How To Develop A Branding Strategy

When it comes to marketing your business, it’s important to develop a strategy to maximize your efforts into attracting customers to purchase your product or service. But that is not the only thing you need to have a strategy for. Of course, you need an overall business strategy, too. But more importantly, you need to have a branding strategy.

Branding is more that just marketing. Marketing is getting people interested in your product or service. Branding is getting them interested in you and your business. Your brand is more than just the face of your business. It is the intangible things, like your business’s personality. It is what people will think of when they see you logo or hear your company name. So when you develop a branding strategy you need to keep that in mind. This strategy is going to be the long-term plan for turning your brand into a success and achieving specific goals.

You might think it can be difficult to develop a branding strategy but it’s not really that hard. Here are a few steps to follow.

1. Purpose

What is your company’s purpose? What is its promise to customers? This can be a functions purpose, like making money, or an intentional purpose, like making money but also do good in the world. If you have more to your purpose than just making money, that will help set you apart in the eyes of the customer, especially if it’s a charitable purpose. This goes hand in hand with having a personality. Your promise to customers and how you keep it will help determine your business’s personality. It is how you will show them what you’re all about.

2. Consistency

Remain consistent with what you share about your company and the messages you convey. For example, if you share a photo on your Facebook page, is it relevant to your company and its message at all, or just something silly and likely to confuse people about you? Having a style guide will help you stay consistent in all things, from the tone of voice to color scheme to product positioning.

3. Emotion

You will want to play to the audience’s emotions as much as you can. Humans are emotional people, and many times make decisions based on their feelings. Find ways to connect with your customers on an emotional level. For example, can you offer them peace of mind or make them feel like part of a family?

4. Identify Target Audience

You probably have the demographics for your target audience already figured out, but go a little deeper. Who are they really? What are they really after from your product or service? What are they going to want from you? What is their personality like? How can you reach out to them better? Anticipate their needs and put that in your message in a way that will resonate with them.

5. Stand Out From The Competition

Watch your competition and see what they do. What works for them and what doesn’t? Use their experience to tailor your brand positioning and make yourself stand out from them.

6. Loyalty

If you have loyal customers, reward them for it. They have gone out of their way to act as brand ambassadors for you, so if you can cultivate their loyalty, it will help grow your business and better your appearance. Highlighting a positive relationship with current loyal customers will set the tone for what potential customers can expect.

So there you have a few key steps for developing a branding strategy.