You're struggling to improve your brand strategy. What are the best online resources to help you?

Consider spending some time or even subscribing to resources below: Gartner for the latest market data Ogilvy for case studies and inspiration Ad Age and Ad Week for the latest trends and expanding beyond your niche Find key players in your industry that bring value and share their expertise with their target customer, you.

There are many tried and tested brand frameworks on Google as well as articles to explain them with examples. Attending zoom group classes is also very useful or better yet engage a brand strategist with years of experience in high level strategic business branding.

Start with Brand Ecosystem Mapping - think of your brand not just as a standalone entity, but as part of a dynamic ecosystem. Identify the key stakeholders, influencers, and touchpoints that shape and are shaped by your brand. By mapping out this ecosystem, you gain a holistic view of the forces that impact your brand. It allows you to uncover hidden opportunities and potential threats, providing a more nuanced understanding of your brand's positioning. To get started with Brand Ecosystem Mapping, consider creating visual diagrams or charts that illustrate the interconnected relationships. This can be a powerful tool for strategic decision-making, helping you adapt and thrive in a constantly evolving business landscape.

Here are some easy-to-understand online places where you can get help: HubSpot Academy: Free classes on marketing and brand strategy. They cover things like how to market online and build your brand. Google Digital Garage: Has free courses on digital marketing. You can learn how to make your brand stronger online. Coursera - Branding: Coursera works with universities to offer courses. Look for classes about branding and marketing strategy. Brand Strategy Blogs: Check out blogs like brandingmag.com and brandchannel.com. They share stories and trends about building brands. Neil Patel's Blog: Neil Patel is a smart person in digital marketing. His blog has helpful articles about branding and how to make your business better.

Let me help you with a fun and helpful framework you’ll easily Remember: Build your Brand with 3 R’s - get Recognizable - get Relatable - be Reliable And Realize Results ?? Rianne

Courses are an amazing tool to improve your skillset. I am particularly grateful for the courses by Tobias Dahlberg and Stephen Houraghan. Those two will be some of the best investments you could make.

I'm a fan of the Mini-MBA in Brand Management by Mark Ritson and Marketing Week. It is the most comprehensive course online and Mark was an MBA level marketing professor at some of the most prestigious business schools in the world. It is fun and informative.

A fairly new course is being offered by Kip Fulks, Co-Founder of Under Armour, called Method Mindset. It's still a fairly small group and there is a lot of opportunity for personal interaction. MethodMindset.com Clear, concise and insightful. Not sure you'll get a fancy certificate -- but you'll gain a lot of practical advice about driving your brand and your company forward.

Consider Play Bigger which is more about category strategy but it will help you think bigger in terms of becoming a market leader or innovator rather than competing within a market. Might not apply to all types of businesses but will give you inspiration nonetheless about how to communicate and execute on a strategy for your brand.

I highly recommend "Shoe Dog," by Phil Knight, the creator of Nike's memoirs. While it's not a "how to" book, it'll inspire you to keep pushing on the brand vision, persevere, build a team culture, and find a way to differentiate so you can stand above the competition. The only downside (if you work for a corporation) is that you may be tempted to take off running in an entrepreneurial venture of your own ;)

Top 5 brand strategy books (I recommend) to read if you want to get really good at the craft: - THE Brand Gap by Marty Neumeier. - Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind by Al Ries and Jack Trout. - Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen by Donald Miller. - Building Distinctive Brand Assets by Jenni Romaniuk. - Building Strong Brands by David Aaker.

These recommended books definitely give a head start, I highly recommend if you’re struggling with brand strategy. On top of this learn from case studies, see where other brands went wrong and where they were right.

When I started lecturing at the Kelley on Location Program, I started recording podcast episodes with great brand strategists from around the world for my podcast, 'The Business of Fun'. I'd suggest listening to podcasts by Giles Edwards, Zoe Scaman, and Paul Bailey. You should also listen to 'Call to Action' and 'Uncensored CMO'.

1. On Brand with Nick Westergaard - Insightful interviews with branding professionals, providing listeners with tools and tips to help grow their brands. 2. How Brands Are Built - It delves into naming, brand architecture, brand research, and the psychology behind branding. 3. Let's Talk Branding - Stef Hamerlinck hosts this podcast where he deep dives into the world of brand strategy, design, and branding with experts across the globe. It’s great for those looking to get into the nitty-gritty of brand theory and application. 4. Brand Strategy Insider - Presented by The Blake Project, this podcast offers a deep dive into various aspects of brand strategy including brand research, brand equity, and strategic branding decisions.

Mine...obviously, duh! www.DaveWakeman.com and 'The Business of Value' newsletter. I'd check out the columns on 'Marketing Week'. You can also get some really great stuff from WARC.

Don't mix strategy with design. These are too seperate things. You need to start with strategy (to understand its place and direction in the market place), the design will then help represent, encapsulate & articulate its identity.

The best place to start is to get away from your laptop and into the real world. You can’t google your way to breakthrough thinking. Speak to real people. Experience competitors products. Test out the customer service of the brand you’re doing strategy for. I’ve never gone through the above and not had a moment of inspiration or insight. Once you have that, the strategy writes itself :)

Numerous resources exist today to enhance brand strategy. Beyond traditional avenues such as online courses and blogs, YouTube channels like The Futur, talks by figures such as Seth Godin, and podcasts like How I Built This provide valuable insights. Moreover, the close-knit communications community offers the opportunity to reach out for feedback and guidance.

I used to work for a company who was trying to be #2 in the marketplace. Yeah, chasing the 800# gorilla in the industry, and we got scrappy trying to find a way to stand out more. One way to gather insights was to talk to someone who is a loyal supporter of a competitive brand. Have a conversation or two and see if you can convince them to try out your brand instead... Why would they never leave the competition? What is it about the other company that makes them trust them so much? In this case, it was a good claims experience during an emergency that won their loyalty. Great... so with less than 2% utilization of an insurance product, what does that tell us? Actually a lot -- we started to focus on our utilization case studies more!

Start by doing to 3 things: - Who you're up against in your market (understand theirs and your positioning) - Encapsulating your Story, Mission, Vision, Values, before you even start designing - Create a clear Point of Difference and be another same same brand

Develop the curiosity to understand the "How did they do it?" behind every brand. Look at case studies, campaigns, brand platforms, social journeys of brands. I think WARC is like a bible for all marketers, you'll always find something in there. I totally recommend following newsletters like 'marketing brew', setting reminders for articles by publishers and platforms like marketing week, fast company, Ad age and consuming content on linkedIn as a starting point.