Brand Strategy Basics

Successful companies understand that the business is focused on company goals and that their brand is focused on customer goals.

The problem is that many company leaders don’t understand that their brand strategy (a long-term plan to outmaneuver their competition) must align with and support their business strategy (leadership, operations, performance, HR, marketing, revenue, etc) to sell more products and services to consumers for significant profit.

You can begin moving toward alignment by asking yourself and your team these five basic questions:

1. Why are we in business beyond making money?
2. Who are the people we serve?
3. Where will we compete?
4. Why will customers choose our brand?
5. How will we grow?

What’s the Point of Purpose?

Did you buy your last tube of toothpaste or automobile because of the manufacturer’s purpose statement? Probably not. My motivation for toothpaste is clean teeth, and my top priorities for my car are heated steering and heated seats.

Consumers may not care about your brand’s purpose or the company’s “why,” even if your product or service makes a difference in their lives.

The point of a company’s brand purpose isn’t to get people to buy more. It’s to get people to buy in more. Purpose keeps a company focused on what matters and why they are in business.

Meet Your Unique Buying Tribe, formerly Known as Customers

When it comes to making a buying decision, people pursue options that fit their needs and values. People buy because a product solves a problem or helps them achieve a goal (or need), bonus points when the value it creates for the buyer aligns with personal values.

What if a buying tribe is more about survival than about aligning with other people who think, believe, and act similarly?

What happens when your branding inspires people to move from surviving to thriving?

Meet Your Customers Where They Live

Your brand (representing your company, its people, and reputation) exists within a community context. How you show up matters as much as where you show up. How your company behaves and treats people is essential for building the brand.

Brand character matters. How you show up will demonstrate how well your brand views the world at large (worldviews), behaves within society, and connects with people. If employees are not good stewards of the brand, people will call your brand out when it speaks and acts in a way that is contrary to the stated and perceived values that people believe about your brand.

What is the Difference Between Brand and Branding?

A logo is part of a company’s visual storytelling that reminds people that the company exists. But the logo is not your brand.

Branding is the discipline of making people’s gut feeling about your product, service, or company relevant, meaningful, and memorable. The discipline of branding continually answers these four questions:

1. Who is it for?
2. What is it for?
3. What difference does it make?
4. What value does it create?

“Who is it for?” and “what is it for?” speak to relevance. The difference it makes (or why it matters) speaks to meaning.

How Will Your Company Grow?

How your company grows depends on one thing. If you don’t have the time or discipline to invest in brand strategy, there is only one strategy you will ever need.

For your company to win trust and appeal to people’s hearts and minds, there’s one thing you must do above all else: Stop focusing on your brand.?

Wait, what?

Instead, focus all your attention on your customer and work your way back to your brand. Your brand must focus on your customer’s goals.

But that isn’t all. There’s so much more to read and a simple strategy in The Basics of Brand Strategy that you'll find at the end of the article on the Aespire Brand Clarity blog.

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Who writes these? Brian Sooy is a Certified Brand Architect, StoryBrand Guide, and founder of Aespire, the creative agency that teams up with businesses to empower expansion and growth.

If you are curious and have questions about what it’s like to work with a Brand Architect and StoryBrand Guide, feel free to contact me personally. It would be my pleasure to have a conversation with you.