What should you include in your brand strategy portfolio?

successful companies last long because they have the ability to convert their learnings into processes and then create a learning system where those processes become the culture. Take every great organization: Google, Apple, amazon, Levers etc. They call their processes 'The XYZ Way' of doing things. Creating Brand strategy process is helpful for clients to understand what a brand strategist will do. It's a hook for them to differentiate one from another. In my own firm we have a suite of over 20 tools which we use for different band situations. The clients who trust us, buy this time-tested process that delivers brand value.

Do proper research on what your target audience needs and what your competitor is not doing and then add the customer's pain point to their portfolio with some proofs.

This is answered as though you are an agency conducting brand strategy on behalf of a client....not with you as the client. Start your process by getting the client to produce either a full brief, sort of brief, or by going and meeting them and finding out what, why and when with regard to their brand and their need for a new or revised identity. You'll never get a full brief. As long as you have some thoughts down on what they 'think' they are looking for...and I stress the word 'think you're OK. Read that brief, or meeting notes three or four times, then ask questions. Write closed questions that demand little effort but that give you maximum insight. This may go back and forth, but the client will appreciate intelligent questions.

Your brand strategy projects should ALWAYS show prototypes, sketches and visuals. Anyone who know anything about brand strategy, knows it is a collaborative process...and of the person viewing your materials can see something in the idea you DIDN'T pursue in your final directive. Because strategy and ideas are about collaboration. Anyone who wants to work with you that sees the ideas and strategies are there, will know you are worth collaborating with!

From a portfolio perspective, getting to grips with Brand Strategy without having it in your portfolio is difficult. Understanding business in a wider perspective is important. Understanding branding, brands and their place within their marketplace. Look at small boutique brands that exist within a larger group. Often a smaller brand will have enough brand equity in a potential merger and acquisition, that it should not be killed within a group; indeed championed. Find the outliers. Look at Rowntree brands within the Nestlé purchase.....and ask yourself the name of the fruit pastilles owned by the purchasing brand for the next 20 years. That type of thing.

This is difficult, because we are not clear from the question whether we are talking about a creative stand point or that of a client. If creative...and over time you will develop an underlying house style. But if the creative principle is hands off, that style will have a soft touch. If the founder of the company is a creative, it will have a heavier touch...but in all cases, where you have been in business for more than 10 years, you style is one thing, your reputation a second and your business sectors that you've worked in will be third...and not in that order.

Anyone's ultimate brand strategy goals have to be the goals they are setting for themselves for their own organisation. The reason? People are wary of any new brand strategy goals they set out for their bosses in their company. One, it is a risk to stick your neck out...two, you need to be leaving an organisation with your imprint and influence on their business in order to further your career. If it is your business, then you are effectively the master of your own destiny. The rest, unless you are bulletproof, keep building your LinkedIn connections in the likelihood that things might change.