both visually and in language and messaging.
5. Your brand messaging and brand story – Your brand messaging is a series of key messages that express your unique selling proposition (USP) and answer key questions your target audience may have. Your brand story is an overarching story that directs your messaging. Firstly you create a message about your core offering – this addresses your target audience’s most pressing challenge and how your company’s service/ product can solve it. From here, you develop a series of key messages that highlight and detail related aspects of your product or service. Key messages should also make it clear how you are different from your competitors
6. Your visual identity – This is how your brand is expressed visually. A visual identity is a series of components combined to create a unique experience – It includes your logo, tagline, packaging, digital presence, company fonts and more. It makes your brand more recognizable, differentiates your brand from competitors, and helps you build a connection with your target audience. A company’s visual identity is presented in a brand guidelines or brand ‘style guide’ document. This supports consistency across a company when using its’ various marketing assets.