Here's how you can gain practical experience in brand strategy.

The constitution of a brand strategy requires adherence to two main points _Specialization or vertical expansion. _Ensuring continuity. So gaining experience by working in brand strategy requires adherence to this constitution for the sake of compatibility and consistency. Learning the basics is necessary, but a specialist must possess a personal brand to succeed. Adherence to this constitution is crucial for gaining experience and achieving success in the vertical expansion field.

Start by volunteering for branding projects within your organization or for non-profits. Engage in market research and analyze competitors to understand market dynamics. Create and manage social media campaigns to learn digital branding. Attend industry workshops, webinars, and network with professionals. Seek mentorship from experienced brand strategists. Develop and present case studies on successful brand campaigns. Finally, stay updated on branding trends and continuously refine your skills through relevant courses and certifications.

Visiting and immersing yourself in stores or spaces where your product or service is transacted is essential for everyone in brand strategy! Why is this important? 1. consumers solidify their awareness and make final purchasing decisions by seeing and experiencing the brand in real-world settings. 2. immersing yourself in the shopper journey allows you to understand how your brand fits into the larger consumption picture and identify opportunities for differentiation. So, always take the time for a mindful store visit and exchange insights with others in these "transaction" zones. The most valuable insights and competitive advantages are out there, waiting to be discovered!

The interesting part here is that, as a consumer, you know far more about branding than you'd probably give yourself credit for. Any time you've been frustrated or overly delighted with the purchase or experience of something, you're witnessing the brand at work. That brand exists in the form of an expectation that you, as an individual, have due to what's been set by either the company itself or however you came to learn about it. These types of real world scenarios can be broken down, analyzed, and pieced together to uncover what makes a brand air-tight vs. one that's poor. Branding is a simple game of expectation set vs. actual experience.

Collaborate on strategy development, research, and campaign planning, while seeking mentorship for guidance. Stay updated on industry trends, apply strategic thinking, and align branding with business objectives to build expertise

Studying the ups and downs of the brand journey case study will give deep and practical isights on how to optimise the brand strategy, what are the key drivers and barriers, key learnings, a benchmark to compare your brand strategy to, in addition to many shortcuts that saves time and investment

It is preferable if the case study team includes a person related to psychology or sociology. The more specialized the team is, the more experience and skills I gain. In order to gain experience, I must adhere to the following. _Cooperation with the case study team. _Trying to specialize in a specific part of case studies, in order to grow as quickly as possible (vertical expansion). _Trying to invent new ways to obtain data from clients or specialists. Because we often need to collect data from sources other than customers For example _Suppliers _Governmental entities _Employees of the institution itself. The most important recommendation is to archive the studies that have been completed in order to benefit from them in the future.

Algunos casos de éxito que sugiero mirar cuando estás aprendiendo cómo construir una marca son: - Apple: que más allá de centrarse en el producto, tiene una filosofía centrada en la experiencia del cliente y los beneficios que le entregan sus productos a los clientes. - Patagonia: una marca con un propósito muy claro centrado en la sostenibilidad y cuidado al medio ambiente, para ello busca desarrollar productos de alta calidad para evitar el consumo reiterado de una misma prenda. - Mercado Libre: que ha enfocado su propuesta de valor a entregar el mejor servicio, en una lógica de trabajo de mejora continua en la que convierten el "no se puede" por "?cómo lo hacemos posible?". No olvides que las marcas fuertes tienen un propósito claro.

Consulting with customer-facing colleagues provides insights into customer priorities, challenges. This collaboration ensures case studies are both technically accurate and engaging. This can lead to more effective communication and stronger connections with your customers and prospects.

In brand strategy looking at case studies can be a mean and misleading thing. Why? 3 reasons: 1. Most case studies deal with exceptionally succesful cases. There are hardly case studies about brands that failed, so you might run right into what is called "survivorship bias". 2. Case studies are told "ex post" and thus create a seemingly coherent narrative of intentions and causations, where in reality there was a lot of insecurity, educated guesses, try and error, and weak correlations than causations between actions and outcome. 3. Strongly connected to this, case studies tend to credit people in charge too much and chance, luck and supportive surroundings too little. Look for case studies of failure. They are much more truthful.

Networking is useful, even if it is with competitors, let alone communicating with customers or suppliers. Many of us, in one way or another, may create a huge social network, but do not know how to benefit from it. In order to make the most of the network. _The communication network must be classified and separated according to the field of industry. _Develop a strategy for how to create a communication mechanism that puts you at the heart of the event. _Participation in activities, I mean, do not just be a future, you must present and give, in order to ensure continuity.

