Wondering how to kick your business confusion to the curb? Create a killer brand strategy.
In the beginning it was just about the business; now it’s about the brand.
Sir Richard Branson
Business branding. If you’ve Googled it, you probably haven’t found the same definition twice.
It’s complex, confusing, and constantly evolving. Why? Branding is personal, emotional, and different for everyone. But here’s the truth … no matter how difficult branding feels you can’t sidestep it.
Your brand communicates your who, what, how, and why. It sets the foundations for every touchpoint of your business.
You can share it with your staff, people you outsource to, stakeholders and use it in your marketing and social media strategies. It keeps you consistent and consistency helps build trust – trust increases the chances of people buying from you … who wants to buy from a brand they don’t trust? No one.
It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in; if you’re a solo operator, a small business, a corporation, or anything in between. You can’t sidestep business branding.
Because people don’t buy from businesses anymore. We want to buy from brands we can identify with, who share our values and have a vision and purpose we believe in. When we decide to spend our money, it’s because we’re not just getting a product or service. The brand we spend our hard-earned dollars with gives us a solution and makes us feel a certain way.
Defining your brand lets you:
- Set the value for your product or service
- Communicate clearly and consistently
- Build trust
- Set yourself apart from your competitors
- Attract and convert the right people
- Have a steady foundation for everything in your business
If you’re not crystal clear on your brand, you:
- Attract the wrong people
- Struggle with making sales
- Wonder why and where you’re going wrong
- Have trouble articulating your point of difference
- Lack clarity
- Have unclear and inconsistent messaging
Clarifying your brand strategy is critical. It lets you sidestep confusion and re-work later. And it’s not just about copywriting. Before I start writing for clients I do a 90 min Unbaffle Your Brand session with them. It is invaluable for building brand clarity, consistency and direction. Everything that follows after just makes sense.
How do I create my brand strategy?
At a minimum, your brand strategy should include these 7 things:
1 Your why –Your why isn’t the amount of money you make or the thing you offer. It’s your brand’s reason for being.
2 Your target audience & ideal client profiles – you can’t read minds, so the next best thing is to know your ideal clients as well as you know yourself.
3 Your brand values- as a person, your values are what you stand for. The same goes for your brand. Brand values are a code of conduct, a set of rules and guidelines to help you navigate your way through all the situations that will pop up in your crazy business-owning world.
4 Brand voice and tone – Your brand voice is what you say. Your brand tone is how you say it. You unconsciously tailor your voice and tone to suit your circumstances each day. I’m going to take a guess and assume you don’t speak to your Nan the same way you speak to your close friends, your boss, or the barista at your local. We pick what we say and how we say it to make sure we can get our message across. The same thing needs to happen with your brand’s voice and tone.
5 Your Unique Selling Proposition (USP) –your Unique Selling Proposition (USP) is the reason people buy from you instead of your competitors. Think of it as your secret sauce. When it comes to creating a USP unless you have no competitors, it’s not your product, price, or service. You need to focus on one of the biggest benefits clients receive when they choose you.
6 Your visual identity – your visual identity will be influenced by all the brand elements you’ve worked on to:
- Sum up your brand’s personality at a glance
- Communicate your message to your target audience
- Make them feel a certain way
- Help your brand be easily recognisable
7 Your mission statement
A mission statement is a short and sharp statement that sums up your brand’s promise to your clients, sets you apart from competitors and keeps your brand, you and the people you work with on course.
It includes:
- What you do
- Why you do it
- Who you do it for
A successful brand isn’t created with some informative words and pretty graphics. Your brand strategy needs to be backed by research and the psychology of marketing.
Everything you do should align with your brand strategy and you’re on your way to clarity, consistency, a great reputation and recognition within your niche, which of course leads to sales. Cha-ching!
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