“A brand is a voice, and a product is a souvenir.”
The world’s most popular companies all have one thing in common – powerful brands. Pepsi Cola, Google, Facebook, McDonald’s, Lamborghini, Amazon, Nike – everybody instantly recognizes these names and what they stand for. These brands have so effectively mastered their proprietary formulae for how to create a brand strategy that resonates so well with customers that people can recognize them from the content, language, emotions, and the ideas they use and promote without making the association overt.
Modern customers demand authenticity and values they can relate to. Therefore, brands must be crystal clear on what they stand for because there’s no place to hide in the digital age. To ensure your business performs and stands out from the competition, you need a genuine and distinct brand strategy.
In this guide, we’ll share sequential steps you can use to create a functional brand strategy that grows with you as your brand evolves.
What Is a Brand?
“Your brand is what other people say about you when you’re not in the room.”
There’s more to a brand than a logo or a color palette. A brand is almost entirely subjective because it encompasses what people think, feel, and say about your business, forming its reputation and perception from their experience. In contrast, marketing is what you think, feel, and say about your business.
What Is a Brand Strategy?
In a nutshell, your brand strategy explains why your business exists beyond making money. It helps you understand who you are, what you stand for, the promises you make, and the personality you convey. While creative elements, such as your logo, color palette, and slogan, help convey your brand, it’s your everyday interactions with your audience that make the biggest difference. These include:
- The messages you deliver on your online channels (social media, website, etc.).
- The way your employees interact with customers.
- Your customer’s opinion.
Purpose of a Brand Strategy
The purpose of a brand strategy is to find your identity and form a culture around out. By doing so, executive leadership, marketing, sales, operations, and other departments in your organization can all align and mature collectively. When you have no brand strategy:
- You don’t fully understand your vision, mission, and purpose. As a result, you make inconsistent business and marketing decisions.
- Your plans will be based on instinct or gut feeling.
- You’ll have an unorganized, confused, and disunited team.
- You can’t clearly or consistently engage with your audience.
What Team Do You Need to Create Your Brand Strategy?
You need a team to build your strategy, bring it to life, and put it into action. Without this team, you’ll lose track of your work or prolong tasks unnecessarily. The five members you need in your brand strategy team are:
1. Brand Shepherd
The role of a brand shepherd is to align all your brand and business goals, oversee marketing, and communicate with higher-ups.
2. Creative Lead
The creative lead often shares the same responsibilities of a brand shepherd. Their main role is to preserve brand identity by overseeing and enforcing brand guidelines.
3. Marketing Lead
The marketing lead aligns marketing to the brand strategy by overseeing content creation and coordinating teams and resources.
4. Culture Lead
The role of a culture lead is to cultivate a culture that reflects brand values.
5. Communications Lead
The communications lead shares brand knowledge by documenting information, building a brand library, and educating anyone who needs the information.
How to Build Your Brand Strategy
The following are three sequential steps you can use to build a comprehensive brand strategy and share your story effectively:
1. Create Your Roadmap
First, you must decide where you want to go and create a roadmap of how to get there. From an organization’s perspective, this means focusing on what you want to achieve and how you will achieve it. Your roadmap is comprised of four elements:
Purpose
Why do you exist?
Vision
The big picture of what you want to achieve.
Mission
How do you achieve that big picture?
Values
The principles that guide your behavior and actions.
2. Formulate Your Brand Messaging
Before you get into designing your visual identity, you need to figure out how to express who you are as a brand and speak to your audience accordingly (brand essence). This is because, ultimately, your logo, images, and slogan are a visual translation of your brand essence. To ensure that your roadmap, messaging, and visual identity aligns, you must:
Create a Brand Essence (Personality, Voice, Tone)
Your personality is your brand’s attributes and a reflection of your roadmap and how you infuse it into every aspect of your brand, such as customer service, sales, marketing, etc. Your brand voice and tone reflect the way you sound to your audience. You can see this by observing that a perfume brand doesn’t speak the way a fast–food brand speaks.
A brand’s essence includes the words, phrases, slang, and jokes you use to interact with your audience, as well as the tone you use to deliver your message (formal, informal, joyful, sad, optimistic, or sincere)
Value Proposition
This is the promise of value your brand delivers, acknowledges, or communicates to your audience.
