The Best Branding Strategy for your Business

The Best Branding Strategy for your Business

What exactly is a branding strategy? - A definition

Brand strategy is a plan that aims to position a particular brand in a significant market. This strategy helps the company to define clear guidelines for building and maintaining the brand. All marketing measures that are necessary for communication with the target groups take place within these guidelines. This includes not only logos and trademarks, but also pricing, distribution and product policies.

Different branding strategies can be implemented depending on the requirements of the brand or the company. In the following we explain exactly what is hidden behind the terms horizontal, vertical and international brand strategy.

Starting point SWOT analysis

If you want to conquer your target group, you have to know exactly what is going on in the minds and hearts of consumers. What brand image and what services do customers expect. One of the first steps in brand strategies is the target group analysis and the SWOT analysis. The latter illuminates the brand itself, shows strengths and weaknesses and provides forecasts of opportunities in the market. But here again exactly what is hidden behind the term SWOT.

• S = Strengths

• W = weaknesses

• O = Opportunities

• T = threats

Strengthen

Think about the factors that can lead to success. Which characteristics and properties are better for you than for the competition? You may be counting on resources that will make your products stand out from the crowd. List all the advantages your company - your brand - brings with it.

Weaknesses

In order to uncover a brand's weaknesses, ask yourself the following questions.

• What should be avoided?

• What can be improved?

• Which processes cause errors?

• What weaknesses do outsiders see?

Opportunities

What external and internal influences are there that give the brand advantages? Are you going with the trend? Do you know what the target groups want and what the next trend might be?

New movements in the field of digitization keep bringing movement into the sales channels. New platforms are emerging, online shopping is becoming increasingly popular. For example, this can be an opportunity for young companies in particular to reach a large number of customers - even without a huge sales structure.

Threats

On the one hand, risks can arise internally, but they can also be generated by external changes. What are the risks for your brand?

• For example, is the competition attracting?

• Is the price war increasing?

• Can previously defined weaknesses develop into risks?

Of course, many external influences have an effect on the corporate structure and also on brand perception. For example, while digitalization benefits small and young companies in particular, as explained in Opportunities, big brands must not lose touch. Is a widely branched sales network with its own flagship stores or branches still up-to-date and profitable, or is online trading generating more sales?

How do you recognize a good marketing strategy?

There are a few factors that determine whether a marketing strategy is successful or stuck in the middle. Pay attention to the following points when implementing branding strategies.

• Always orient your branding strategy towards the competition.

• Part of the brand strategy must always be the brand's value proposition.

• Make sure the branding strategy is followed in-house. Training courses and workshops raise awareness among employees and managers alike.

• Marketing measures and promotions must always follow the guidelines of the marketing strategy.

With 6 steps to a successful brand strategy

Every market strategy is preceded by the process of analyzing the current situation. Take the time to create your individual SWOT analysis according to your brand. It doesn't matter whether you are a company, a person or an organization. The procedure is basically the same.

Step 1: Mark out the field of action

Determine in which market your brand should be positioned and which competitors you can expect. A lot of information is worth its weight in gold for a successful positioning. What do customers expect and what do their needs look like is just as important to know as the behavioral patterns and offers of competitors.

It is helpful to describe the target market as well as possible. The terms spatial, factual and temporal delimitation can be helpful.

Objective market definition

The competition for product market definition offers similar products to your brand. Put yourself in the mind of the customer. Why should customers buy your product? What needs does your brand meet?

A good example of this is children's chocolate. Everyone would think that you are facing stiff competition in the chocolate market. But the real market for children's chocolate is confectionery targeting children. This means that children's chocolate is not in competition with Merci, which is also chocolate. It is on the same shelf as the gummy bears or M & Ms.

Spatial demarcation

As already contained in the name, the market definition here refers to a specific area. For example, is your brand locally connected or are you targeting a specific market in the future? This question should be clarified here. The spatial delimitation can be made locally, nationally or internationally. This makes it easier to determine the competitors, customer groups and purchasing power.

Time limit

In general, the time reference is secondary for many brands. However, if your brand is targeting a specific season, such as Christmas, then this aspect should be considered for brand positioning.

Step 2: what makes your brand so unique?

In the SWOT analysis you should already have identified the strengths and weaknesses of your brand. Use the insights now to help you develop your branding strategy. The story behind the brand should shine, because that's the only way customers will talk about you.

Which characteristics justify your brand positioning? What are the key points that set you apart from the competition and make you unique?

One of the many possible examples is Apple. The company stands for quality, innovation and celebrates a unique branding in the technology sector. Customers always expect something new. This also applies to the way the company handles communication with customers. Courage to take risks and the development of new trends are part of identity.

Step 3: Optimizing the unique selling proposition

Highlighting your strengths is an important step in developing a branding strategy. In technical jargon, this is called a USP (Unique Selling Proposition). Once you have found your USP, it is time to expand it and achieve an increase in value.

The unique selling point will run like a red thread through all social media marketing campaigns and developments in corporate design. Logos, color schemes and graphic elements can be designed much faster and more efficiently when management and the design department know what is important.

Step 4: In-house branding

Building a brand takes time and effort. In all the analysis and development processes, don't forget to integrate employees and management. Only those who understand the value of their own brand, its strengths and weaknesses, can convey it to the outside world. Motivate your colleagues and employees to be fully involved in the implementation of the brand idea.

The same brand guidelines apply to marketing articles, traditional and digital marketing, and customer communication as to all other communication measures. In large companies, a brand manager takes over the organization of all necessary information and features provided by the creative department.

Step 5: Set Smart Goals for Your Brand

Achievement and success are only visible if they can be measured in some way. Smart goals are

• Specific,

• Measurable,

• Attractive,

• Realistic,

• Terminated.

Usually, in the early stages of brand building, the focus is on brand presence, the brand identity. But the brand goal of awareness usually does not yet ensure sufficient sales. Issues such as price, sales and production policy also have an indirect influence on the brand strategy.

It is important to find the right positioning and to convey the right brand image. In this way you create the desired difference between the brand and the competition and you can determine the price of your products and services yourself.

Use analysis tools with which you can collect a wide variety of data. How often is your website visited? Which promotions generate sales and orders? Which spots are popular with customers and what do they like less? Almost everything can be measured today. Set time-limited goals and track them with the analytics tools which most of the Digital Marketing Companies in Bangalore adapt. You quickly notice what works and where it needs to be improved.

Step 6: The target positioning of the mark

The target positioning should be noted as one of the most important brand goals in the brand strategy. How should the brand be perceived in the future? What effect should it have on customers? Formulate in a few words where you see the brand and which characteristic should stand out. You don't have to leverage all of your brand's strengths. Reduce the focus to the superior USP. In practice, many successful brands focus on one characteristic.

Take the Geox shoes, for example. The advertising slogan says it all. "Geox - the shoe that breathes." This is what makes the shoe so unique. That this naturally goes hand in hand with comfort and an ergonomic footbed becomes clear when you try it out. But breathing was highlighted as a USP for the strategy in marketing.

Have you covered all aspects of the branding strategy?

There are a few points to consider for a successful branding strategy. In doing so, one should not only think of the area of marketing with logos and corporate design. A comprehensive brand strategy is also dedicated to the communication, price and sales policy of a company and puts them together like a puzzle to form an overall picture. Rather, rely on experts with many years of experience to build your brand and brand strategy in order to be active on the market with a strong brand.