A brand is more than a set of visual elements, a name, or a logo. A powerful brand strategy is a critical business tool and asset that successful businesses nurture and invest in the same way they do their products, services, and people. Why? Because building a strong brand helps sell more of a business’s offerings to more people for more money more of the time.
Brand Strategy
Brand building 101
BRAND RESEARCH AND DISCOVERY PHASE
For maximized success, a brand needs to be rooted in a strong brand strategy and deploy tactics that target desired audiences with clear business goals in mind… and do so in the right way. Our first step in the process is to build a brand foundation and outline tools that will help the brand connect more effectively with target audiences, business goals, and touchpoints.
A successful brand is one based on a deep, practical understanding and insight into where you are currently, and where you should be going. Brand discovery is a prerequisite research and analysis phase before any brand definition or design deliverable can be created. Brand discovery allows us to understand the brand’s reality, opportunities, threats, and key nuances in its universe that are critical for success.
DELIVERABLES
BRAND STRATEGY AND POSITIONING PHASE
The brand strategy and positioning phase provide all stakeholders and interest groups with a shared understanding of what the brand stands for, both strategically and tactically. The brand deliverables are a set of tools that are drafted, fine-tuned, and finalized in collaboration with the brand team. The brand deliverables’ guiding principle is that they must easily allow for tactical, actionable recommendations that can be used to drive brand success from day one. The elements must be easy-to-use tools that can be leveraged by management, employees, and other communications professionals to create clear, credible, compelling, and consistent touchpoint experiences for key audiences.
DELIVERABLES
BRAND PERSONALITY
A brand personality humanizes your brand, giving it a distinct character and sensibilities. It helps differentiate you from the competition, directs your public image, and is the engine that drives brand experiences. A brand personality is shown, never told.
BRAND POSITIONING
Positioning is what uniquely defines your brand in the hearts and minds of your audiences and differentiates you from the competition. It must have a single-minded focus, be deeply relevant to who you really are, and be compelling to your target market.
CORE VALUES
Your core values summarize your fundamental beliefs as an organization. These principles guide you in working together toward a shared vision. By defining what you stand for as a brand, you can attract employees, partners, and customers who share your beliefs.
BRAND PROMISE
Your brand promise is a memorable phrase that sums up the tone and premise of your brand, acts as your unique differentiator, and reinforces and strengthens the target audiences’ memory of your brand. Internally, it is used to drive actions and ensures that everyone in the organization acts as one.
MESSAGING AND BRAND APPLICATION PHASE
This messaging and brand application phase takes the brand foundation work and crafts it into a practical, usable reality that relevant stakeholders can use to design, develop, and build out the brand across all touchpoints.
Messaging development will focus on how the client and its products and services should be perceived by its most valued audiences to create better awareness, deeper associations, stronger interest, faster decision-making and purchasing, and increased loyalty. The resulting messaging toolkit can be used to develop top-down communication that is on-brand and meaningful to the key audiences when applied to key touchpoints.
DELIVERABLES
YOUR STRATEGIC PARTNER
Beautiful design can only be effective when built from intelligence and insights. Jackrabbit is an agency that is passionate about building your business through meaning and purpose. As your partner, we’ll work to carve out a powerful brand strategy and implementation plan with your business goals in mind.
Ready to dive into your brand strategy project?
We’re ready to collaborate! Let’s chat about how Jackrabbit can create your custom brand strategy.
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