Learn Brand Strategy In 17 Minutes (2023 Crash Course)

What's up brand builder Stephen Houraghan here at BrandMasterAcademy.com and in this video we're diving into brand strategy 101 elements deliverables and processes so you can understand the engine that drives successful brands and start developing strategies for your own brand or your clients now building a brand is not about logos colors or fonts it's about influencing the perceptions of the audience to make a business more appealing now the only way to do that successfully is by developing a brand strategy and the only way to do that is by having an effective brand strategy framework now if

there was ever a time when having a nice logo and a slick website was enough that time is long gone today audiences want to feel connected to their brands in a way that feels human and if they can't get that from your brand they'll get it from another brand if you want to build brand strategies that connect then this brand strategy framework will show you how so let's get stuck in but before we dive into processes let's start first with some brand strategy fundamentals and answer the question what is brand strategy well brand strategy is

a long term plan for what a brand will build its reputation on and the method they'll use to build that reputation now if the strategy is successful the brand will claim a position in the mind of their audience about what that brand means and the value and experience that it offers and then a certain segment of that audience will choose it over its competitors now when years gone by it was commonplace for business owners to grab themselves a quick logo bash together a website and expect to find them on the express line to success now

although plenty of those wishful thinking entrepreneurs still exist more and more are beginning to realize that without a strategy the brand might as well be hog tied and left for dead in the desert for a brand to have any chance of success some critical questions need to be answered including why are we here who are we here for where are we going what are we committed to how are we different why should they care what's our personality and what's our message now a good looking brand identity system is great and all but your looks will

only get you so far and if you've got nothing else to go on then your audience is going to go elsewhere because your looks aren't going to answer those questions so why do you need a brand strategy well whether you're building your own brand or a client's brand this is a fundamental question that should be given some time to be addressed and just so everyone knows that this isn't a task to be undertaken for shits and giggles let's dissect the alternative for a second so let's suppose you decided to take the quick and easy road

of grabbing a logo on a website then what how you look doesn't tell your audience what they should understand or remember about your brand which they might need when making a decision which brand to choose as consumers we want our problems to be removed as quickly and as painlessly as possible and this need for a solution doesn't draw us to brands that look good it draws us to brands that show understanding feel familiar address our pain points and speak to us in a way that we would expect a friend or an acquaintance to speak to

us to speak to us in a way that feels familiar so in short if you're building a brand you're building an entity to connect your business to your audience through human engagement and that is why your brand needs a strategy branding has been defined in many different ways from some big names that you should listen to a brand is not what you say it is it's what they say it is marty newmar your brand is what people say about you when you're not in the room jeff bezos branding is not the stuff you make but

the stories you tell seth godin but these quotes are very high level so let's get into the weeds a little bit more mark written is one of the most well-known marketing professors in the world today and here's his take tactics without strategy is dumbing down our discipline if markers want to be taken seriously they must end their preoccupation with tactics and tools and focus on their strategy devised by thoroughly researching segmenting and targeting their market now while mark whitson comes from a traditional marketing background and works with the likes of unilever his arch nemesis on

the other hand gary v is on the other end of the spectrum as a self-taught specialist now the reality is both are specialists in their own right and they have huge audiences of business owners who are watching listening and learning and are going out in search of strategists to help so what is a brand strategist and what do they do well traditionally brand strategists have been luxury experts who've been reserved for branding giants such as nike apple unilever and png but today as more entrepreneurs are listening to influencers the likes of gary vaynerchuk and richard

branson really pushing branding and brand strategy the demand for these experts and the strategic direction that they offer has really increased significantly so what exactly does a brand strategist do well in short they devise a plan of brand expression that will ultimately help to shape the perceptions in the mind of the intended audience and those perceptions will be about what the brand and the business means to them and the experience that it offers now if they're successful the audience will feel something for the brand they'll feel an attachment or a connection or an understanding to

the brand and a desire or an affinity towards that brand that they wouldn't have otherwise felt without carefully positioned structured and personalized brand messages now the deliverables of a visual brand versus a brand strategy are best compared with an analogy let's say you wanted to go on a really long hike across multiple foreign countries and dangerous terrain now you go to a specialist hiking consultant to get you fitted for your trip with hiking gear boots wet weather gear thermal wear gloves backpack etc and then point you in the general direction of where you want to

go now would you feel confident in heading off in the direction that he pointed no if on the other hand he sat you down with a detailed road map navigating the route outlining the roads to use the areas to avoid the most efficient times to travel and the best survival techniques to use on your journey how would you feel in comparison well i'd imagine you'd feel a little more confident that you're gonna get to where you want to go rather than just being pointed in the general direction now the deliverables of a visual brand are

relatively straightforward and can include many different visual elements such as the logo image style graphics illustrations a brand style guide a website digital assets brochures business cards and environmental design when it comes to brand strategy on the other hand it's all about mapping out a plan of brand expression that the brand manager can follow to shape the perceptions of the brand in the mind of the audience to that effect the brand strategy should include a detailed audience persona or multiple personas competitive analysis differentiation and positioning strategy a human brand persona and personality a brand voice

a communication framework brand message brand storytelling framework and a marketing strategy now just like the hiker heading out on a journey into the unknown the brand manager will feel much better equipped to make it to the intended destination if they have a strategic roadmap and conviction in their direction to go with their branding gear now whether you're developing a brand strategy for your own brand or for a client you need a clearly defined framework to build an effective one developing any kind of strategic element at the wrong point in time or overlooking any of the

