What Is a Brand Strategy & How Having One Can Increase Your Revenue

You can’t judge a book by its cover. It’s a common adage, yet how many times do we judge things by their initial appearance? A LOT! And this judgment is especially true in the world of business. Your brand isn’t just a logo or a catchy tagline; it’s the emotional and psychological relationship your clients have with your company. And this is where having a brand strategy can make all the difference.

What is a brand strategy?

Simply put, it’s a long-term plan for the development of a successful brand. And, yes, everyone defines success a bit differently. So, deciding what specific business goals you want to achieve is part of creating your brand strategy. It also involves defining what your brand stands for, understanding your target audience, and finding ways to emotionally connect with them.

Why is having a brand strategy so important?

A strong brand strategy will help you stand out in an incredibly crowded and competitive market. It will help you establish a unique identity, and build trust with your customers. And, most importantly, it sets the foundation for all your marketing and advertising efforts, making sure that your message is consistent and effective.

Consistent and effective communication with your target market is critical for building rapport. And ya gotta have rapport to win clients.

How do you create a brand strategy?

It definitely takes effort to create one and several things go into it. However, there are some basic pieces you’ll want to consider when putting together your brand strategy. The following is a list of the basics:

Business Goals

As mentioned previously, you need to know what kind of success you’re looking for. Your brand strategy for becoming the most respected therapist in your area will be entirely different from that of a health technology company wanting to use AI to more quickly and accurately read radiology results for cancer patients.

Mission and Vision

Your mission and vision statements articulate the purpose and goals, beyond the success defined by your business goals, of your brand. They provide a roadmap for your brand’s future and guide all of your decisions and actions. They should be inspiring and down-to-earth, not lofty and esoteric.

Ideally, your entire team will feel emotionally connected to both your mission and vision. So you’ll want to include the key players on your team in creating these statements.

Target Audience

Who are your ideal clients? What motivates them? When you can accurately answer questions like these, you’ll be able to build a strong brand strategy. Having these answers is like being able to crawl into your ideal clients’ minds to understand what makes them tick. And when you can do this, you’ll have the key to creating messaging that really captures their attention.

Competitive Analysis

Believe it or not, it’s important to know what your competitors are up to. Knowing what your competitors are doing, what they’re offering, and what sets them apart can help you develop a brand strategy that sets your business apart from the crowd.

An easy place to start your analysis is by looking at their marketing messaging. Where are they posting? How often are they posting? What’s the tone and style of their posts? What types of ads are they using? Which associations are they part of?

Another place I like to look to get an overview of how competitors are marketing their business is through an SEO audit. It gives me a great view of what keywords they’re targeting, what their ads are doing for them, and the quality of their backlinks. If you’d like to have me help you with a FREE competitive SEO analysis, click here.

Brand Promise

Your brand promise defines the value and benefits your brand offers. It sets the expectation both internally and externally for what interacting with your business is like. It should be memorable, simple, and meaningful, and, it may not even be publically known. However, if it is then in the eyes of your target audience, it should be yet another way you differentiate your brand from your competitors.

Brand Identity

Your brand identity is all about the visuals. It includes your logo, tagline, colors, and all visual elements that represent your brand. Having a consistent and cohesive look and feel that accurately reflects your brand’s personality, values, and goals is important for building trust with your ideal clients.

How can having a brand strategy increase your revenue?

Now that you’ve got a better understanding of what a brand strategy is, it’s time to talk about how it can increase your revenue. So you can make an informed decision about whether or not your brand would benefit from having one.

In general, a brand strategy keeps your marketing focused. It provides the guidelines that allow you to be consistent in your messaging. And it helps you to effectively build an emotional connection with your target audience.

When you connect in this way, you’re more likely to build loyal clients. And loyal clients who also become raving fans are more likely to make referrals. We all know that referrals are gold because they’re more likely to turn into new clients than other people who find your business. The other great thing about loyal clients and raving fans is that they’re willing to pay a premium for your services or products.

Because a brand strategy keeps your marketing focused, it can increase efficiency when it comes to marketing. Marketing decisions become easier with a strong brand strategy which can result in a higher ROI for your marketing efforts.

Another benefit of a strong brand strategy is that it helps you stand out from the crowd of competitors by establishing your business’s uniqueness. It’s by showcasing your brand’s personality in all of your messaging that you can attract new clients.

Having a strong and recognizable brand personality creates trust. And when your target audience trusts your brand, they’re more likely to choose your services and products.

Of course, it’s not just how you say something that creates trust; it’s also what you say. Adhering to a brand strategy ensures your messaging is consistent. And consistency enhances trust.

The true value of a strong brand strategy is that it lays the groundwork for creating strong connections and building loyalty with your target audience. However, it does take some serious work.

It’s only by carefully considering your brand identity, target audience, brand promise, competitive analysis, and mission and vision that you can craft brand strategy. Yet, by investing the time and effort, you’ll set the foundation for a successful brand that emotionally connects with your target audience and drives revenue.