Brand Strategy 101: What is it and why does your small business need one?
- Dani Vladović
- Mar 24, 2022
- 4 min read
Updated: Dec 3, 2024
One of the biggest mistakes that small business owners can make is to think of the term "branding" as a noun. We often consider branding to be the individual elements that make up your image ie. your name, your logo, your design, your slogan etc. In reality, you should think of "branding" like a verb. Branding is a process— a series of actionable steps that you as a business owner must take to define yourself and leave an impression. In other words, you need to put in the work to make your brand come to life.
So, what are these steps that you must take to be successful in your branding? This is where your brand strategy comes in. A well-thought-out plan is imperative before getting started, or else you'll be working with no direction and your brand will wind up coming across as a cluster of the individual elements mentioned previously. If you're ready to put in the work to start branding your business, read on to find out some key components to a successful brand strategy.
Define Your Audience.
I know, I know. Every entrepreneur has heard this line a million times. I'm sure you knew the audience you wanted to sell to before you even put your product or service down on paper. You know very well who you want to buy what you're offering. But when it comes to branding, you need to get down to the nitty gritty.
Your brand strategy needs specifics. Let's say your business is an online postpartum fitness membership. You probably define your audience along the lines of "new moms between the ages of 25-35". You may even have some geographical specifics in mind. Thats all well and good for conceiving your service, but this vague definition is not going to help you evoke real emotion from your audience and leave the lasting impression that you want to come out of your brand experience. In order to do this, you want to give your ideal client a name and story. Ask questions not only as they relate to your service (ie. What kind of birth did she have? Is she a stay at home mom or working mom?), but also towards her life in general (ie. Where did she grow up? What are her hobbies? Where does she do her groceries? What is her coffee order?). These questions will help you put yourself into the daily routine of your ideal client and tell you more about how you can strategize to target her directly and evoke that emotional response that you're aiming for with your marketing. Sounds a little creepy, right? Thats the goal.
Consider Your Vision.
Once you decide who exactly you want to sell to, you need to decide where exactly you want to go. As a new business, you probably have goals that extend further than your current reach. Even if you are a more experienced entrepreneur who is conceiving a brand strategy for an existing service, the landscape of the business world is constantly evolving and you are never finished evolving alongside it. It is therefore imperative that your current brand strategy does not leave room only for the current version of your business. You need to work your future ideas into today's plan. Consider again the online postpartum fitness membership. Perhaps you eventually want to extend your online reach and hire more instructors to host different workout styles, or maybe you even want to open a physical location one day. These goals are important to know while you build a strong client base because these loyal people will be the ones who continue to support you and speak to your value later on. To put it simply, always make a game plan for the future and consider it carefully when creating your current strategy.
Develop Your Identity.
This is the fun part. It's time to combine your ideal audience and business vision to create a visually appealing aesthetic that is evocative of your values and personality. Hello Pinterest!
Some things you need to keep in mind when developing a brand identity are colours, design elements, stock photo themes, and arguably most importantly- typography. A brand's typography is representational of its distinct voice and must maintain a level of professionalism and personality to really resonate with an audience. This process can be overwhelming, however; it is vital to your success to take your time and feel really good about what your brand looks like from the outside. Nothing screams "unreliable" more than a business that is constantly changing its brand identity, or even worse, never sticking to one cohesive concept. When you're running a business, it can often feel like you're working with a chaotic combination of moving parts. The goal of your brand identity is to hide these moving parts and make it appear to the client that you are running a perfectly polished operation.
It is not until you put these three processes in motion, that you can get started on the practical elements that make up your business. Following these initial steps will lay a foundation and allow you to construct your brand using building blocks like social media channels, web presence and print. This foundation makes up your strategy. Keep your strategy in mind every step of the way and you won't have to worry about falling short of your goals. If you're not sure how to get started, set up a discovery call with Solis Social and we can work with you to strategize and implement. Follow the link below to get in touch!
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