What is a brand strategy and do I need one?
Your brand is the emotional connection people have with your business. It is how your business connects and communicates with your ideal target audience.
Or, as Amazon’s Jeff Bezos famously put it, it is what people say about you when you are not in the room.
For your customers to understand what your brand is and what your business stands for, you first need that clarity yourself. So what is a brand strategy, and why do you need one?
Contents
- What is a brand strategy?
- What does a brand strategy include?
- Why do I need a brand strategy?
- Why are strong brands built on emotion?
- Frequently asked questions
What is a brand strategy?
A brand strategy is the goal you set for how you want people to perceive your business. It is the plan for how all the moving parts come together, so that your name, logo, product, service, marketing, team and reputation all add up to one simple truth that people remember about you. And it is the roadmap for how you get there.
It is easy to muddle a few related terms, so here is the quick version. Your brand is the perception. Your brand strategy is the plan to shape that perception. Your brand identity is the visible expression of it.
| Term | What it is | For example |
|---|---|---|
| Brand | The perception people hold of you | What people feel and say about you |
| Brand strategy | The plan to shape that perception | Your positioning, purpose, audience and messaging |
| Brand identity | The visible expression of the strategy | Logo, colours, typography and voice |
A brand strategy underpins every part of your business, from how you attract and retain great people, to the exact words you choose to describe your products and services. If you would like a hand building one, that is precisely what our brand strategy work is for.
What does a brand strategy include?
A brand strategy is far more than a logo and a tagline. A complete one usually pins down a handful of core elements that, together, define who you are and how you show up in the world.
| Element | What it answers |
|---|---|
| Purpose | Why you exist, beyond making money |
| Vision and mission | Where you are headed, and how you get there |
| Values | What you stand for and how you behave |
| Positioning | The space you own in your market |
| Audience | Who you are for, understood deeply |
| Personality and voice | How you look, sound and feel |
| Messaging | The core things you say, consistently |
Get these right and every downstream decision, your website, your marketing, your hiring, becomes easier, because you are no longer guessing. Understanding your audience this well sits at the heart of any good brand strategy, and it is what stops your brand drifting into a nice logo with nothing behind it.
Why do I need a brand strategy?
A brand strategy adds value across your whole business. Here are some of the top reasons to think about investing in your brand strategy:
- You are a start-up looking to clearly define your point of difference
- You want to engage your target audiences in more meaningful ways
- You want to attract investment, or you are preparing to grow
- You want to explore a new market or different products
- Your current brand collateral (your logo, website or marketing) is crying out for a refresh
- You wish you could explain what you do, and why you are good at it, without feeling lost for words
- Your customers shop around purely on price and availability
- You want your marketing to feel more confident and consistent
- Your competitors are doing things better and you need to adapt
Many people assume a brand strategy will constrain their business, that having “brand police” dictate how to use the logo cannot possibly be worth it. A well-defined and cleverly delivered brand strategy does the opposite. It lays the foundation for a strong, differentiated brand and frees you from constantly making and second-guessing decisions with no clear objective in mind. And if that list of reasons sounds a little too familiar, especially the tired collateral, it may be one of the signs you need a rebrand.
Why are strong brands built on emotion?
When we talk about brand strategy and brand identity, feelings come up a lot. Why? Because when people feel emotionally connected, they are more likely to be loyal, and that goes for your customers, your team and your wider stakeholders alike. The evidence is striking: customers who feel emotionally connected to a brand carry a 306% higher lifetime value, and stay loyal far longer, than those who are merely satisfied.
Every one of the world’s top brands leans on emotion. Emotions help us remember our experiences, good and bad, far more easily than a list of selling points, and emotional connections are hard to break. When you define your brand around those connections, everything downstream gets easier. Your key messaging gets clearer, your website copy gets easier to write, and your product descriptions flow with real benefits.
And yes, some brands fail. If you have tried to build something and it did not land, that is not the end of the story. Sometimes a brand simply needs reviving, and these 3 ways to breathe life into a dying brand are a good place to start. With a brand strategy in place, it becomes the roadmap to try again, this time with intent.
Frequently asked questions
What is a brand strategy?
A brand strategy is the plan for how you want people to perceive your business, and the roadmap for getting there. It defines how all the moving parts, your name, logo, product, marketing, team and reputation, add up to one clear, memorable truth about you. In short, it is the thinking that makes everything else consistent and intentional.
What is the difference between a brand and a brand strategy?
Your brand is the perception people hold of you, what they feel and say when you are not in the room. Your brand strategy is the deliberate plan you use to shape that perception. Your brand identity, the logo, colours and voice, is the visible expression of the strategy. The strategy is the thinking that drives the other two.
What does a brand strategy include?
A complete brand strategy usually defines your purpose, vision, mission and values, your positioning in the market, a deep understanding of your audience, your brand personality and voice, and your core messaging. Together these give you a clear foundation, so every decision from your website to your hiring becomes easier and more consistent.
Do I need a brand strategy?
If you are defining your point of difference, preparing to grow or attract investment, struggling to explain what you do, competing mainly on price, or feeling that your marketing lacks consistency, then yes. A brand strategy is valuable for almost any business that wants to stand out and grow with intention rather than guesswork.
Does a brand strategy limit my business?
It does the opposite. People often fear a strategy will box them in with rigid rules, but a good one is liberating. By giving you a clear objective and foundation, it removes the need to second-guess every decision, so you and your team can act faster and more confidently, knowing each choice is pulling in the same direction.
Why are strong brands built on emotion?
Because emotion drives loyalty and memory. People recall how a brand made them feel far more easily than they recall its features, and emotional connections are hard to break. Customers who feel emotionally connected to a brand are significantly more valuable and loyal, which is why the world’s strongest brands build their strategies around feeling, not just function.
Read more: Why a clear brand strategy matters more than your logo
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