Think
of personal brands like Oprah, Donald Trump, Martha Stewart and Richard
Branson.These individuals practically built their businesses right on
top of their personal brand; everything they offer is an extension of
their brand promise.
Your brand is not your product, your logo, our website or your name.Your
brand strategy should be based on your company goals, A brand strategy
is the how, what, when and to whom you plan on communicating your
product or service. Having a clear and concise brand strategy leads to
stronger overall brand equity- how people perceive, feel about or
perceive your product and how much they are willing to pay for it.
Here’s 12 brand strategy principles I believe to be the key to achieving business success.
1. Define your brand
It
starts with your authenticity, the core purpose, vision, mission,
position, values and character. Focus on what you do best and then
communicate your inimitable strengths through consistency.
2. Your brand is your business model
Tie
your brand to your business model. Chances you are not the only company
out there selling your product and service. Figure out what your
company does best beyond why you sell and make it a part of your brand
strategy.
3. Consistency, consistency, consistency
Consistency
in your message is the key to differentiate.Own your position on every
reference point for everything that you do. President Obama focuses on
one message only during his campaign, CHANGE. BMW has always been known
as the “ultimate driving machine.”
4. Start from the Inside out
Everyone
in your company can tell you what they see, think and feel about your
brand. That’s the story you should bring to the customers as well,
drive impact beyond just the walls of marketing.
5. Connect on the emotional level.
A brand is not a name, logo, website, ad campaigns or PR; those are only the tools not the brand. A brand is a desirable idea manifested in products, services, people, places and experiences. Starbucks
created a third space experience that’s desirable and exclusive so
people would want to stay and pay for the overpriced coffee.
6. Empower brand champions
Award
those that love your brand to help drive the message. Facilitate
activities so they can be part of the process.If your brand advocate
doesn’t tell you what you should or should not be doing, it’s time to
evaluate your brand promise. A lot of consumers are passionate about
iPhone and Apple because it has become a llifestyle and a culture to
them.
7. Stay relevant and flexible
A
well managed brand is always making adjustments. Branding is a
process, not a race, not an event so expect to constantly tweak your
message and refresh your image.Successful brands don’t cling to the old
ways just because they worked in the past; instead, they try to
re-invent themselves by being flexible which frees them to be more savvy
and creative.
8. Align tactics with strategy
Convey the brand message on the most appropriate
media platform with specific campaign objectives. Because consumers are
bombarded by commercial messages every day, they’re also actively
blocking out the great majority of them.Invest your branding efforts on
the right platform that communicates to the right channels.
9. Measure the effectiveness
Focus on the ROI (return on investment) is the key to measure the effectiveness of your strategies.
10. Cultivate your community
Community is a powerful and effective platform on which to engage customers and create loyalty
towards the brand.In an active community; members feel a need to
connect with each other in the context of the brand’s consumption.
11. Keep your enemies closer
Even
if you have the most innovative, highly desirable product, you can
expect new competitors with a superior value proposition to enter your
market down the road.
12. Practice brand strategy thinking
IDEO’s CEO Tim Brown calls design thinking “a process for creating new choices.”Essentially it means to not just settle for the choices currently available but to think outside the box without being limited.
Now it's time to create your brand!
To your success.
