Since 2016, we have successfully launched new products and advertising campaigns on the market. And during this time, we understood clearly: every brand must have a strategy.
If you have already thought about what a brand strategy is and why it is necessary, your company is ready to stand out from the competition, become recognizable, increase employee loyalty, and attract the suitable attention of the target audience. In this article, we go through all the details of brand strategy. So dive into the details by reading this or contacting us, and we can have a briefing session with you to develop a strategy suitable for your company.
What is a brand?
Modern media offers countless definitions of a brand. In simple words — a brand is not only a trademark. It is the image of your company in the eyes of people. These are the feelings, thoughts, associations, and memories you evoke from current and potential clients, investors, and even competitors. Some brands are born and live independently, without any control. And unfortunately, they are in crisis or disappear dying due to different reasons. The owners of the companies can hope for luck or take the work into their own hands and guarantee a positive result. And to do that, we need a strategy.
What is a brand strategy? Why do you need it?
A brand strategy is a development plan. It can give you an idea of what you are and why you exist as a business. It can help you find the perfect means to tell about your brand to as many people as possible.
If you have a brand strategy you can:
- increase audience outreach and brand recognition
- distinguish your business from the competitors
- grow your audience loyalty
- grow your team loyalty
- grow the value of the company’s goods/services in the eyes of consumers and, as a result, increase prices (It sounds great, doesn’t it?)
If you don’t have a strategy, you risk:
- bear reputational costs
- spend money on advertising without expected results
- lose the trust of the audience.
Unfortunately, you’re taking risks if you don’t know the market, what the public is into, and what the target audience is associated with. So, one bad ad campaign can have severe consequences for your business.
Therefore, in conditions of growing competition and changing markets, the strategy is urgently needed for new brands and long-established ones. The sooner you think about it — the better for your business.
Stages of brand strategy development:
We have a lot of experience in branding strategies, so we can safely recommend the following action plan. Note that it is essential to maintain this sequence to yield a positive result.
1. Marker Research
This is a timeless stage. It is necessary to constantly examine your customers and competitors, using focus groups and conducting surveys and interviews. Follow the market dynamics. Focus on the strengths and weaknesses of competitors and even market leaders. Learn from others’ mistakes, not from theirs. Ideally, market research must be done by an experienced marketer. It’s even better if it’s a team of specialists — strategic creators, marketers, and creative copywriters. Our agency is ready to provide those specialists and supervise this stage and others.
The time needed for qualitative market research depends on the task’s depth, volume, and complexity. We recommend that you take into account 20 business days.
2. Positioning development
It is necessary to identify and highlight the competitive advantages of the brand. Simply put, explain to a potential consumer what benefit he would gain by buying a product or service from you. In Moloko Creative, the whole team works at this stage. It can guarantee productive brainstorming because every specialist can look at the process differently.
3. Development of a communication strategy
A communication strategy is a brand message wrapped in creativity. At this stage, analytical work has to be undertaken to formulate such a message as honestly and accurately as possible. It is necessary to remain relevant to your target audience and stand out from competitors. It is essential to carry out this stage only after in-depth market research. Brand development is not a fantasy. It should be based on verified and up-to-date information. Our team is ready to develop a communications strategy for 20 business days.
4. Building a brand platform — brand-book
It is necessary to think and build a brand platform at this stage:
- Describe the essence, positioning, philosophy, and brand mission.
- Tell an exciting brand history or interesting facts from practice that cause deep positive emotions. Also, describe your target audience and compile a list of keywords with which the consumer can associate your brand.
- Define the communication strategy and detail its every stage.
A well-developed platform is key to transforming an ordinary product into a recognizable brand.
Why do you need a brand platform? A ready document can:
- Train new staff quickly and effectively (even under conditions of turnover);
- Help understand freelancers or contractors understand the brand.
- Systematize information about the brand and lead it to a single model on its website and in the mass media.
The last point is significant! To ensure that your brand message is consistent and logical and that information about you on different resources is not contradictory, make sure you have your brand book.
At Moloko Creative, we know how to create a quality brand platform. We involve a creative copywriter at the development stage, and the creative director controls the result.
5. Naming
A creative and memorable name is fun. But is it relevant? Are you sure that it is not going to offend anyone? What associations will it evoke within your target audience?
We strongly recommend starting the naming phase after market research, positioning, and branding. Otherwise, a not suitable name may limit or even discredit you.
Our team is ready to develop a name for your brand within ten business days. An essential advantage of working with us: we already know about the possible pitfalls of naming. This, in the future, can save the customer time, nerves, and money. In addition, we are ready to attract field-specified specialists (mythologists, historians, linguists, and others) if necessary.
6. Identity – corporate style
As a rule, corporate style is the first thing that customers see. Therefore, it is essential to make an excellent first impression. Company style can include various elements depending on customer needs: business cards, forms, views of social media pages, corporate clothes and accessories, transport branding, and others. Most importantly, the identity can be scaled to any medium without losing the main idea.
You need a corporate style if you want to:
- stand out from the crowd of competitors;
- Enter a new market or launch a new product;
- to refresh an already existing brand;
- Improve your brand integrity.
We use our authorial method — evidence-based design to develop your identity. It allows us to design a corporate style based on facts, not emotions or assumptions.
Our methodology is based on design research. During this research, we collect information about competitors, assess the market situation (region and international), and determine which colors/fonts/forms are used in this segment most often and what meanings and emotions are associated with them. So, yes, design research takes time. But it is always effective!
Based on the received data, our designers can work on a logo or an identity, completely excluding subjectivity. Simply put, we can explain in real numbers and facts why colors, fonts, shapes, and symbols have been used.
When the necessary information is collected, the client is briefed. The more precise and detailed the brief is, the better the team can understand what the client wants from the corporate style. The better the result is!
Then the technical task is drawn up, and the substantive work begins. First, the idea is built and approved. Next, the concept is developed according to which necessary elements of a firm style are created.
The development of the identity is a team effort. In Moloko Creative, designers, account managers, and creative and art directors work on it. During the research phase, a strategist may join in. Typically, this phase takes about 4 to 8 weeks. At the end of this term, the client gets a ready-made company style. But if you want to get the most out of this stage, don’t forget to order the guideline.
What is the guideline?
Guideline — a set of rules on using the company style. It is a kind of instruction that the designer can use to understand how the logo should look on a hoodie, a leaflet, or a mug, which colors are allowed and not allowed, and why.
The presence of a guideline makes the job much easier because it:
- assists in the rapid training of new staff;
- effectively communicate the necessary information to printers, designers, and contractors.
We know that our guidelines can be used not only by designers but also by different specialists in the company. That is why we do everything to make our guidelines clear and structured for all who work with them.
It is also important to mention…
The length of stages mentioned above depends on the set objectives’ size. Also, some stages can go in parallel to save time but not always.
What else is essential to know about brand strategy?
You can’t stop working even if you already have the perfect brand strategy. Long-term solutions can’t always be relevant, even if they have proven effective. The market is volatile, and so is consumer demand. At the same time, new means of communication are constantly emerging, new possibilities to creatively inform about your product. We recommend adjusting the strategy at least once every 1-3 years.
It is difficult, time-consuming, and almost impossible to create an ideal strategy alone.
We understand that not every business owner has the resources, knowledge, and skills to keep an entire team of specialists to develop a brand strategy.
Don’t worry, call us! We can start work on the project immediately after the briefing, and soon your product or service will become more visible and exciting for consumers.