Tagline
Your tagline is a sentence, phrase, or word businesses use to summarize their market position.
3. Design Your Visual Identity
Finally, it’s time to build up your brand’s visual identity. Since this isn’t a one–time process, you need your identity to be flexible so it can grow with your brand and intuitive so that each element complements the other.
Logo
A good logo reflects your brand and makes a powerful impact. The idea is to make it as simple and memorable as possible.
Typography
Typography is just as important as your logo and is used to convey feelings of exclusivity, intelligence, and style.
Color
Colors are one of the most powerful elements of your brand strategy. For example, did you know that orange is a color of adventure which inspires excitement?
Bringing Your Brand Strategy to Life
Now that you understand the basics of how to create a brand strategy, it’s time to put your knowledge into action. To make things easier, we’ve even created a free Brand Toolkit to guide you through. We hope you find it helpful.
About Millennium Agency
Millennium Agency is a nationally recognized, top woman led B2B branding, positioning, and digital marketing firm who knows how to create value that emotionally influences your customer’s buying decision, giving you the competitive advantage. As your trusted partner in B2B software technology and manufacturing, we provide the branding and positioning framework that make an impact – so you can focus on what you do best – run your business successfully. With offices in Boston and New Hampshire, and a worldwide presence, the professionals at Millennium Agency would like to learn more about your business. Visit www.mill.agency or book time here.
In order to create a memorable brand identity and stand out against competitors, you have to determine how you want your business to be perceived. Essentially, how do you want the public to view your brand?
Do you want your brand to be a tough authoritative figure? Or a fun and easy-going friend?
Of course, those aren’t the only two options as there are many facets to a brand’s identity. A concept introduced by J. Kapferer, an MBA marketing professor with over 100 published scientific articles on branding, is the ‘Brand Identity Prism’. Kapferer introduced what he believed six elements of a brand’s identity were. By building a memorable brand with these brand identity elements, a business can communicate clearly and transparently both internally and externally.
The brand identity prism consists of 6 elements:
Physique
What design elements do you want to represent your brand? The physique element represents all of the physical qualities that will be seen by customers. This will be reflected in your brand’s logo, colors, website, store, and everything you can see or touch. This evokes a visual image of your brand in the mind of customers that they will recall when talking or thinking about your business. Create a brand physique that is easily recognized and remembered.
Personality
What is the overall character of your brand? Is your brand playful, kind, exciting, or sophisticated? If you personified your brand, what type of personality would you want it to have? You can then portray this personality through design and copy. This helps consumers know what to expect when interacting with your brand.
Relationship
The relationship between your brand and the consumer shows how the brand fits into the customers’ lives. Over time, as your marketing interacts with your brand, a consumer-brand relationship will form. But what type of relationship do you want to have with your customers? This is influenced by your marketing messages, how you interact with customers, and how you support them.
Culture
Your brand’s culture signifies a deeper understanding of what the brand stands for as far as values, principles, origins, and behaviors. What is your workplace culture like? People buy from brands they like. A major factor that determines whether someone likes a brand or not is their culture. You want your workplace to reflect the brand you want to portray. Start by identifying your company’s culture internally so that you can accurately portray it externally.
Reflection
Reflection refers to your buyer persona: the demographics and other characteristics of the ideal consumer of the brand. Depending on what your ideal customer is like, how you portray your brand will change. For example, Nike has a buyer persona that includes a young adult with an interest in sports and fashion (this is a very simplified version of one of their personas). This influences their messaging, creative, and even the music they play in-store.
Self-image
How does your customer perceive themselves? What do they consider to be their values, goals, and image? Once you know who they want to become, you can position your brand as one that can help them achieve this. Understanding this aspect is essential in relation to other aspects of the brand identity prism because it forms the brand personality as a whole.
How you want your brand to be perceived starts from within. By going through the six elements of the brand identity prism and utilizing the expertise Millennium has to offer, your business will be one step closer to being memorable.
