Thinking out loud about brand strategy
I’ve had the pleasure of representing the firm I work for at a couple of conferences and networking events lately, and explaining who we are and what we do. Because I’ve been one of the few branding/marketing/communications people at these events, that’s often meant explaining what brand strategy is. As much as the average professional claims to have a grasp of brand strategy concepts, there’s still a tendency to assume all we do is come up with pretty logos and snappy taglines.
There’ll never be a lack of ways to explain branding and brand strategy (as evidenced by all the books on the topic, for example), but I do think it’s a good exercise to think about the best way to communicate its value and relevance to different audiences in different circumstances. So here’s more or less the story I’ve been telling over the past few days. I like that it’s pretty succinct (at least compared to my typical verbosity), avoids branding jargon, and gets away from specific tactics. Curious what you think about it.
Brand strategy begins with a philosophy that an organization can’t reach its full potential unless it’s built around a single, powerful idea that separates it from competition and makes it desirable to customers. This idea lies at the core, and everything about the organization—including, but not limited to, communications—surrounds the idea and consistently supports it. For organizations that subscribe to this philosophy, brand strategy is a set of tools and processes that help organizations find or more clearly define this core idea, strengthen it, and express it.
Given the emphasis on consistency, I wonder if well-executed brand strategy resembles a fractal more than an onion.
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I will say this: I have definitely left client meetings feeling more like a therapist than a strategist.
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Do you ever wonder if, at the end of the day, all brand-building is is self-help for organizations with inadequacy complexes?