If you’ve been working on your marketing plans for 2019 and are trying to take your business to the next level, one area you can’t afford to neglect is branding.
In fact, if this is something you’ve not given a great deal of thought to, this could be the perfect time to take a step back and consider whether it’s time for a rebrand. An important part of this process will be establishing a brand strategy.
A recent article in Forbes by Bianca Miller-Cole, a serial entrepreneur and personal branding expert, explained why this is so fundamental to getting your brand right.
Writing for the news provider, she stated: “A brand strategy could be defined as your company’s long-term development plan, and it is affected by all parts of your business.”
When you’re developing your brand, it’s important not to view this as simply a marketing exercise, because it requires input from across your business if you’re going to get it right. Your aim should be to create a brand that’s relevant, and one that’s going to deliver products or services that meet the needs of your end user.
Ms Miller-Cole explained that there are a lot of things to consider when developing your brand strategy, which is why it’s not something that can be done in isolation. The areas it covers “includes your company, the target audience, the services or products you offer, as well as your existing competition”.
With so much to consider, it’s easy to see why you could benefit from some help in defining your brand identity in London.
The best place to begin, whether you’re creating a new brand or are rebranding an existing business, is to ask two questions, according to Ms Miller-Cole. These are “What does your company hope to benefit from your brand?” and “What perception or knowledge do you want others to have about the products or services you offer?”
Once you’ve got your brand strategy in place, this can be used as the basis for your concept and you can then progress through the branding process.
One of the big advantages to starting with your strategy and focusing on your central values and objectives, however, is that it will make your brand very unique to your business. As a result, it will be hard for any of your competitors to copy your brand or strategy successfully.
It’s important to remember that all of this takes time though. She also stressed that “the process should never be rushed”, noting that how long the branding process can take will depend on a variety of factors that are specific to your company.
An article for Real Business recently pointed out how much the landscape has changed for brands in the past decade. It noted that the ability of consumers to share their thoughts on social media has had a significant impact on how businesses behave – and ultimately on how they portray their brands.
The site noted that it’s millennial consumers who are forcing brands to change their tactics because they are “famously motivated by social and moral issues”. That means brands need to be able to display their social and moral conscience if they want to successfully target this generation.