Master Your Brand Strategy Knowledge

Brand Strategy and the Importance of Starting with Why

The speaker is Nora, a consultant for small businesses who focuses on brand strategy and growth.
Nora's company is called Pitcher and she has helped many small businesses since starting 18 months ago.
Nora believes that small businesses deserve to grow and that they should get more attention and funding.
Simon Sinek's "Start with Why" concept is integral to Nora's brand strategy approach.
The Golden Circle (Why, How, What) is the core of Sinek's concept and correlates to different areas of the human brain.
The reptilian portion of the brain is the decision-making center and is where snap decisions are made based on identity, worldview, beliefs, purpose, and cause.
Understanding psychology and the brain is critical to understanding why people make certain decisions and how to persuade them.
The average attention span for humans is about 8 seconds, which means brands only have a short amount of time to catch their attention.
Memes and visual shorthand are popular because they communicate quickly and effectively in a world of short attention spans.
A brand is not what the company says it is, but what consumers say it is.
Consumers are the target audience of a brand and interpret it in their own way.
It's important for brands to understand their why and communicate it effectively to consumers in a short amount of time.Understanding Brand Strategy and Archetypes
Brand strategy is the intentional and strategic approach to defining, creating, and maintaining a brand's identity, messaging, and positioning.
Brand strategy involves understanding the audience, market, competition, and the brand's unique value proposition.
Brands need to align their messaging and positioning with their audience's needs and desires.
The Creator economy has allowed consumers to co-opt brands and create their own meaning around them, which brands cannot always control.
Brands like Nike, Mercedes-Benz, Harley-Davidson, and Fenty Beauty have strong brand positioning and messaging that resonates with their target audience.
Brand archetypes are a core concept in brand strategy, and there are 12 core archetypes identified by psychologist Carl Jung in the 1930s or 40s.
The archetypes include the hero, outlaw, lover, everyman, ruler, creator, explorer, sage, magician, caregiver, innocent, and jester.
Brands need to align with one archetype and stick to it to build recognition and establish a clear identity.
Archetypes are a collective subconscious that we all have, and brands that embody an archetype tap into that subconscious recognition.
By aligning with an archetype, brands hold up a mirror to their audience, showing them who they are or who they can aspire to be.
Brand strategy involves a lot of thought and brainstorming to create messaging and positioning that will appeal to the target audience.
Archetypes are just one way of thinking about brand strategy, but they are a powerful tool for establishing a clear identity and messaging that resonates with the audience.Core Tenets of Brand Strategy
Understanding the brand by analyzing the current narrative, marketing messaging, and available assets, and interviewing the leaders, clients, and partners of the brand.
Analyzing the competitive landscape to identify white space opportunities and differentiate the brand.
Conducting research, including third-party desk research and consumer research, to understand the market dynamics, category, and target audience.
Using frameworks like Buratta to map the brand's positioning relative to competitors and identify opportunities for repositioning.
Conducting stakeholder interviews to gather insights about the brand and its unique attributes.
Developing the brand's positioning, which is the foundation for all other brand strategy components.
Writing a brand manifesto and brand essence statement to articulate the brand's purpose and values.
Creating a creative brief that defines the target audience, problem, solution, and key benefit of the brand's product or service.
Using archetypes to identify the unique attributes of the brand and differentiate it from competitors.
Collaborating with designers to align the brand's aesthetic with its positioning and values.
Using strategy to inform the brand's copy, including about statements and other marketing materials.
Investing in brand strategy at the beginning to avoid the need for painful repositioning later on.Brand Strategy: Creating a Beloved Brand
Brand strategy involves exploring and pushing the boundaries of design to build a beloved brand.
Examples of brands that infuse a sense of wonder and wander in the experiential space were presented.
Positioning of a brand is important to move from being a benefit or attribute brand to a role, attitude, or territory brand.
A brand's role and attitude can be a guide, teacher, friend, or have a playful or friendly attitude.
A territory brand evokes a place, like Corona Beach, and is harder to achieve.
Content strategy cannot be done without brand strategy, which is like an umbrella that everything else sits under.
Brand strategy is the first step and is necessary to come up with good content that aligns with the strategy.
Brand strategy matters as it moves people through the marketing funnel from exposure to advocacy.
A marketing funnel is an hourglass that kicks back out to build relationships and advocacy.
Different marketing activities are required throughout the funnel to move people from the top to the bottom.
A brand's archetype plays a crucial role in brand strategy, and the sub-archetype can reveal more about a brand's personality.
The presenter's archetype is the lover, and the sub-archetype is the matchmaker, which is a connector of people and facilitator of multiple exchanges.