Brand strategy
Brand strategy can be one of those rabbit holes businesses go in and don't know how to get out of. Our approach is to work with simplicity and jargon-free. Simplicity doesn't mean less or austerity, what we do is give clarity about your business brand that you can build upon, or we can continue our relationship building upon.
We work on bespoke projects because every business is at a different stage. Building a framework that might be deficient for your needs is pointless. You have a problem and a budget; we have the solution.
How do we approach Branding strategy?
Brand Essence
The most successful brands in the world have well resolved their essence. The brand's essence is to know who you are as a business, understand why you are in business beyond the money, and ambitiously.
I bet the businesses you aspire to be; all have a vision of how they want the world to be. Having that will help you to have a sense of existence. It is like having a compass that you can always come back and check when you feel lost during and after a pandemic or a crisis. Your vision can be the same as your mission, but it doesn't have to be. A mission is a path that you follow to achieve that vision. And then, to help you follow this path, you have the values of your business.
That is the brand's essence in a nutshell.
Positioning
Here is where you can put yourself into perspective from the market.
You need to learn well who your customer is. The more you know them, the easier it is to set up a campaign because you will understand their motivations, learn how to speak to them and find the right places to place the adverts.
The so-called completion, we don't see it as such, is another essential part of helping your offering and building your uniqueness. It's not about copying what others do but being different from them.
Your positioning statement is vital because it uniquely tells you what you do and for whom.
Personality
You and your best friend have a compatible personality. You want to achieve that with your potential clients, which is why you work well on your positioning. You can't reach everyone. You don't speak to your boss as you talk to a colleague.
You will only get someone's heart by going straight into the emotions.
Communication
Communication is the part that starts being seen by the customers. Up until now, most of the work is for internal use only. Here we build a core message, that thing that you can repeat when someone asks you what you do.
The communication exercise often includes a strapline; even if the business needs a new name, we also have this exercise here. Why here and not at the beginning? Usually, people start their companies with their names. It's natural because you need to register it. But if you manage to wait until the communications stage, we know the business's personality.
Identity and presence
This is the visual stage; it is where we design the logo, we build a colour palette and choose the fonts. And we create a visual system called guidelines to create a strong and consistent brand. In this stage, we find all the elements your business will need to design. For instance, your website, business cards or your social media tiles.
And if you need help, we can get you a marketing strategy ready to build your global presence. We'll find what is relevant and what isn't. Here is an example, most businesses are in all social media, but often not all of them are relevant to their potential client. TicToc is for young people; if you have over 40's customer base, don't waste your time there.
Experience
This stage isn't always relevant, and most time is for us to let you know how you could improve the customer experience.
We often put Starbucks as an example of a complete brand experience. You enter one of their shops which you recognise because of their brand, and the smell and the environment are familiar to you. The barista greets you with a smile and asks you what you want. You already know what's on the menu (if you are a recurrent customer). They call you, and you grab your coffee. It tastes exactly how you expected. Now, you could be in China or UK and get the very same experience.
Having a unique experience is the ultimate goal for a brand.
