Firm foundations: why are brand strategies so important?
Every brand has a story to tell – and yours is no exception. Delivering a message in the right tone at the right time with the right customer experience can be very powerful. However, creating a brand strategy can feel overwhelming. So is it worth it?
In this article, we'll explore:
Why brand strategies are important
What makes a successful brand strategy
How you can go about building a powerful brand strategy for your business
Examples of brand strategies
🤔 Why have a brand strategy?
So, why are brand strategies useful? Well, brand strategies are important because they help companies to influence the consumer’s perception of the brand. A brand strategy allows a particular brand to differentiate themselves from competitors, and clarify their unique purpose. Put simply, it enables a company to be seen for what it wants to stand for.
Brand strategy is the foundation that supports all of your marketing communications.
Overall, here are some of the main reasons why brand strategies are so important:
It will help establish and define your brand position and identity
It will help you identify your core target audience
It will enable you to differentiate your product or service from competitors
It will inform your content strategy and help you create valuable, relevant assets for your customers
It will help you create an emotional connection with your customers
It will improve your chances of customer retention and loyalty
Without a brand strategy, your brand is like a ship without a destination or rudder.
So, what is a good branding strategy?
Today you will find many different definitions of a great brand. Some say good brands inspire a feeling or an emotion, and others say they communicate a promise.
What is clear is that good brands have to be more than just a logo and name. Rather, they have a comprehensive strategy that strives to reflect an authentic personality. Brands have to mean something on an emotional level so that customers feel like they’re not just buying an iPhone or a Patagonia jacket — they’re buying into a lifestyle, an image or a way of being.
In fact, you could say a brand is everything beyond the product. To connect with an audience, your marketing must put your customers front of mind. It’s important to be customer-centric rather than product-centric. According to marketing guru Seth Godin, customer-centricity leads to brand advocacy:
"A brand is the set of expectations, memories, stories and relationships that, taken together, account for a consumer’s decision to choose one product or service over another."
Seth Godin
Similarly, in his renowned TED talk on how good brands inspire action, Simon Senek suggests successful companies lead with the question “why?”. He says “People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.” Take a listen here.
Again, Senek suggests good branding is about more than the product. A successful brand strategy taps in the audience’s desires and the “why” (or purpose) behind the product.
In creating a brand strategy, you might address questions such as “who does this product help the consumer become?”, “what vision and promises does it inspire”, or “how does it capitalise on the audience’s deep motives?”.
Creating a brand strategy may feel overwhelming. The task becomes less intimidating if you start by exploring your brand’s building blocks. Let’s look at them further now.
“Actually - and ironically - people aren't really interested in a new brand form or flavour as much as they are interested in how a brand can change, impact, or improve their lives. They want brands around them that make them feel special and provide some social cache or confidence.”
Debbie Millman
👇 The fundamentals of brand strategies
When developing a brand strategy, you need to think of your company as an entire ecosystem. To achieve consistency across all touch points, every element of your business must work together as an integrated whole to create a unified brand experience.
So, before going ahead and creating your strategy, it’s important to be clear on your brand’s identity and “heart”. Afterall, you’ll need these attributes to be reflected in your strategy.
Take, for example, our brand strategy for Blundstone footwear. We were challenged with bringing their lifestyle and workwear audiences together under a single brand. We formulated our strategic work into a brand model. As suggested in this article, our own work included brand values, vision, personality, purpose and essence.
We’ve already touched on some of these, but there’s 4 fundamentals to think about when getting started:
Purpose: Your “why”. Why does your company exist?
Vision: What future do you want to create with your business?
Mission: What are you striving to achieve?
Values: What does your company stand for? What principles guide your way?
You may find that some of these are easier to articulate than others. Getting the words perfect isn’t essential in your first draft. What is important is maintaining an open, honest and authentic approach. Don’t forget, at the early stages nothing is set in stone. In fact, brands (like people and businesses) shift, grow and reinvent themselves over time. We’ve had the pleasure of doing some fascinating brand re-inventions due to such growth — so, don’t be afraid to get started, and give yourself licence to adapt and evolve.
When starting the process of creating your brand strategy, bare these two questions in mind from Brian Collins:
A brand is always answering two questions. The first one internally facing: What do we believe? The second, externally: How do we behave? You must remain authentic to yourself, your core values, and what you stand for. If you’re not, people will sniff you out — the answers to these two curiosities must always be aligned.
Brian Collins
Once you have identified these foundations (even a top-line idea), it’s down to curating the brand personality and strategy around them. It’s about creating an identity which speaks to your audience and fits your purpose. Brand Archetypes may come in handy here.
The main idea behind Brand Archetypes is that they help you distil your company’s personality down to a single “character”. This makes it easier for you to consistently and effectively communicate with your target audience on an emotional level.
These brand archetypes were developed by psychologist Carl Jung. They use symbolism to more easily convey complex branding types.
Here’s the 12 brand personalities explained. Have a read through and see which ones resonate with your brand:
😇 The Innocent:
Exhibits happiness, goodness, optimism, safety, romance, and youth. Example brands include: Coca-Cola, Nintendo Wii, Dove.
