What is a brand strategy and why do I need one?

Building a brand strategy is about creating the foundations for your business to ensure its strength and growth for the future. It’s not about creating a pretty logo and a brand book that sits in a drawer never to see the light of day.

In the same way as you’d think about a person, ‘you can’t judge a book by its cover’. Your logo and visual identity are simply there to signpost people to your communication. Your actual brand is the substance behind the imagery, that consumers use to understand your brand, build their perceptions and make purchasing decisions.

What values does your business stand for?

What does your business do?

What sets you apart from your competitors?

Audiences make their purchase decisions in many different ways and a brand strategy will give you the insights that you need to ensure that your audience are making a well-considered choice to buy your product or service. This is key to driving repeat business and advocacy.

Through simple advertising and PR you may naturally generate some top-line sales, just because you were there when the consumer had got to the stage when they were ready to make the purchase. This isn’t a sustainable business strategy and it’s unlikely to generate the results that you need for the long-term growth of your brand.

Now you know why you need a brand strategy, here’s some guidance on how to do it…

Brand strategy development should always be carried out by an external agency or representative – we would highly recommend the strategic team at Dupree International;-)

Your internal team are too close to the brand and will probably already have preconceived ideas. This is a process that needs to start with a blank sheet of paper, key stakeholders within your business and a team of expert investigators.

It’s imperative that all of the key decision makers within your business are part of the process from the start to ensure a smooth strategy development process and to enable a full understanding of the outcome.

Never start a brand strategy by considering your logo, photography style and fonts. You’ll end up wasting lots of time and money because the full strategy process will naturally drive these in a new direction.

The same with marketing planning – your new strategic direction and messaging will generate a fresh roadmap, which will allow you to prioritise target markets and sectors and focus your spend in the areas that will have the most impact.

The key to a successful brand strategy is for everyone to be open and honest.

At Dupree International we would carry out a full market review before your strategy day. This would include reviewing your competitors and your own existing marketing communications, alongside your top-line strategic objectives.

During the strategy day we would then cross-examine you and your team, to get a full understanding of the business’ strengths and weaknesses, alongside opportunities and threats.

You’ll be surprised by how many insights are locked away in your team’s heads.

The success of our process lies in the fact that all of the key thinking is done by your internal team – our strategic experts just know the right questions to ask and how to direct the conversation to get the best results.

When the strategy day is over, the real work begins. Our strategic team take everything that they’ve learnt about your business and rebuild your strategy from the ground up.

The great thing about how we work is that nothing is left to subjectivity. Your team have been through the process with us and will naturally see how the new strategy has evolved.

At the end of the development you’ll have a clear roadmap that will futureproof your business for at least the next 5 years.

Your team will fully understand how you operate internally. You’ll have considered every touch point during your customer’s journey.

Your final brand strategy will define your core values and establish what really makes your brand stand out from your competitors, from the perspective of your audience.

From cohesive and targeted messaging that will bring clarity to your internal and external marketing planning, to visual representations of how this messaging can be conveyed, your new strategic direction will allow you to prioritise your marketing budget, tailor your marketing channels and ultimately take your business to the next level.

Get started today with your brand strategy.

The Dupree International team can host brand strategy sessions in person or via video call - local or international there are no limits.

Call Mason on +44(0) 1780 757666 or email Mason.mallett@dupreeinternational.com