required considerations will likely result in a misaligned brand or in other words like a compass that doesn't work building a brand is much like building a house it requires certain building blocks to be placed in a certain order to ensure a strong foundational stability and that's exactly what i want to show you in this process i want to show you a strong brand strategy framework that you'll be able to follow for your brand or for your clients step one uncover your brand core now the first step of the brand strategy framework heavily involves the business

and the brand leaders as it extracts the meaning of their brand from their perspective now through a discovery and a collaboration setup possibly a workshop this step uncovers why the brand exists where it's going what it's committed to and how it will behave step two develop your buyer personas now although the term know your audience is not uncommon few brands are built with the level of understanding that's really needed to get into the heads and the hearts of that group of people so much of the brand stems from the detail of who the audience is

and their segments so it's vitally important to take the time and attention that is really needed to truly understand them step number three weigh up the competitive brands now your target market already has options and solutions in the market through your competitors and if you simply turn up offering the same thing you'll be at a distinct disadvantage to the competition who already has a brand presence and brand awareness so this step is all about uncovering what your competitors are offering or in other words what your audience already has on offer to them in the marketplace

step four forge your differentiation strategy now the clarity of your competitive landscape through your audience's research and your competitor analysis provides you with a bird's eye view of the market conditions from here you can begin to identify gaps left open by your competitors and get to work on developing out those gaps into fully fledged positioning ideas step number five define your strategic market position now once the differentiation strategy and the target market has been aligned to confirm that the market is big enough for you to serve with your unique idea you can begin to clarify

your position what do you do who do you do it for the difference from the existing options and the added benefit of value to the audience are all considerations that need to be ironed out to clearly define your positioning strategy step number six align your brand archetype now when you know who the audience is and the desires they have you can begin to uncover their personality type using a scientific framework called archetypes developed by psychiatrist carl jung in the early 20th century this framework provides a tool for brand builders to first understand the personality of

their audience and then develop a personality framework most likely to appeal to who they are step number seven shape your brand personality strategy now while your brand archetype sets in place the foundation for your broader personality it's only a framework and a starting point to truly bring your brand to life so it feels to your audience like a real person that they can connect with you need to draw it the realism so attitudes on the industry opinions on the wider world and broader beliefs they all help to add detail and believability to your brand personality

step number eight find your brand voice and tone now one of the most effective tools of expression for any brand is the tone of voice in which its message is delivered the characteristics defined in the personality development can be further enhanced by a tone of voice that's really designed to carry those characteristics through to the written and the verbal word an audience that reads or hears language or a tone that feels familiar will be far more open to the message that the voice is delivering step number nine define your brand messaging framework they're armed with

a human brand persona and an intimate knowledge of who the audience is and what they want a brand message can be created to land in the hearts and minds of who that audience is through an understanding of their challenges their pain points their hopes dreams desires fears the brand message should be well equipped to resonate on a deep human level step number 10 craft your storytelling framework now every audience is always thinking to themselves well what's in it for me what is this brand going to give me and if you're able to craft a story

that aligns with the journey that they're on where they're coming from where they're going to the challenges that they face along the way then they're going to be completely tuned in to the message that you have to deliver so really understand your audience and the journey that they're on and craft a storytelling framework that's able to deliver a small slice of the story that your brand is telling that aligns with who they are step number 11 design your brand identity system now this step is where branding crosses from strategy development side to the visual identity

side the difference here however is that the designer is armed with such an array of strategic information and direction and they enjoy a vantage point that is not available to non-strategic designers which translates to a visual identity with an edge and step number 12 define your marketing plan so it's only now at step 12 are we getting to the marketing strategy we've developed the brand to know who we are why we're here why we're different and what should matter to our audience we've also defined the method and the manner that we'll use to get that

message into the market and now it's time to define the platforms and the channels to use to get that message out there this again is all about understanding your audience where they congregate and where they're most likely to be open to your brand messaging now once the brand strategy and the subsequent visual identity has been developed the brand is ready to be introduced to the world now although the brand has the gear and the strategic roadmap needed for navigation it's only now starting out on that journey rome wasn't built in a day and neither are

brands from its launch the brand manager must ensure that they follow the strategic roadmap consistently along the road to brand's success they must aim to rendezvous at each checkpoint which are the three a's of brand growth the first a is brand awareness now the first task is to put the brand on the map and into the consciousness and subconsciousness of the intended audience so it stands a chance in the consideration phase of the buyer's journey the more awareness the more consideration in that buying decision the second a is adoption now with awareness established the brand

must work hard through their sales and their onboarding sequences and nurturing process to really convert that awareness into adoption generating one-off business is not easy generating repeat business requires finesse and the third a is advocacy now brand advocacy is widely considered as the holy grail of branding because it turns customers into walking talking tweeting vlogging mini marketing machines and the evidence of the impact of social proof is well documented in fact social proof is one of the foundational principles of influence defined by renowned psychologist and author robert kieldini in his book influence the psychology of

persuasion in his book kieldini says the tendency is to see an action as more appropriate when others are doing it in other words a happy customer singing your praises is pure gold and brands that go all out to achieve brand advocacy reap the rewards now look building brands doesn't happen on the illustrator over a cup of coffee they're built over time with careful consideration and consistent application of a strategic plan and this plan is the deliverable of brand strategy and without one brand managers are aimless wanderers so take the time to define the brand strategy

for your brand understand who the audience is why your brand is going to be different from your competitors and then devise a plan and a method to get that communication out there in a way that your audience is going to resonate with it if you want to learn more about the elements of brand strategy then this video will help you out until next time brian like a master and i'll see you in the next video [Music]