There is advice riddled in almost every conversation that you have with your seniors and colleagues. Don’t be afraid to ask the questions which you may not like the answers of. And make the first step to be unabashedly pro-active about knowing more about the industry and the people!

Networking isn't just about fancy suits and schmoozing. For brand newbies, it's can be your secret weapon! Here's how: Think A-Team: Connect with industry experts – they'll show you the ropes and keep you on top of trends. Find Your Tribe: Join online groups and attend events. It's a goldmine of ideas and potential collaborators. It's a Two-Way Street: Don't just ask for help, offer yours too. Building genuine connections is key.

Starting networking can be tough but The Princess Bride example offers a clever way to begin: Polite Greeting - Hello Name - My name is Inigo Montoya Relevance - You killed my father Expectations - prepare to die

Brand strategy is a highly competitive field and volunteering is an excellent way to build case studies and demonstrate your expertise. Like riding a bike, brand strategy is a progressive skillset, so volunteering is very helpful in terms of evolving that too.

When you're still in the learning phase, find volunteer and internship positions where you can learn from someone more experienced. If you're still inexperienced, you shouldn't be learning and executing the work without supervision. You will do a disservice to the organization. And hurt your reputation. Find a place with someone experienced who is willing to act as a mentor. Help them. Ask thoughtful questions. Learn from them. Practical experience is the best way to learn brand strategy. There isn't much written on it in books. Articles in journals are expensive. Online courses are taught mainly by people without practical experience (or really expensive). Volunteer at a place with a willing mentor. Be a sponge. Learn from them.

At any career stage, become a mentor. It sparks creativity, it's great for networking and so fulfilling seeing other succeed.

I would suggest following : Pick a brand you love in your field, then research everything: their story, who they target, and how they visually represent themselves. Imagine a new brand in that industry, but for a specific group of people they are missing. Think about how this new brand would talk, what it would look like, and the problems it would solve for its niche audience. This would be fantastic way to understand brand strategy in action!

If you're stuck or need a push, team up with a friend to develop a brand strategy, brand story, visual identity, marketing plan. It can provide fresh perspectives and collaborative energy to ignite your creativity and propel your project forward.

Freelancing is hard when you don't have case studies under your belt as you're starting out. Building a portfolio is key - create concepts for brands that people recognize to show them how you would do things differently. Another way to get freelancing gigs is by contributing to a few unpaid projects or doing free consulting sessions to show that you bring a unique perspective to the table. Many companies will see your willingness to prove yourself for free as a strong indicator of someone who will go very far. The hardest part of the journey is getting that first job, after you blow your client away with that then referrals will lift you into your next project 99% of the time.

Spread your eggs in different baskets. If you want real practical experience you have to take up the odd jobs. But before that make sure, you focus on the skill you think can provide value in terms of brand strategy. Freelance platforms provide great opportunities to roll up your sleeve and do real work and get real feedback, so that you can polish your skills before you go high-ticket. If you are there for the experience. Keep your price very low.

Offer to audit small businesses' brand strategies and provide detailed recommendations for improvement. You can approach local businesses or startups for this. This can be an approach to kick-start your freelancing gigs. It would definitely help you build case studies and network better when you approach next set of clients in your niche.

One of the best ways to get vast experiences as a brand strategist is to work as one at a big brand consultancy. You'll be surrounded by peers and mentors, you'll work across or have exposure to brand strategy for many clients and industries. You'll learn the approaches that the consultancy deploys. Most importantly, as you gain this experience, you'll start to form your own opinions on how to be the best brand strategist you can be - either working for other, or independently. I learned the ropes of brand strategy and led brand strategy work over 7 years at Interbrand. While I approach brand strategy work very differently now, having that initial experience was invaluable.

Three things to consider: 1. If you want to engage in brand strategy, you need to understand strategy outside brand and marketing. Find Richard Rummelt's "Good Strategy, Bad Strategy" and Lawrence Freedman's "Strategy: A History" to get started. 2. Understand how people click, how decisions are made, and how flawed they sometimes are. Dive into Kahnemann's "Thinking, fast and slow" a nobel-prized work and the follow-up "Noise" 3. Your strategy is only as good as your ability to articulate and implement it. Dive into how to deliver arguments and how to lead transformation processes. I highly recommend Chris Anderson's "TED Talks" and John Kotter's "Leading Change" to get started.