😀 The Regular Guy / Girl:
Seeks connections and belonging; is recognised as supportive, faithful and down-to-earth. Example brands include: IKEA, Bunnings, Gumtree.
😎 The Hero:
On a mission to make the world a better place, the Hero is courageous, bold, inspirational. Example brands include: Nike, BMW, Duracell.
🤠 The Rebel:
Questions authority and breaks the rules; the Rebel craves rebellion and revolution. Example brands include: Virgin, Harley-Davidson, Vice.
🧐 The Explorer:
Finds inspiration in travel, risk, discovery, and the thrill of new experiences. Example brands include: Jeep, Rip Curl, Red Bull.
🤩 The Creator:
Imaginative, inventive and driven to build things of enduring meaning and value. Example brands include: Lego, Crayola, Adobe.
🤨 The Ruler:
Creates order from the chaos, the Ruler is typically controlling and stern, yet responsible and organised. Example brands include: Mercedes-Benz, Microsoft, British Airways.
😵💫 The Magician:
Wishes to create something special and make dreams a reality, the Magician is seen as visionary and spiritual. Example brands include: Apple, Disney, Dyson.
😍 The Lover:
Creates intimate moments, inspires love, passion, romance and commitment. Example brands include: Victoria’s Secret, Chanel, Haagen Dazs.
🤗 The Caregiver:
Protects and cares for others, is compassionate, nurturing and generous. Example brands include: Johnson & Johnson, Volvo, UNICEF.
🙃 The Jester:
Brings joy to the world through humour, fun, irreverence and often likes to make some mischief. Example brands include: MailChimp, Ben & Jerry’s, M&Ms.
🤔 The Sage:
Committed to helping the world gain deeper insight and wisdom, the Sage serves as the thoughtful mentor or advisor. Example brands include: Google, BBC, National Geographic.
🧐 Example of brand strategies and their frameworks
To get a better idea of brand strategies and their frameworks, let’s look at a few examples:
When you think of Volvo, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? Swedes? Crash-test dummies? Breezeblock aerodynamics?! Or perhaps something to do with the brand’s long-standing safety reputation? Whatever it is, this car brand is a good example of the influence a clear and consistent brand framework can have on a business.
Volvo didn’t just choose “safety” as a marketing point. They built their entire brand on it — from the product itself to their messaging and corporate culture. In fact, they took it so seriously that they turned down a lucrative deal with Marvel to be an official sponsor of the Incredible Hulk (true story).
Volvo isn’t the only company that is using a clear brand framework to grow their business or increase awareness for their brand. From Maccas and Tesla to Patagonia and Adidas, all brands are built on some sort of foundation.
A successful brand strategy can be seen in every aspect of the brand from the way it looks to the actions it takes.
Here’s another example, this time, Airbnb.
Airbnb’s brand has a clear mission: to create a world where anyone can ‘belong’. They aim to encourage and enable people to ‘live like a local’. Their values are around care, openness and embracing adventure. This is communicated consistently by using their entire brand framework, including the idea in their logo to the font they use to communicate with. Graphics, illustrations as well as their ‘tone of voice’ all reflect this.
We can break their brand framework down into a series of areas, some of the core ones below:
Brand Mission Statement – what they aim to achieve
To live in the world where one day you can feel like you’re home anywhere & not in a home, but truly home, where you belong.
Design Tool-kit — the design elements that help enable them to clearly communicate their mission
A unique, relevant and recognisable logo that symbolises ‘belonging’ (called Bélo, short for “belong”, by the way). A warm and inviting red colour palette that helps to ensure consistency between all communications. A rich, diverse and personable illustration style that creates a sense of place. A bespoke font design exclusively for Airbnb that complements the brand’s aesthetic and supports all their touchpoints (digital and print) in a clearer way. All of these design elements help to keep the message clear and makes it easier for people to recognise the brand.
Tone of Voice — the language they use to reinforce and express their brand
Our voice is the extension of our brand and personality within the product, and it’s the foundation of everything we write.
Airbnb.design
Airbnb’s tone of voice is straightforward, inclusive, thoughtful, and spirited. True to the brand's mission and values. It’s used consistently across every marketing channel, from website text to product descriptions in apps to social media posts and is a key part of their content strategy. The tone matches the message they convey.
And does this work for them, apparently:
When I look at this brand, I suddenly realised everything I’ve been trying to say, now we have a way to express it.
Brian Chesky, CEO and Founder of Airbnb
📋 To summarise…
So, as we’ve seen, a simple and clear brand strategy can be game-changing for a company. It has the power to define and create a brand's identity — setting a clear framework that establishes priorities and enables a consistent message.
And remember following a brand strategy isn’t about restricting what you do, it’s about helping you decide what to do. As they say: your methods can change but your principles shouldn’t.
References
Seth Godin | Simon Senek | Debbie Millman | Brian Collins | Airbnb.design
Chris Thomas is an independent design and branding specialist with over 20 years experience working with iconic brands across a wide range of sectors spanning the UK, EU, US, Middle East, Asia and here in Australia. He is the owner and Creative Director at Founded by Design, and has been awarded both nationally and internationally for his work.
