Here Are 3 Elements Your Brand Strategy Need To Be Successful
Having a strong branding strategy is essential for for growth of your business. Your brand reflect who you are and what message your are attempting to convey. Your brand also is defined and is clear enough that your audience recognizes your brand from the competition.
Sounds great, right?
Of course, that is your goal for your company, but sometimes your branding does not come across as refined. Sometimes your brand is all over the place, and on top of that, it does not communicate who you are.
This may happen if you are focusing on the small details before you tackle the big picture. Take a deep breath, relax, and look at your strategy as a whole.
Is Brand Strategy Even Needed?
Having a brand strategy is totally worth it. Brand strategy allow you to plan specific or organic goals that evolves with you or a product. It also helps make you stand out from your competitors in a crowded field. Simply put, a brand strategy helps to pull together several components that makes YOU.
Some of these aspects encompasses communication, innovation, logos, valuing, consistency, etc. It is not these things individually, but of a combination of these components and more. It has a life line from you directly to the emotions of your consumers.
Because it is so hard to pinpoint exactly what make a brand, a BRAND, we will delve deeper into several components that is definitely needed in order to map out a brand. We want to focus on that life line from the brand to the consumer. We feel this is what provides longevity with some brands over others.
3 Key Aspects for a Long-Living Brand Strategy
1. Consistency
Consumers are smart buyers most of the time. When and if they purchase something and they like the product or service, they tend to buy from the same product again and again. They will be expecting to receive the same quality or experience the next time.
Consumers do not want to purchase from a company that provides inconsistent behavior. Competition is real and it is real easy for consumers to simply go to the next business until they get the service that they expect.
It is so important to have standards to go by. This helps you not to become complacent with inconsistency. By having standards for your brand, creates a more uniform experience or product that anyone can recognize no matter when and where they come across your brand.
Brand recognition is a major goal for business's in a crowded market, especially when they are looking to establish themselves. This also creates an environment for consumer loyalty to grow as well.
Stella Artois does this really well. This beer company is one of the oldest brands. The reason this brand has lasted so long is because they are consistent. They take pride in developing a great product and staying consistent with their marketing and branding approach.
Their chalice is on full display.
Stella Artois has consistently used their chalice. Throughout several compaigns they ran, their chalice was front and center. Not only does Stella Artois have their chalice front and center, they also focus on instruction how to pour beer the correct way in their chalice.
Check the video below:
When planning out your branding strategy, it is important to come to a consensus set of standards that will give brand consistency.
2. Brand Exposure
When a business is first starting out, it is imperative to maximize brand exposure. A successful brand is one that has the capabilities to maximize exposure through various channels. When on a budget, this is key for your because you don't have the money to take out ads, etc.
This leaves social media to be fully utilized by smaller businesses for brand exposure. You can most definitely create buzz about yourself online and you can be competitive with some of the larger companies as well, although you will still be the underdog.
Even well established companies utilize social media for brand exposure. It can free exposure just by posting your brand to your audience in hopes of acquiring new customers. Check below how Wendy’s utilize Twitter for brand exposure:
Learn from your competitors, as well as more established brands to develop an online presence with platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. You have a really great chance to reaching your audience as well as new consumers.
Want to build an online platform? Click here to learn how.
3. Consumer/Brand Loyalty
So you have built a really good following. You have a base that loves what you, your brand, and your company offers them. They brag on you and they tell others about your brand offers, bringing you need clients.
They talk about you constantly, giving you shout outs on social media. They are unpaid advocates for you and they don't usually look for anything in return. Creating this loyalty from your audience definitely will make a huge difference in your success with your brand in the future.
You should show appreciation by simply saying 'Thank You'. Sometimes, you may want to do a bit more to show your appreciation for your client's loyalty. You can write a personalized email or letter. You can send them gift cards or credit. You may even ask them to write a review and feature them on your web page.
T-Mobile does this well. They have T-Mobile Tuesdays where they have customer appreciation every Tuesday for their customers. Though some of the "gifts" may not be anything to worth anything, it still has a lasting impression for its customers, as well as potential customers.
Loyalty is so important for brands in today's environment. If you have a sales team that you support, it is even more important for your brand to focus on loyalty. Have a great rapport between your brand and your customers because this will establish expectations for what potential customers can anticipate if they opt to do business with you.