UNDERSTANDING THE BRANDING STRATEGY PUZZLE IN 2022

Building strong and reliable brands are gaining a higher and higher priority these days when the global pandemic not only turned the world upside down but unexpectedly re-wrote the playbook of B2B and B2C marketing too. Even SMBs and entrepreneurs started to recognize the vital role of the power of their brands in terms of customer retention and staying on the surface and keeping their businesses alive.

The importance of delivering value, building loyalty, monitoring and understanding the voice of the customer while having open dialogues with them and creating brand advocates are some of the strategic directions to keep on their agenda.

According to “Forrester’s US Customer Experience Index 2020”, simple acts of kindness or attentiveness that show empathy are much more likely to make customers feel like doing business with them. E.g. when a company makes the customer feel appreciated, 76% indicate that they will keep business with the brand, 80% say that they will spend more with the brand and 80% will recommend the brand to friends and family members.

?? WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT THE BRAND-LOVER CUSTOMERS?

Consumers and customers know brands well. Some of them are even more precisely than the average buyers and interestingly they sometimes know such things about their love brand that is unknown even to the owner.

Now you may ask how is it possible?

The answer is simple: as they are DRIVEN BY FEELINGS, they BREATH TOGETHER with the brand they fall in love with.

Now you may right immediately jump up and say that you want to build exactly such a brand! Well, the good news is that it’s possible even for SMBs or startups, but requires a grounded and comprehensive Branding Strategy!

?What else do we know about these “brand lover” consumers?

They don't simply just choose their favourite brand or become raving fans but at the same time, they have high expectations and demands towards them that they are not afraid to express or complain about it.

?Another well-known fact is that emotion is what really drives purchase behaviours, and also, decision-making in general.

?So how to start with the branding process?

How to stand out from the crowd?

And how to strategize it?

The number of questions that may arise is literally endless.

?? MARKETING STRATEGY vs BRAND STRATEGY

The MARKETING STRATEGY “is a complex framework about HOW will you accomplish your marketing objectives and goals. It is a strategic map that you will use not only for how you do your marketing today but looking ahead to the closer and the longer future.” Basically, it covers the 4P’s: Product, Placement, Price and Promotion.

More importantly embrace the company’s Value Proposition, niche, and insightful data about the market, the competitors, the target audiences, etc. – Read the detailed STRATEGYSCOPE article about it here: "If You Don't Have A Big Fat Marketing Strategy, You Do It Wrong"

?? The BRANDING STRATEGY is about the company’s reputation, the products and services it offers from the perspective of Brand Equity. The main essence of it lies in understanding the problems, needs and desires of your target audience and the communities they belong to, and telling them how you can deliver value to them.

"A conscious Branding Strategy identifies the points where to build emotional bonds with different audiences, furthermore in order to nurture them lays down the processes in strategic plans for executing certain goals” (Strategyscope)

Remember, in the first place you need a comprehensive Marketing Strategy aligned to the Business Plan. Your Brand Strategy must be implemented into your overall Marketing Strategy as one of its key elements, and all the details of your brand management processes must be synchronized with your business goals too.

?? BRANDING – BRAND IMAGE – BRAND IDENTITY

Let’s be honest, it’s not easy to navigate between these terms, especially because at certain points there’s a fine line between them. Now let’s dive deeper into this subject and see the differences.

??????? BRANDING is mission critical not only for big enterprises but smaller companies, Entrepreneurs and Solopreneurs too. Without branding, you are like a person without a face. Your branding is a set of processes and depends on you as the brand owner in a sense of how you shape it by executing your strategy consistently. It means all the actions you take to create a certain image about your company or yourself. In order to make influence what people think about your brand, you must take actions based on a precisely defined Branding Strategy and Plan.

Please, remember that being a leader/CEO it’s not only your responsibility to make a positive impact through your actions, especially if you work with a team. Your employees are also key contributors to how you shape your brand awareness and brand image together.

Brand Identity is often used interchangeably with Brand Image.

?? Having a BRAND IDENTITY is the way how a company wants the target audience to perceive the brand. Creating the brand identity is vital for every company and it includes certain characteristics that the consumers know you for. It’s a set of visible and tangible elements?– including the logo, symbols, colours, images, or website design, etc. – that create the brand identity together. It not only sets you apart from the competitors but also generates a strong awareness.

??The BRAND IMAGE is how your customers and main target audience, or the wider public perceive your overall brand, both the brand associations and the visual elements together. It's about their feelings, ideas, expectations and how people associate with your brand while interacting with it. Remember, it's the customer/client who decides what your brand is and this is what really matters. It’s NOT what YOU think THEY think about it!!!

?? AND HOW ABOUT BRAND PERSONALITY?

Please, stay with me… ??

??????? When you create your brand, don’t just think of finding a great brand name, but think about the possible qualities or traits you want it to be associated with.?

Maybe it sounds funny, but Brand Personality means how it sounds: you describe its personality the way you want people to perceive it through human personality characteristics so as to generate an emotional bond. It’s about emotions – maybe it is powerful or intelligent, charming or friendly, etc.

Why you should define your brand’s personality precisely? Well, the more it resonates with or it’s similar to the personality of your ideal customers/clients, the more likely they will buy from you.

?? HOW YOU SHOULD LOOK AT BRAND STRATEGY IN 2022?

? Strategic branding is much more than creating a name, a logo, the brand colours and then advertising your products combined with some product or service description, packaged in a poorly worded Social Media post.

? Branding Strategy is not equal to “Why You Are the Best Choice?” or “Why to Choose You vs Competitors?”.

?The purpose of Branding Strategy is also not about pushing your customer/clients toward making sales transactions.

? Branding Strategy is also not about manipulation without morals and ethics by shouting out empty promises and fluff communication messages. If you have gone in this direction, you’d better stop it now!

“Branding Strategy is a comprehensive framework encompassing the goals you must accomplish in order to increase your Brand Awareness and Brand Equity.” (Strategyscope)

If you made a good job both in defining your strategy and executing your branding processes it will have a direct effect on your brand loyalty, will increase your sales and establish a strong position and good reputation on the market.

What is the biggest benefit of it all? If people have positive thoughts about and become engaged with your brand, it will lead to purchasing decisions that will enhance your brand equity more.

To be continued…

Editor’s Note: Branding and Branding Strategy is a huge subject with several various layers and aspects. Strategyscope will further continue to discuss this subject but doesn’t intend to replace Wikipedia and high-quality professional marketing resources either. Rather gives you guidance, and shares best practices based on real-life experiences and client cases while keeping you up to date.        

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??If you want to broaden your knowledge about how to craft your Marketing, Branding and Content Strategy, stay tuned because more details will be described in the upcoming issues of the STRATEGYSCOPE newsletter.

STRATEGYSCOPE is the Marketing, Branding & Content Strategy Compass for your business boost. Each week the newsletter covers various topics within these 3 key areas to guide SMBs (Small and Medium-sized Businesses) Entrepreneurs, and Solopreneurs to fine-tune their strategies and utilize the potential of Marketing for their sustainable growth.

?? Got a question or Want to Work with Me? Shoot it over in the comments or DM to me @Ildiko Bujaki