Table of contents

1. Brand strategy

2. Brand story/Brand story

3. Brand voice

4. Brand design

5. Comprehensive brand value/Brand values

6. Brand atmosphere/Brand vibe

7. Summary

foreword

Behind every brand is a brand strategy that will help make the final decision when your business makes big decisions!

A successful brand strategy generally consists of five elements. In this article, I will share the five strategic elements of a successful brand and the unique contribution of each element to building brand success.

01 Brand Strategy

1. What is brand strategy?

Brand strategy is a holistic approach to how your brand is presented to customers (and potential customers). For example, if your brand is your way of presenting your company's products to the world, then your brand strategy is the scaffolding that supports it.

2. Why is it important to develop a brand strategy?

A successful brand image is crucial to connecting with customers. A successful brand strategy can help increase customer loyalty, increase brand awareness, build repeat customers, and inspire word-of-mouth marketing and promotion.

Brands without an effective strategy can be diluted, weakened or forgotten by the market. Even without a bad, lagging product experience, it's easy for customers to move on rather than make repeated purchases from the same company.

3. Elements of a successful brand strategy

Brand strategy consists of five elements: brand story, brand voice, brand design, brand value and brand atmosphere. Follow the editor below to learn more about the role and uniqueness of each element.

02 Brand story/Brand story

Your brand story is an important means by which you communicate your entrepreneurial journey, core beliefs and values, and corporate purpose.

Brand stories further spark the connection between your business product and customer base. By sharing where your business was founded, where your business stands, and what motivates your business to start and keep going, you can make your customers more willing to learn more about your product.

Success Stories: The flagship product of Fly by Jing is pure natural Sichuan pepper crisps. Fly by Jing's brand story takes center stage on its website, sharing why founder Gao Jing started the company: inspired by the flavors and "high-altitude restaurants" in her hometown of Chengdu. Fly By Jing's website promotes its brand values, such as "power to empower," showing why it considers its products so important.

03 Brand voice

The words and phrases a brand communicates with existing or new customers across different marketing channels and websites is called the brand voice.

The brand voice can convey the brand's message and business value. It usually combines the uniqueness of a brand with its core values ​​and plays a considerable role in connecting with a customer base. A successful brand voice might remind you of your best friend, a gracious teacher, or a respected elder. Over time, it creates a strong connection between the customer and the brand and shows the customer what they can expect from the brand. A brand that doesn’t create a dedicated brand voice can lose that connection with customers or deliver the wrong message. A brand voice style guide can be established within the business, which ensures the continuity of the brand voice.

Success Story: How Sun Bum communicated their brand values ​​through their brand voice.

04 Brand design

How your brand is presented on your products, website, and marketing platforms — from color palettes to fonts to photography styles, these are collectively called branding. Branding is often the first and fastest way for potential customers in your target market to learn about your business and brand.

Great branding can convey a brand message through a well-packaged sunscreen bottle, a bright label that’s visible at a glance in the store, or interesting shapes and elements on a website. In addition to stating what your brand is, brand design also represents a brand's class and level of taste. Potential customers may love your brand, partly because of the way you package and design your products, or because of your promotional posters online. Like art, brand design can resonate with emotion. For example, Andy Warhol once painted a series of Campbell's soup cans, but managed to turn a brand's packaging into pop art.

A lack of design can make your brand unrecognizable among potential customers. Designing the visual components of your brand (from product labels to package inserts to homepage) can give it a better position in the market, improve customer experience, create a successful visual identity, and help differentiate you from the market.

The brand design should also appear in the brand style guide along with the brand voice. Brand design is all about visual identity, so a brand style guide should include colors, hex codes, font weight and style, logo usage, etc.

Success Story: How Acid League and Salt & Stone Infused Healthy Impressions Through Brand Design.

05 Brand values

What was your company's original intention? What is the most important thing in your business? What problem is your business actively trying to solve? Questions such as these help to understand the core values, product beliefs and principles of a corporate brand.

Brand equity is the touchstone that helps you discern whether a decision or partnership aligns with your product goals, helps you connect with the market, and find potential customers with similar philosophies. They also help define your brand positioning, as brand value can become the market "identity card" of a business.

Brand equity is often built through a brand guide or style guide. In addition to brand voice and brand design requirements, brand guidelines may also include a mission statement that articulates the brand's core values ​​and shares the right values ​​on social media and other content marketing channels.

Success Story: How Saie Uses the "Five Good Feelings" Brand Values ​​to Drive Decision Making

06 Brand atmosphere/Brand vibe

A brand’s vibe is the aura it radiates on its website, social media channels, product packaging, and more. The vibe can be anything from mischievous to satirical, serious to funny, and it is a synthesis of the brand's personality, values ​​and aesthetics.

If you've ever been to Palm Springs or an artisanal coffee shop, there's a special feeling or energy field that you feel the moment you arrive. Even though many businesses operate online these days, you can still give someone a special vibe when they communicate with you online. Creating an atmosphere helps enhance the brand’s overall customer experience and creates a more memorable and lasting impression.

Success Story: How Baggu Captures Authentic Vibes.

07 Summary

Great branding strategies are all about feelings.

Successful brand strategies are all about fostering connection with customer groups through positive values, a brand voice that embodies the brand's meaning, and a design that reflects the company's true personality. A strong brand connection builds brand loyalty, which in turn motivates customers to make repeat purchases. Your fans will become your most solid advocates. A successful brand image will lay the foundation for the success of a business.