Nike is not selling sportswear, Nike is selling a lifestyle!
Your Brand Strategy sums up why your business exists beyond making money. It defines what it is that makes your brand what it is, what sets it apart from the competition, and how you want your customers to perceive it. After all, how will anyone else if you can’t clearly pinpoint what makes your brand different?
Product Features → Brand Values
A brand strategy helps you articulate your core identity (aka your purpose, vision, mission, and values) and, most importantly, communicate it. Ultimately, understanding your brand’s beliefs, building an organization that reflects them, and telling your brand story effectively is crucial to attracting and retaining the people you want to reach.
“We need to grow this brand beyond its purist core…We have to stop talking just to ourselves. It’s time to widen the access point. We need to capture a more complete spectrum of the rewards for sports and fitness.” ~ A New Brand World, 8 Principles for Achieving Brand Leadership in the 21st Century, Scott Bedbury
Your core values are heavily influenced by the values of the company founder/leader, and they’re unlikely to ever change. Apple wouldn’t be Apple if it weren’t for Steve Jobs (and the further Tim Cook strays from Steve Jobs’s values of design and product innovation, the worse it’s going to be for Apple’s brand).
IKEA is positioned as a manufacturer of affordable yet contemporary furniture. Ralph Lauren is positioned as a premium brand for preppy fashion. Abercrombie & Fitch is positioned as a fashion-forward (and slightly preppy) brand for young and good-looking people.
How do you want to position yourself in the minds of your customers? You can’t hit a target if you don’t know where to aim. At CultMethod, we conduct competitive research to identify potential opportunities for a sharper positioning statement.
Now, I’d love to hear from you. Does your company have a brand strategy in place already? What benefits did you get from the process?
Or maybe you’re still researching the subject, trying to figure out the best way to move forward. Do you have any questions that I might be able to answer? I’ve run dozens of brand strategy workshops for clients — I’d love to help if I can.
Or perhaps you disagree with something in this article. If so, don’t be afraid to tell me. I’d love to hear from you.
Send me an email at alex@produx.design and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.
You can also find our branding company profile here - https://www.designrush.com/agency/branding
