In today’s saturated world, it’s hard to survive without a strong branding strategy in place. A consistent and convincing brand ensures that customers find you credible and believe in your products’ value. It also means they’ll remember you next time they require a service or product you provide. Worldclass brands like Apple and Nike have demonstrated the sheer potential power of branding.
But building a strong brand takes time and effort, and without a clear plan in place, it’s easy to lose sight of what steps to take next.
A successful brand strategy can provide a blueprint for how to stick in minds and memories. Whether you attempt this on your own or with the help of a brand strategy agency, here are a few tips to get you started.
Understand who you are
The first step to creating a brand strategy is understanding who and what your brand is and what you hope it will be. This includes getting a good grasp of how customers perceive you.
What strengths would they name when they talk about your brand? What values do you bring to the table? What is your mission statement, and how do you intend to fulfil it? Where do you see your brand in five years?
All these questions can help you understand what matters the most to your brand. From there, proceed to distil this knowledge into your brand’s essence and develop a single, concise brand message.
Create your Brand’s Voice
The essence of your brand will rely heavily on how your brand speaks to the world! For this, you should define your personality, voice and tone.
Your language matters. Think about what personality you want to convey on social media and how your representatives should express themselves. How do these aspects work alongside your values? If your brand boasts professionalism and credibility, the tone of your language should convey the same values. You might be using more technical terms and writing with a significant focus on expert articulation.
On the other hand, if your values are simplified for anyone to understand, your language should be too. Cut out all the longwinded explanations and technical terms to be more accessible.
Shaping your Brand’s Visual Identity
If you don’t have a consistent brand design yet, it’s time to get started with that. Your brand speaks through all of your design elements online and offline. This includes:
- Your logo
- Typography
- Prominent colours
- Photography and illustration styles
Consider working with a creative design agency to create a strong visual brand language that you can consistently apply across your social media, website, and advertisement.
Your visual identity should be consistent with your brand’s message and tone! Once again, a more fun-loving and youthful brand gets away with more vibrant and bright colours than a brand that insists on professionalism and technical skill. Ever noticed how many banks use solid, dark colours to make their point?
Create Brand Guidelines
Consistency is critical when it comes to branding, and you won’t see results immediately. This means that you need to stick to consistent branding for months and years to really see the effects. A brand guide can help with this as it will allow any future representative to know precisely how to format their website or social media content.
A brand guide is also helpful when working with a creative design agency to create ad and branding campaigns. It will give them immediate insight into what they are working with and what key aspects need to be nailed down!
Your brand guidelines should include:
- Verbal Guidelines (your tagline, messaging pillars, value proposition and brand essence)
- Visual Guidelines (your logo, colours, typography, imagery, iconography, etc.)
It’s also a good idea to appoint a designated brand expert in your team. This will be the person who can answer all questions about applying the brand guidelines correctly.
Bring your Brand Strategy to Life
Once you have completed your brand strategy, you just have to stick to your guts and consistently represent your brand. Keep up with best practices and create regular content that aligns with your brand essence. Tell your brand story at every possible touchpoint, and create memorable ad campaigns that capture the core of who you are.
Creating a brand isn’t simple, but it’s one of the most important things your business will ever do. That’s why it makes sense to work with experts. ZAK Agency is a brand strategy agency based in London that can help you tell your brand story. Get in touch with us today to learn more!