About Millennium Agency
Millennium Agency is a nationally recognized, top woman led B2B branding, positioning, and digital marketing firm who knows how to create value that emotionally influences your customer’s buying decision, giving you the competitive advantage. As your trusted partner in B2B software technology and manufacturing, we provide the branding and positioning framework that make an impact – so you can focus on what you do best – run your business successfully. With offices in Boston and New Hampshire, and a worldwide presence, the professionals at Millennium Agency would like to learn more about your business. Visit www.mill.agency or book time here.
In today’s fluid and diverse market, there is a huge focus on customer loyalty as companies discover that it costs less money to keep their current customers than it does to find new ones. A customer’s loyalty to a brand or company is tested every day on social media, online product reviews, and news stories of a company’s social responsibility, or absence of it.
In this blog article, we examine how to best utilize your brand values to drive 100 percent customer loyalty. Brand values must be clear, well-researched, consistent, and trustworthy.
- Be Clear and Focused with Your Values
The first step toward customer loyalty is to have concrete values that serve as the foundation for the brand or company’s success.
In her article How to Use Brand Values to Drive Unwavering Customer Trust and Commitment, Lorraine Carter at Irish Marketing Company Persona Design, explains how clear and focused brand values should be the roadmap for future decision making. Choosing a company’s brand values is not a decision that should be taken lightly, and brand values should not be chosen simply because they are trendy.
Superficial and vague brand values will be problematic when tough decisions need to be made. It’s important to take the time to carefully consider the brand values so there is a clear stance on the issues they address. “Brand values are no different to human values. They guide what you will do and won’t do as a brand. Brand values are the pillar that the brand is built on even before you have a product or service,” Carter writes.
Carter suggests that when developing brand values, business professionals should first think about what is important to them and review that list. Then they should think about what they absolutely will not stand for, and then focus on the brand value that is the opposite of that. It’s important that these decisions are made early on before issues arise. Business professionals who appear to compromise their brand values lose customer trust and customer loyalty.
In her article, Carter lists types of brand values:
- Core values: These are the heart of the brand and what sets it apart from other brands
- Aspirational values: These are related to the company’s goals. These are usually developed when the company is making changes or introducing new products.
- Permission-to-play values: These are different from core values because every business must agree to these values to do business.
- Accidental values: These are based on the values of the company’s employees and it’s important to make sure these don’t conflict with the company’s core values. When the employees’ values do not match the company’s core values, this impacts the consistency of the brand values and decreases customer loyalty.
- Do Your Research
After carefully establishing your brand values, it’s important to do some research on your target customers in the quest for 100 percent customer loyalty.
This includes researching your target audience and what they want as well as researching your customers’ values. This is related to our last blog post, 9 Tips for Creating a Memorable Brand in 2021 and creating a buyer persona. Having an in-depth understanding of your customers is as important as establishing solid brand values. Customer research can be done by soliciting input directly from customers whether on social media, other online platforms, over the phone, or in-person.
A thorough research on your target customers includes researching these customers’ personal values. Carter describes the connection between brand values and customers’ values as a love connection. She explains how customers may be interested in a product, but they will not complete the purchase unless they feel safe knowing their personal values and the brand values are in sync.
When these values are in sync, consumers will continue to purchase from a business. A 2019 Edelman Trust Barometer Special Report shows that customer loyalty is tied to brand trust, which includes both the product and the company. This study was conducted across Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Seventy-two percent of those surveyed said they will not purchase from a company if their personal values do not match the brand values.
- Be Consistent with Your Values and What You Deliver
Once you have established your concrete values and learned about what your customers value when making purchasing decisions, it’s important to be consistent in every step of the process to obtain 100 percent customer loyalty. It’s not just the brand values that need to be consistent; it’s the whole buying process. Marketing executives stress the consistent quality and excellent customer service drive loyalty. Consumers need to see that they will repeatedly get quality products and services from the brand. In an article for socialnomics.net, marketing blogger Ariana Smith writes that “Customers rely on convenience, so be sure that the company will deliver on its promises every time. Under-promising and over-delivering is an excellent strategy of developing brand loyalty.”
In today’s world, large companies are called upon to be socially responsible. In the Edelman report, 81 percent of those surveyed said that they must trust the brand to do what is right. Fifty-three percent said that every brand should be involved in at least one social issue. With this mindset and continuous news stories of companies failing to be socially responsible, many business leaders are shifting their brand values.
