Brand strategy is business strategy. Before a company spends on a logo, brand identity, or advertising, it needs to define the brand’s role in its portfolio, set its business ambition and goals, clarify its positioning with customers, understand the market and competitive landscape, and plan the full marketing mix. Only then can the visible work of branding build the business.
Search for definitions of brand strategy on the internet and you would typically get statements like these: “Your brand strategy defines what you stand for, a promise you make, and the personality you convey.” and “A brand strategy is a formal plan used by a business to create a particular image of itself in the minds of current and potential customers.”
Why brand strategy is business strategy
People who manage and grow brands know that a brand is a business. So when you say brand strategy, you actually mean business strategy.
When people hear the word “brand,” they automatically associate it with the visuals, campaign, tagline, image, promos, and so on. While this is certainly the most well-known part of it, there is so much more one needs to know, understand, and manage beyond it. Seen as business strategy, brand strategy suddenly takes on a much wider scope than communication or campaign materials. That’s why brand reviews are not limited to brand image scores – brand image is usually just one of the 4 or 7 Ps of marketing.
David Aaker is one of the proponents of a brand strategy that goes beyond the visuals and the campaign. He introduced these principles in the 1990s with his book “Managing Brand Equity,” which eventually led to the discipline of strategic brand management – in which a company maps out the brand’s contribution to the total company’s long-term competitive strength and profitability while regularly tracking and measuring its brand health, or brand equity.
The following are the five factors we need to consider in building a brand.
Define the brand’s role in the company portfolio
For a brand to thrive, it must know its place in the company portfolio or the company vision. What is the strategic intent of the brand? How much should it contribute to total company revenues and profitability?
Here are some examples of the different brand roles in a company (Aaker, 1996):
- Flagship Brand – the one expected to be the main revenue contributor for a company; usually a leader or a strong player in the category it plays in. It is also usually the biggest contributor to profitability.
- Flanker Brand – the one expected to address other needs, or evolved needs, of the category that are not properly addressed by the flagship brand. A company can have multiple flanker brands to ensure that sales and shares remain within the company and are not shifted to competitors.
- Energizer Brand – a sub-brand or endorsed brand that significantly enhances or energizes the main brand or mother brand because it is innovative or because it rides on a popular or up-and-coming trend.
- Silver Bullet – a sub-brand or endorsed brand that is developed to strengthen the mother brand by extending it to other segments of the market (e.g., premiumizing or massifying it), or in any way that helps sustain the relevance of the mother brand.
Set the brand’s business ambition and goals
Given the role of the brand in the company’s portfolio, the brand manager and brand director should set the right ambition and business targets for the brand, including its financial goals. These goals and targets should hinge on three things: a thorough understanding of the company’s performance and vision, the brand’s key business strengths and weaknesses, and a good knowledge of the market and competitive landscape. All three are crucial in setting the brand’s business ambition and goals.
Clarify the brand’s positioning in customers’ minds and hearts
The role a brand plays in the minds and hearts of consumers and customers is more commonly known as brand positioning. In developing the brand strategy, one must know the following:
- The current positioning of the brand – How do customers see it? How do they feel about it? What is the role of the brand in their day-to-day life?
- What positioning should the brand own for it to bring in revenues to the company?
- Can the brand effectively own the positioning it aspires to own?
These questions can only be answered properly if we know the drivers of and barriers to preference or purchase, which are typically mapped out in the customer journey.
Map the market and competitive landscape
Developing a long-term strategy for the brand requires a more comprehensive understanding of the market and competitive landscape than competitors’ shares and brand positioning – which is what we usually get from “competitive reports.” One needs to look at the business performance of the top players and the capabilities of their companies, look at the performance of the total category, and identify the drivers of growth.
The insights and information that come from this kind of analysis lead to better-differentiated, more relevant messages and activities from the brand. They also lead to setting the right ambition and goals – the ones that will ensure the brand thrives.
Plan the full marketing mix: the 7 Ps
The full marketing mix is a big part of the brand’s business plan, because this mix ensures that the brand is made available to, and bought by, the target market.
A comprehensive mix would consider the following:
- Product: How will our brand drive differentiation through its product or service? What should our assortment be? What features and services should we have?
- Price: How do we drive value to our customers? What are our key pricing principles?
- Promotion: What should we communicate? Where should we communicate? How should we say it? What are the crucial touchpoints?
- People: How do we bring the brand proposition to life in our employees, staff, and so on? How do they become ambassadors of our brand?
- Process: What are the key principles to ensure a delightful customer experience? How do we bring the proposition to life in our process?
- Physical Evidence: What type of environment should we build to bring the brand promise to life?
- Place: Where can customers avail themselves of the service and products? What is our location strategy?
Why brand strategy comes before the logo, identity, and advertising
Those are all the things we need to consider when we manage a brand. For a brand strategy to be hard-working and effective, we need to start looking at a brand as a business. What good is branding if it won’t build and sustain the brand’s business? That is why it is so important to have the brand strategy down pat before even thinking about a logo, brand identity, or external communication and advertising – all of which entail significant resources.
In other words, being sexy is not enough. To develop and sustain a successful brand, one has to look at the big picture objectively and without any biases or preconceived assumptions. Ask the right questions, set the right goals, analyze relevant data, and establish the strategic imperatives. That’s how you build your brand strength from within: a thorough understanding that leads to a clear and sharp strategy. Only then can the externals and tangibles be business-building – and relevantly sexy.
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Frequently asked questions
What is brand strategy?
Brand strategy is business strategy: it goes well beyond the visuals, campaigns, and taglines most people associate with a brand. It defines the brand’s role in the company portfolio, its business ambition and goals, its positioning in customers’ minds and hearts, its understanding of the market and competitive landscape, and its full marketing mix.
What should a company do before spending on advertising?
A company should have its brand strategy down pat before even thinking about a logo, brand identity, or advertising, since all of these entail significant resources. That means asking the right questions, setting the right goals, analyzing relevant data, and establishing the strategic imperatives, so that the externals and tangibles build the business rather than simply look good.
What roles can a brand play in a company’s portfolio?
A brand can serve as a flagship brand, flanker brand, energizer brand, or silver bullet, among other roles described by David Aaker (1996). A flagship brand is the main revenue contributor; a flanker brand addresses needs the flagship does not properly address; an energizer brand enhances the mother brand through innovation or a popular trend; and a silver bullet extends the mother brand to other segments of the market to sustain its relevance.
What is strategic brand management?
Strategic brand management is the discipline in which a company maps out a brand’s contribution to the company’s long-term competitive strength and profitability while regularly tracking and measuring its brand health, or brand equity. It grew out of the principles David Aaker introduced in the 1990s with his book “Managing Brand Equity.”
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