BRAND STRATEGY

Digital brand strategy concerns how a company uses their limited assets to position their business image, or brand, to reach the audiences, customers or market goals they desire. Unlike brand development strategies of old, digital strategies specifically focus on understanding how consumers are communicating or interacting with digital platforms and how best to engage with an online audience. For a current digital brand strategy example, think of Tesla, a company that regularly reports revenue loss but still remains hugely popular through their active online presence.

When working out how to develop a brand strategy, a roadmap that goes through each step of the journey can help keep objectives clear. For an effective brand strategy road map, we recommend following the five guidelines below:

1. Consider who will read the road map. Is it high-level or centred around actionable targets?
2. Demonstrate the worth of the strategy.
3. Anchor steps to concrete deliverables that can be tracked within the business
4. Meet regularly with stakeholders for feedback.
5. Settle on a format that best displays your objectives. A list, a timeline – whatever works best for you!

A keen weapon in the arsenal of brand strategy tactics is what is known as a brand awareness campaign, which stimulates conversation around your company. The first step in creating such a campaign is to target your demographic. The internet is a huge place, so narrowing your scope to a specific segment is a must. Then it’s just a matter of creating content and measuring its effectiveness. Knowing which metrics to use or how best to utilise specific platforms (e.g. Facebook) may not be obvious, but bringing in a brand strategy agency can demystify the process for you.

Whether working on an existing corporate branding strategy or firing up a new brand launch strategy, the end goal remains the same: to create a singular, recognisable image for your business. Aside from distinguishing yourself from your competitors, the benefit of providing unified branding to both staff and customers is how easy future communication becomes. At Spark we push the connection of your corporate branding to your vision and mission because of the immense time and cost savings down the line.

Firstly, you will need to start with these key elements of brand strategy:

1. Analysis – discover who your customers and competitors are, as well as your own public image.
2. Identity – map your consumer relationships, who are your supporters and detractors?
3. Positioning – where are you currently positioned within the market

From there you can focus on objectives and launch into a brand content strategy. Start devising what media messaging will reposition your corporate image, bringing in your in-house marketing team or an external brand strategy company to measure the effectiveness of every content launch and revise as necessary.

Brand positioning strategy targets the individual’s perception of your company, i.e. the real-estate that you occupy in a customer’s mind. In any brand messaging strategy it is important because it determines what emotional levers your image is pulling on when your customers make purchasing decisions. Positioning favourably with a clear stance boosts your credibility and communicates the value of your service, meaning you do not need to do any extra work to justify your pricing. Understanding the value of positioning will enhance your brand and marketing strategy and help make quality implicit to your brand.

Differentiation forms part of a brand strategy tactic that highlights your company’s Unique Selling Proposition (USP). Your USP is what you offer that your competitors do not, often targeting very specific customer segments rather than trying to attract a broad audience. Making your USP known to your customer base is where digital branding consultants usually step in because recognition is a big factor at the point of purchase. Designing a unique, online voice for your brand is a surefire way to differentiate yourself.