What Are the Key Elements of a Brand Strategy?

Posted on June 22, 2022 | Updated on October 20, 2022

A successful brand is composed of various unique elements, each distinct. However, they all work together to establish an effective brand strategy that works to differentiate brands from companies alike. 

With a brand strategy, you get a unified plan — from your business’s core to the positioning of its brand. It even formulates a persona that resonates with your target audience.

To carry out a brand strategy effectively, you must first define the key aspects of the business’s brand. That way, you gain clarity about how to build a strong brand. 

Here are the key elements of a brand strategy.

9 Elements of Brand Strategy

1. Purpose

Understanding what your business promises are essential to defining your brand strategy. The two ways you can define your business’s purpose include:

  • Functional: Focuses on the factors of success in a commercialized way. Think of what you could do to achieve success immediately. For instance, your business’s purpose might be to make more sales or grow faster.
  • Intentional: Focuses on the success of your business and ethical purposes — i.e., make money while contributing to the planet.

Dig deep to find your brand’s purpose so you know why the business exists in the first place.

2. Vision

A clear vision serves as a guide to where your brand is heading. Essentially, it tells you if you’re navigating in the right direction.

When you have a clear vision, you can approach things more easily when determining your goals. Additionally, it will have a direct impact on your business’s decisions. When defining your vision, let it be something that challenges you and sets realistic expectations.

A brand’s vision, after all, allows you to dream big, make better business decisions and stay on track. 

3. Values

Core values are the essence of how people will perceive your brand. Therefore, you’re creating a culture and establishing what you stand for in the world.

To establish your brand values, get inspiration from various sources. According to Forbes, you must identify practices you enjoy from other companies and use that to create a unique twist from your own stance. 

4. Target Market

Know your target audience well so you can address and learn how to speak to them. Start defining your target audience by conducting research. You have plenty of ways to get to know your audience online — whether that’s through social media, your Google Analytics and third-party data. 

Once you learn about your customers’ preferences, you can build customer personas that identify their behaviors, demographics, existing challenges, etc. Knowing this information can help position your brand, so they know who to turn to when they need it.

5. Competitive Analysis

Analyzing the marketplace allows you to differentiate your brand into something your competitors do not have. It is an important element of a brand strategy because the market for almost every industry is always crowded. 

Learn about your competitor’s strengths and weaknesses and look for areas where you can set yourself apart. 

6. Customer Awareness Goals

Set customer awareness goals for marketing purposes. This element is important because it helps you understand how to market your brand more effectively. Therefore, you prioritize how customers learn about you and discover your brand.

7. Personality

How would you define your brand’s personality? Think of it as a person and what traits it possesses. When you define your brand personality, you can resonate with your audience. Ultimately, the more you humanize your brand, the more your audience will be able to establish that true connection.

8. Voice

Your brand’s tone of voice is a guideline for how you should speak to your audience. This part can vary depending on what type of audience you have and your industry. For example, banks, law firms and real estate companies like to speak to their customers professionally and formally to establish credibility. Meanwhile, insurance companies want to talk in a friendly or funny tone to build trust. 

Whichever tone of voice you choose, be sure it’s consistent across all channels.

9. Tagline

A brand’s tagline will carry a message within a few memorable, concise words and should tell a story. When choosing a tagline, it should act as a positioning statement and reflect your brand.

For example, MasterCard’s tagline says, “There are some things money can’t buy. For everything else, there’s MasterCard.” MasterCard’s brand may be well-known to most people, but the tagline stands out because it tells you how the company may uniquely serve you.

Implementing the Key Elements of Brand Strategy

No matter the size of your company, it needs an authentic brand strategy. Utilize these key elements as a guide to building your brand strategy. While branding can have various frameworks for every niche and industry — these elements will serve their purpose in bringing your brand to life.

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