What's up brand builders! Stephen Houraghan here of BrandMasterAcademy.com and in
this tutorial you're going to learn exactly what brand strategy is
so you can move away from visual branding
connect with the audience that you're trying to attract
and gain an advantage over 99 of other brands
who are happy with the logo.
now if you're new to the Brand Master Academy Youtube channel welcome
this is where you're going to find actionable brand strategy tips
and techniques to grow your business so make sure you hit that subscribe button
and the notification bell as well if you want to level up your branding game now
make sure you stick around to the end of this video if you want to get your hands
on the Pro Brand Strategy Blueprint which is a free download that will help
you to develop brand strategies like a pro brand strategist now before
we jump into the brand strategy content let's get the basics out of the way when
we hear the word branding certainly when most people
hear the word branding they think of the word logo
now there's a reason for this there is a lot of misinformation
out there around what branding is and part of the reason for this
is that it doesn't really take much to start a business today if you think
about what life was like in the 80s for entrepreneurs to start a
business it was a much different environment than it is today
today there are no prerequisites for anybody to start a business anybody
can start a business and there are a lot of people starting businesses
that have very little knowledge about branding they
assume that branding is all about a logo they go out in search
of branding services and there are plenty of designers
out there meeting those needs and offering branding services
in the form of logo designs so that's led us to an environment now
where the word branding means logo to most people
and that's really diluted the importance of what branding is really all about so
let's strip it all back for a second with some definitions so we can
understand the actual importance of branding and brand strategy so a
brand is the perception of a business or a
person it's not a logo branding is the expression of the brand
a brand identity is the visual expression of the brand and a
brand strategy is the plan for that brand expression so
in essence the strategy is a plan to influence the
audience's perception through brand expression so how does a
brand express itself and isn't the visual identity the brand
expression well the visual identity is part of the brand
expression but it's only the visual aspect
so if you think about humans when humans interact with each other and they
connect with each other as humans we have our visual appearance so how we
dress how we wear our hair what clothes we wear what
shoes we wear any accessories that we might have and the style of the clothes
that we wear that says a lot about us and how we hold ourselves and our
personalities but it really doesn't tell us much about
the person so you might see somebody wearing
a smart jacket and a smart pair of jeans and
they might look like somebody who you could connect with
but you don't really know who they are until they open
their mouth they might be an absolute asshole and
until they open their mouth and start talking to you and expressing in means
other than visuals can you really get a feel for who they
are so what other forms of expression do we have as people
other than our visual appeal well we've got our personality
we've got our tone of voice we've got what we say
the way we say things the way we deliver things
we have what's unique about us so what we feel what we believe
what our values are what our opinions and ideas are what our philosophies are
these are all things that make up who we are as people and as individuals
that is how we connect with other people now there's an old
saying that you never get a second chance
to make a first impression and most business owners
approach branding in the same way they put all of their effort
into that first impression they put all of their effort into how the brand looks
and they have nothing beyond that but branding is about
far more than the first impression and that is where strategy comes in
and that is the best way to understand brand strategy is to think of your brand
as a human yes it's very important that your brand
looks good at the bare basics it needs to look good
but imagine you went to a networking event to build relationships with other
people and you dressed the part and you turned
up to that event but you didn't have anything else other than
how you look good you didn't have a personality you didn't have a unique
tone of voice or unique opinions or a way to connect with those
other people you just turn up at this networking event and
stand there and look good that is what most brands do they just
stand there and look good they do not have any strategy
about understanding who their audience is what their needs are what their
desires are how to connect with them how to engage with them on a human level how
to tell stories and that is exactly what brand strategy
is all about it goes beyond the looks and it actually makes a
connection with who the audience is so what exactly
is included in a brand strategy well let's consider our brand as human
so we have the internal brand first and foremost so that is the core
and the soul of the brand so what it believes in
where it's going and what it's committed to so its vision and its mission how it
behaves in the marketplace so its values its
audience persona who it's trying to appeal to the
competitive analysis who is already serving that person out
there in the marketplace it's positioning strategy so how the
brand is different and the human persona so the way the
brand engages so that's the brand personality and the brand
voice it has a communication strategy so what
the brand says the messaging framework the storytelling framework and then of
course it has its visual appearance which is the brand identity okay Stephen
I get it brand is human connects with other
humans great but how do I go about building a brand
strategy well that's what the Pro Brand Strategy
Blueprint is for at the end of this video so make sure you download that but
I will leave you with some core fundamental principles three core
fundamental principles that if you remember you will really
understand brand strategy number one know your audience now I
cannot stress this enough this is absolutely key to any brand knowing who
that audience is no brand exists without their audience everything
revolves around that audience who they are
and what they want so you need to know who your audience is
you need to know what they want and that needs to be crystal clear
for your brand number two be more relevant so you have something that your
audience wants or needs that is great but so do many other
brands you need to clearly distinguish why your
brand is different why your audience should choose your
brand over the next competitors brand and being
more relevant is a great way to do that so what's
unique about your experience what's unique
about your offer what's unique about the way you do things if you're able to be
more relevant to who they are and what they need what they want and what their
challenges are then you will stand out in the market
and number three be more human as humans we connect with
other humans on a human level through characteristics
through tones of voice through personality attitudes opinions and this
is really really important in modern
branding we do not connect with corporate entities we connect
through characteristics so make sure that your brand has a human
element to it a human persona and you deliver your messaging with
humanity so these three core principles are really
really critical so know who your audience is number one
number two be more relevant and number three be
more human and that's it if you build your
brand with these three core fundamental principles
at the core that is how you connect that is how you
influence perceptions and that is how you grow brands
with strategy if you want to know the step-by-step brand strategy development
process well then make sure you download the Pro Brand Strategy Blueprint and
that will map it all out for you I've left a link on screen
and a link in the description below that is a free download
make sure you get your hands on it if you want actionable brand strategy tips
and techniques to grow your business well then head on over to
BrandMasterAcademy.com and get yourself signed up for the list
it is free and I do keep some exclusive content for that list there are plenty
of resources on there as well they are all free they're all
downloadable it'll get you going with brand strategy make sure you get
yourself involved but I would love to hear from you
I'd love to hear your challenges your experiences any questions that you might
have when it comes to brand strategy developing brand strategies from scratch
or transitioning over to becoming a brand strategist I
would love to hear from you let me know in the comments below I'll do my best to
answer all of those until next time brand like a master and
I will see you in the next video!