Going from brand to brand-strategy

Branding, brand strategy, branded content, brand marketing, brand voice, brand vision, brand your cows, brand your horses.

Branding gets thrown around a lot, but the simplest way I think about it is the way in which you are known to the folks you serve and the impression you leave with anyone who interacts with you.

You get to decide what that is and then implement different ideas to help get your message to the right people.

This is where brand strategy comes in.

Brand strategy

define: brand strategy.  A plan a person or business creates to authentically engage with existing and potential clients and customers.

After we’ve gone through the work of figuring out our brand — defining what sort of presence we’re going to have in the world — then we have to figure out where and how we are going to talk to people.

Amongst other things, this is when you get to begin to plan your marketing and all of the creative that will accompany your brand.

Since your brand affects everything you do, then brand strategy is approaching each aspect of your business and checking it through your brand: your *brand becomes the prism that every decision passes through until you’re *branded.

Here’s are some common areas we cover in brand strategy:

• Product or service specifics

• Client communication

• Marketing

• Pricing

• Website

• Logo

• Photos and videos

Product / Service Specifics

Start with what you do: you own a coffee shop, you’re a consultant, a coach, you make photos & videos (like me!), you make music, movies, etc.

Put it in simple terms to start, because on one level that’s the best way to think about it. It’s just making movies, it’s just consulting, it’s just owning a restaurant.

Then answer why it’s more than just that for you.

That’s why you’re allowed to have a spot in the market. You have a perspective, which is the primary qualifier.

Your brand will define the strategy you take in the execution and delivery of your products and services.

Is your focus on quality of product or ingredients? Are you attempting to disrupt your industry in some way & if so, how are you doing that?

Start here first because this is one of the areas where we are allowed to be the most esoteric and abstract so that as we move along we have the framework to define the concrete.

From here, the order doesn’t matter as long as you make sure you’re not skipping any areas of your business.

Client Communications

How are you going to communicate with your clients?

This means thinking about while they’re working with you as well as when they’re not.

Do you send something in the mail? Do you have an email newsletter? What’s the primary way in which you plan to stay in touch?

Most importantly, what’s the primary way that your brand would stay in touch?

Email is convenient and allows you the opportunity to further enrich the lives of your recipients, but how would your brand do email?

Step one is to think about how you want to stay in touch with your favorite clients when they aren’t around.

Step two is to then begin to think about how your unique brand and perspective is going to interpret that medium (email, newsletter, phone calls, summits, monthly meetings, I don't know! google some more ideas if you need help deciding).

Once you have those two answers, lay out from start to finish how each communication is produced and now you’ll have a really good first draft of a branded communication strategy.

Now execute.

Marketing

Marketing is interesting because it’s primarily directed at people who are not yet your client.

You know you have something wonderful to offer, but in order to continue to offer it, you need people to buy whatever it is you offer.

The trap that I see most people fall into is let the worry for income have too much affect on their marketing strategy.

Marketing is not letting people know about discounts or coming up with ideas to get “as many people in the door as quickly as possible.”

No. Stop it. That’s wrong.

Marketing is about connecting with the right people for the mutural benefit of all parties involved.

If you aren’t happy after a transaction, it was a bad transaction.

Market to the right people so that all the people who aren’t right for you can find the right person… who isn’t you!

Marketing is about getting your perspective into the world in new and interesting ways so that you are connecting with the the right people in places that make sense (both literally out into the world, as well as which social media platforms they might use, etc.).

Determine this and don’t be afraid to try many, many, many different ways to create introduction points between yourself and the people you want to meet.

Pricing

Get everything down that you want to fund with your business. Is this you? Is this a cause, is it a larger than life idea? Is it this and more? Get it on there. Make sure you include recurring and random expenses in this, too.

Add these up and make all the estimations you have to if you don’t know the numbers.

Whatever this number is, this is ideally what your business will fund.

Once you have that final number, I usually recommend multiplying it 2.5 times to get an idea of what your revenue goals should be. Maybe even as high as 3 times as much as that number.

The reason why we have to multiply that number is because there are things like taxes, profit, employee related expenses (even if it’s just you!), and a few other things.

I wish it was a 1:1 trade, but it’s not.

This is why it’s so important to make sure you have your product and service offering dialed in as best as you can and to continue to improve it as time goes on so that every transaction is fabulous for both you and your clients regardless of price.

If you don’t have employees already, this might be a good place to start thinking about what that’d look like. What kind of salaries do you want to provide? What sort of benefits if any?

Let your brand be your guide. Also, let Mike Michalowicz be your guide and pick up his book, Prophet First. Follow the steps and take it seriously and you’ll be surprised how simple (not to say it won’t require some hard decisions) it can be to figure out how much money you need, how many clients you need and much more.

It’s a great book for anyone at any point in their business. Highly recommend.

Website

Websites are a phenomenal way to interact with everyone.

Websites are utilized for both marketing as well as for client resources.

A website is a huge opportunity to help drive connection or to completely waste people’s time. A bad website can even deter your ideal client from wanting to work with you.

So take this responsibility seriously and learn to communicate what they need to know in efficient ways and affective ways.

As much as I’d love everyone to spend as much time on my website as I have, I know that they have other things in their lives that take a higher priority.

So keep the messaging clear and to the point, attempt to predict what the users of the site will mostly like want from you and make it easy for them to find it.

Logo

Logos can be a huge part of a brand, so it’s something to work on with a designer who understands the importance of brand.

All images are forms of communication. The way we arrange symbols and shapes all mean something to use based on previous experience, so sending the right message is not only important, but it can become extremely powerful in establishing what your brand is about with a single interaction.

Photos & Videos

Photos and videos are extremely affective in communicating key messaging.

Think about all that goes into a single trip to the coffee shop. Depending on the day, the weather will be different. Depending on the shop, the way the people dress might be different, the music might be different and even the friendliness of the staff might be different.

Beyond that, there’s the things we notice, the thoughts we might be preoccupied with, the experience we had on the way to the coffee shop and so many more things all go into that single experience.

So, finding the most common elements of experience as they relate to interaction with your brand are what fuel photo and video produciton as part of a solid brand strategy.

We think about placement and how an image, set of images or moving-images (a.k.a., video) can reinforce a particular point on your website, highlight a key feature of your product or service in your marketing, demonstrating situations of ideal experiences when they interact with you and on, and on.

We’re in business for a reason. A really good reason, so we create art that speaks the most important messages that cause your business to exist and they help bridge gaps, remove barriers to entry and help the right people identify what they’re looking for.

Summary

The summery is simple: whatever you determine your brand to be, a brand strategy is the myriad ways in which you will ingrain that brand into every aspect of your business.

For more information on establishing your brand, check out this other post that walks you through How to Determine Your Brand.