Developing Your Brand Strategy

Developing a brand strategy can be one of the most difficult steps in the marketing plan process. It's often the element that causes most businesses the biggest challenge, but it's a vital step in creating the company identity.

Your brand identity will be repeatedly communicated, in multiple ways with frequency and consistency throughout the life of your business. To begin the development of your brands strategy you must have an understanding of these four marketing components: -

Primary Target Customer and/or Client Competition Product and Service Mix Unique Selling Proposition By identifying these components of your marketing plan you have created the basis for crafting your brand strategy. An effective branding process will create a unique identity that differentiates you from the competition. That is why it's often deemed as the heart of a competitive strategy. Determining Your Brand’s Objectives your brand should be comprised of the company personality, image, core competencies and characteristics. The impressions that you make as well as the words people will use to describe your company to others, are the basic framework of your brand. With a strong brand you build credibility, have more influence on your market, and motivate customers and clients to purchase from you. If done correctly your company will be looked at as a leader not a follower.

Some of the questions to ask yourself when determine your brand objectives are as follows.
•What do you want others to know and say about your products or services?
•What is it that you want your brand to do for your company?
Your objectives may include the following:-
•Being recognized by receiving a specific award
•Picking up a certain number of choice projects
•Gaining a specific number of new clients in the next year

Positioning your company as an industry leader in the next couple of months by defining your objectives you are able to draw up a plan on how to achieve these objectives. For instance your objective is to position your company as the best in the industry. In doing these here are some of the things you could do:
Have members of your team speak at Trade Shows •
Write and publish articles magazine, newspapers e.t.c
Schedule lectures at professional gatherings within the industry Once you’ve determined your objectives the next stage is to build and develop your brand strategy by listing out how, when and what you are going to do to accomplish and meet these brand objectives. Use the questions above to determine your brand objectives. List each objective and map out how you plan to accomplish and succeed in meeting those objectives. Don’t stop there! Once you’ve finished take the time to list out what you can do at every point in time to meet that objective. Be specific and schedule those action items in your business agenda.

The objectives that a good brand will achieve include:
Delivers the message clearly
Confirms your credibility
 Connects your target prospects emotionally
Motivates the buyer

Concretes User Loyalty Important of Branding to Marketing Strategies To succeed in branding you must understand that needs and wants of your customers and prospects. You do this by integrating your brand strategies through your company at every point of public contact. Your brand resides within the hearts and minds of customers, clients and prospects. It is the sum total of their experiences and perceptions, some of which you can influence and some that you cannot. A strong brand is invaluable as the battle for customers intensifies day by day. It’s important to spend time investing in researching, defining and building your brand.

your entire brand is the source of a promise to your consumer. It’s a foundational piece in your marketing communication and one you do not want to be without.

The Elements of your Brand
Branding your business is very much like a game. There are important elements of your brand that translate into the world of competition. You have an objective – to make sales; a playing field - your marketplace; opponents - competitors in your market; strategies –your marketing approach; specific plays - your marketing tactics; and a winner - the company that makes the most sales. This game is constantly being played at every market for every product or service. Just think of the titanic battles you see everyday --- Coke vs. Pepsi, Microsoft vs. Apple, or Google vs. Yahoo, GM vs. Toyota. Each of these companies is competing with variety of strategies and tactics in hopes of defeating their rivals and dominates the market. They battle each other using offensive and defensive plays in hopes gaining the best position in the mind of the prospects. They aggressively execute their brand marketing plans and seek to advance their influence on the market until they score by reaching the coveted sale. Scoring a sale is the ultimate objective in the branding game. As a small business this must be the focus of all of your branding efforts.

Your cannot afford the time and money that is required to do the glamorous, image advertising like buying the naming rights for a stadium or airing a thirty second Super Bowl ad. Your branding must achieve results and sales are the only desirable outcome. The brand game consists of several necessary key elements that define the character of your brand. It’s important to use these elements in combination to appeal to your target market.

Pricing – this represents value; a higher price may imply higher quality, and lower prices may suggest decreased value.
Distribution – how available your offering is; limited distribution of a product or service may imply exclusivity and consumers may be willing to pay more.
Quality – this influences satisfaction; higher quality translates into more satisfied customers who return again to purchase your offerings.
Presence – how prominent you are in the marketplace; a high-profile market presence will lead to brand awareness and opportunities to sell.
Reputation – the market’s opinion of your brand character; this is built over time and difficult to alter once established.
Image – the perceptions of your brand by buyers; this is closely related to your quality and reputation in the marketplace. Like reputation, image is difficult to change once established.
Benefits – the affect your product or service has on the consumer; positive benefits are crucial to the product offering and to brand image and reputation.
Positioning – your differentiation from the competition, this is established by the sum total of all of your branding strategy.
Preference – the consumers predisposition to buy your product or service; this is the foundation for building customer loyalty.
Customer commitment – the ultimate result of your branding strategy; loyalty is built through relationships and close consumer contact.
The 22 Immutable Laws of BrandingKellogg on Branding: The Marketing Faculty of The Kellogg School of ManagementDesigning Brand Identity: An Essential Guide for the Whole Branding TeamBranding Faith: Why Some Churches and Nonprofits Impact Culture and Others Don'tBest Practice Cases in Branding (3rd Edition)
In conclusion, these entire element costs no dime. They are attitudes and approaches that convey who you are. Yet, unlike image advertising, they are substantial, solid core values you must project in everything that you do.