A brand strategy is a long-term plan for the development of a successful brand in order to achieve specific goals. It includes the set of actions and decisions that a company takes to create, maintain, and improve its brand over time.
Brand strategy helps a company achieve its business goals by creating a strong, consistent, and recognizable brand. The goal of a brand strategy is to create a consistent and recognizable brand image that resonates with the target audience, differentiates the brand from its competitors, and helps to achieve the company's business goals. A brand strategy is a blueprint for how a company presents itself to the world and how it wants to be perceived by its target audience.
Here is the 15 step guide that every brand should follow to develop a brand strategy
- Brand audit: Conduct a brand audit to evaluate the current state of your brand, identify areas for improvement, and measure the effectiveness of your brand strategy.
- Research: Conduct a thorough analysis of your target market, competitors, and industry trends to gain insight into the needs and pain points of your target audience.
- Sales and marketing alignment: Ensure that your sales and marketing teams are aligned and working towards the same goals. This includes creating a shared understanding of the target market, buyer personas, and sales process.
- Market segmentation: Segment your target market based on demographics, psychographics, behaviour, and other factors, and develop a tailored strategy for each segment.
- Brand measurement and tracking: Establish a system for tracking and measuring key brand metrics, such as brand awareness, perception, and loyalty.
- Budget and resource allocation: Create a budget and resource allocation plan to ensure that your brand strategy is properly supported and has the necessary resources to be successful.
- Employee engagement: Ensure that all employees understand and are aligned with your brand strategy. This includes brand training, communication, and incentives to encourage employees to act as brand ambassadors.
- Crisis management: Develop a crisis management plan to prepare for and respond to potential crises that may impact your brand reputation.
- CRM and Database management: Use a CRM to keep track of leads and customer interactions, as well as to create targeted marketing campaigns.
- Measurement and analytics: Establish a process for measuring and analyzing the performance of your brand strategy. Use tools such as Google Analytics, social media analytics, and CRM analytics to track key metrics such as website traffic, lead generation, and customer engagement.
- Collaboration with internal teams: Collaborate with internal teams such as product development, customer service, and sales to ensure that your brand strategy is aligned with the overall business strategy and that all teams are working towards the same goals.
- Voice of customer: Create a process for capturing and analyzing customer feedback, such as through surveys or focus groups. Use this feedback to inform your brand strategy and improve the customer experience.
- Partnership and collaboration: Look for opportunities to partner with complementary brands and organizations to expand your reach and create mutually beneficial relationships.
- Reputation management: Develop a reputation management strategy to protect and enhance your brand's reputation. This includes monitoring online mentions of your brand, responding to customer complaints, and proactively managing any negative press.
- Brand governance: Establish guidelines for maintaining consistency across all brand touchpoints, including visual identity, messaging, and tone of voice. This will help ensure that your brand is consistently represented in all communications.