One of the most important things you can do before you implement a marketing strategy is to really understand your brand goals.
Your goals will determine how you approach visual identity, content, social media, website design and more. All of these elements need to reach and speak to your ideal customer. This simple 6-step process will help you gain clarity on your brand goals.
1. Who are you and what do you have to say?
Who you are and what you stand for is the essence of your brand. You want to make sure that your vision and mission is voiced and connects with your audience. Not only will this form a bond with your audience, it will also establish a platform. Your message needs to be authentic in order to build a trust and reliability. Loyalty is the main goal and this cannot be built without messaging authenticity and consistency.
2. How do you want your business to be perceived?
You want your business to be top of mind for a specific reason. You have the power to shape a customer’s recall and perception. If you want to be remembered for a great product, customer relations, or services, you need to shape your brand information so that it mirrors your goal. There are many different ways to accomplish that, but most importantly you need to have a clear idea of what you want. If you are not clear it will come across to your customers.
3. What do you want to say to customers?
What you do, sell or provide is just as important as what you say to your customer. All of your content distributed as blog posts, social media posts and promotional material needs to be consistent. It should reflect your business goals in a genuine way because customers will see-through content that lacks substance, and this will inevitably shape how your brand is perceived. No one wants their brand to be perceived as untrustworthy and irrelevant, so let your content be genuine and ensure it speaks directly to your audience.
4. What do you stand for?
Every business should stand for something and this should be reflected in written form within your mission statement and in your action strategy such as ideology or organizations you support. A mission statement has a few components including who you will serve and what you deliver but the most important component that deals with your brand perception is the values component. Your action strategy should reflect any organizations you support or involvement in the community.
5. What direction do you see your business going?
Where do you see your company in three, five or ten years? Brand identity works best when it is worked backward from your end goal. If you see your company aligned with a specific outcome, your strategy should lead up to that end result. The goal is to come up with a strategy that will encourage customers and brand advocates to stick around as you grow.
6. What is your brand vision?
Your vision should be reflected in your brand. If you start with the goal in mind you can craft a brand strategy that will be genuine and resonate with your customers. Ideally you will build a relationship with your customers that is based on a consistent message they will trust and remember.
Kathleen Marrero is the Founder and Marketing Consultant at First Fig Marketing & Consulting, a digital marketing and SEM strategies company that provides marketing strategies for various businesses including small business, entrepreneurs and legal. Connect with @KathleenMarrero on Twitter.
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