However, these changes may not be impactful if there is a lack of consistency. Forbes Communications Council Member Sylvie Tonco talks about the importance of companies being able to put into action their brand values of social responsibility and not just jumping on the bandwagon. She uses the example of how ice cream brand Ben and Jerry’s has always had a consistent brand value of social justice even before it was trendy. Customers may view Ben and Jerry’s long history of valuing social justice and social responsibility as more meaningful than another company who announces that they are now championing social responsibility.
The Edelman study addresses the importance of brands who back up their values of social responsibility with definitive actions. Some of the examples included in the report are the Dove Men+ Care paternity leave initiative and Heineken’s push to discourage drunk driving by making changes in bars.
Dove has set up the Dove Men+Care Global Leave Standard in partnership with MensCare, an organization helping to promote gender equality in caregiving. Dove Men+Care male employees are assured paid paternity leave and provided resources to help them. As part of this new standard, the company is working to break down stereotypes associated with non-traditional caregivers.
Heineken has developed a pilot study to test reducing drinking and driving through a series of behavioral interventions. The study was conducted at 10 bars throughout England, which were specifically redesigned for the purpose of encouraging customers not to drink and drive. Signs both inside and outside the pubs encouraged patrons not to drink and drive. At the bar, patrons were encouraged to sign a pledge not to drink and drive and they were rewarded with free food. The study found that these interventions reduced drinking and driving by up to half.
These social responsibility actions help these brands earn customer trust, which is also essential for customer loyalty. This further validates the Edelman report, which found that 81 percent of those surveyed said they had to trust a brand before they buy from it.
- Continuously Work to Earn Customers’ Trust
The work is not over once trust has been established and customer loyalty is developed. It is a process that must be continuously worked on by continuing to act on those brand values, re-evaluating systems and procedures when faced with customer criticism, and responding to customer feedback and online reviews.
In the Edelman Report, 67 percent of those surveyed agree that they will stop buying from a company that they no longer trust. Amazon has been the spotlight for criticism of how the company treats its employees. Marketing expert Denise Lee Yohn explains how Amazon needs to focus on its employees after various reports of employee mistreatment. She said that Amazon should be transparent on how they move forward with improving employee engagement. If Amazon is not forthcoming on how employees are treated, the company’s loyal fanbase could start to dwindle due to a lack of customer trust.
Meaningful customer engagement also helps to build trust. Engagement can be created by asking customers for feedback on products and service delivery. However, when companies ask customers for feedback and do not act on it, customers do not feel valued. When customers see changes made based on their response, they will feel that the company is trustworthy and then continue to be loyal.
The Edelman Report also states that trust is built on brands’ impact on society including influencers. The report found that 63 percent of those surveyed said that they trust an influencer’s take on a brand over what the brand is saying about itself. Therefore, it’s important for companies to respond to word-of-mouth comments on a brand-whether positive or negative. Companies should also address customer complaints in online reviews.
Forbes Communications Council member Elizabeth Edwards explains the importance the “Noble Edge Effect” in the Forbes article 15 Ways To Increase Brand Loyalty And Retain Your Customer Base. “This is when an independent source shares the socially responsible or charitable work your company does. Be authentic about giving back and let others tell your story,” Edwards writes. Learning about your company’s positive actions from an independent source further increases your customers’ trust and loyalty.
In conclusion, having solid brand values, doing thorough market research, being consistent with those values, and continuing to build trust with customers will ultimately drive 100 percent customer loyalty. And in today’s world, customer loyalty is a commodity that is as valuable as an influencer’s positive comments on your social responsibility.
About Millennium Agency
Millennium Agency is a national, award-winning, digital, creative, content/PR, and video marketing firm. With offices in Boston and New Hampshire, our team unites creative branding and data analytics to accelerate our clients’ growth, while combining our clients’ vision with our marketing expertise to increase sales opportunities and drive brand success. From video advertising and web design to social media and PR, Millennium can guide your marketing efforts every step of the way. Contact the professionals at Millennium Agency to learn more!
President & Founder
Linda Fanaras is the CEO and Founder of Millennium Agency (www.mill.agency) located in Boston and Manchester, NH. She can be reached at 877-873-7445 or [email protected]