“A brand is the set of expectations, memories, stories and relationships that, taken together, account for a consumer’s decision to choose one product or service over another.”
– Seth Godin
What is a Brand Strategy?
Brand strategy is an overarching plan for how your business will create favorable impressions and feelings within your defined market. The goal of a brand strategy is to get your brand to stick in the memories of your identified consumers and clients. You want your brand to persuade them to decide to buy their goods and services from your business rather than the competition.
The first step in creating a brand strategy is to craft a well defined brand identity for your business. A clear brand identity ensures that the everyday interactions with your brand are clear and positive and that your employees can communicate them to your clients efficiently and effectively. Determining your brand identity requires exploring your core values, vision and mission for your business. This can be done through a branding workshop in which your business leaders are led through a series of steps to determine together the essential elements of your brand.
The second step is creating your business logo. Your logo is the foundation of your brand because it identifies your business on all public platforms (websites, social media, print collateral, promotional material, etc.). Your business logo and other elements of your brand should be consistently incorporated into your overall marketing strategy. This is because your logo and your brand represent to everyone you serve and want to reach, who you are and what they can expect from you every time they buy your products or procure your services.
Why is Brand Strategy Important?
Developing and managing your brand is hard work. That’s why it is so important to seek and discover your own answer to the question, why is brand strategy important? An essential reason to establish a clear, simple and personal brand strategy is that it will highlight exactly what makes your brand unique. It will differentiate your brand from your competitors. It communicates your unique purpose, values and vision to customers. A strong brand strategy will boost your selling power, the value of your brand and overall customer loyalty.
When your business’s brand strategy aligns with your target audience you can expect to gain traction by building connections with your clients in three areas.
- Greater engagement: more clicks, more views, more shares, more fans. Solid branding builds your following.
- More business: when your brand is able to cut through the fog, it becomes easier to attract and keep customers.
- Deeper loyalty: compelling brands inspire loyalty in your customers, employees and stakeholders.
Strategic branding also prepares your business for future expansions, rebrands and modifications which may be needed as your brand grows and develops in ways you could not foresee. When your brand strategy is done right it will give your whole business a boost. So what is the difference between marketing and branding strategies?
What is a Marketing Campaign Strategy and Why is it Important?
Marketing strategy is a broader and more diverse topic than brand strategy. Marketing strategies vary by industry, change with almost every product, are dependent upon their target audience, are often budget specific, should be carefully tracked and easy to modify in order to maximize effectiveness and so much more. Marketing strategies also incorporate all of the marketing tools that your business has the resources to use to market your services and/or products. This list includes: TV, print products, website design, SEO, PPC, radio, blogs, social media, signs, events, etc.
Marketing campaign strategy is a narrower slice of what marketing strategy does and will usually incorporate your overall marketing strategy into its creative process. This is because a marketing campaign strategy may be implemented to roll out a new product, to highlight an existing product or service to a priority audience or a new target, to expand into a new market or to test any number of customer responses about current or future markets.
Top quality marketing agencies will always prioritize the development of a clear marketing strategy when working with new clients or with existing clients who are looking for new directions and ideas. Effective strategy is the foundation of all successful marketing campaigns. All of your marketing efforts will be far more effective when the details of who, what, when, where and how are rooted in a focused understanding of the strategic question, “why?” This is because all of the methods and details of a strategy work better when your business can articulate the reason(s) behind them.
Brand Strategy vs. Marketing Strategy!
These two strategies are not mutually exclusive. In fact branding strategies and marketing strategies often work very well together. Brand strategy is often the first step in a broader overall marketing strategy. This is especially true for businesses that are beginning to market their services/products or want to expand their marketing footprint. In fact, if your business does not have a brand or wants to rebrand, then participating in a branding workshop is always highly recommended as a first step. This is because beginning with a branding strategy enables you to define your business’s values, vision, goals, target audience and culture, which will enable you to clearly define your overall marketing strategy.
Whether or not your business needs a branding strategy, anytime you want to expand your business marketing, you do need a marketing strategy. Perhaps this is the biggest difference between the two strategies. A marketing strategy is fundamentally essential while a branding strategy is only necessary when you have not defined your brand yet, or you want to rebrand.
Who Can Help Your Business with Both?
As a full-service marketing agency, zö agency will not only lead your business through the processes of both of these essential marketing and branding strategies, but we are experts at fulfilling any and all of your business’s marketing needs. We will make your brand memorable! We will help you strategize and then we will help you with any or all of the priorities determined by your overall marketing strategy. We are truly a one stop shop for all of your marketing needs. And because we are a tribe, you will become part of our tribe too! Your success is our goal and our success!
