A brand strategy is a set of key guidelines for a brand’s activities. How these guidelines are implemented in communication—how the brand talks about itself and its products—is defined by the brand communication strategy. What is its purpose? What are its components and stages? What should be kept in mind, and what should be avoided?
Starting point – defining the problem. Where are we, and how do we want to be perceived?
All actions should begin with defining the problem. It is necessary to determine the path from where we are to where we want to be, as well as the cause of the problem. Is it outdated branding, or perhaps poor communication of the brand and its products?
It is extremely important to know the truth about the brand—understand how it functions. One should identify its strengths and highlight those that may be attractive to the customer. Positioning, storytelling, price, design, and relationships shape the brand image. Except for price and design, all these components are defined by the strategy.
Brand essence and values
First, the essence of the brand must be defined by answering questions such as: What does the company do? How does it do it? Why does it do it? It is crucial to fully understand how the company operates, how it is currently perceived, and how we want it to be perceived. Conducting a SWOT analysis is useful—identifying strengths, weaknesses, external opportunities, and external threats that may affect the brand image. These factors can either strengthen the brand if leveraged correctly or weaken it.
Next, the brand’s values should be defined—the main messages we want the customer to remember after interacting with the brand. It is important not to overdo the number of values. A good example is Volvo, which is strongly associated with safety. The brand communicates this value effectively, making it highly recognizable. However, values must be supported by evidence, which is why careful and precise definition is essential.
Defining brand personality
It is also necessary to define the brand’s personality. Just like a person, a brand should have its own personality, so we need to determine whether we want to appear friendly or more authoritative. This directly affects the branding and how the brand should communicate.
In essence, a brand strategy is also about understanding the customer, understanding the brand itself, and trying to merge these two perspectives—the needs and expectations of the customers with what the brand can offer—into a compelling image. This image should accurately reflect the brand, its offerings, and meet the audience’s needs.
Only then can we effectively create concrete visual or textual messages for the brand. Of course, developing a good strategy also requires knowing the competition, analyzing it, identifying benchmarks, and using this insight to create strategic guidelines for the brand.
Summary
Even the best offer, perfectly aligned with market demand, must be properly communicated to the audience. Being noticed by the customer is one thing; communicating the brand in a way that keeps them loyal for many years is another. For this type of communication, well-developed and established strategic foundations are essential. They determine how the strategic assumptions will be implemented in communication, how the brand will talk about itself, and how it will present its products. In this sense, the strategy serves as a roadmap, guiding the brand toward the goals it aims to achieve.
