5 Ways to Build an Effective Brand Marketing Strategy % Branding

I bet you’ve got some staples in terms of products and services, that you love to use. Correct? And then, I bet you’ve got more than a couple alternatives for those staples, just in case. In this article we share 5 Ways to Build an Effective Brand Marketing Strategy.

Those products didn’t come to be all on their own and they’re not the “Excellent laundry detergent” and then the “Pretty good laundry detergent”. They’ve got a “name”, a “face” and a purpose…

In short, they’re defined by a brand. Which is a term all of us are familiar with, but not all of us know how to determine. And if we can’t determine the word “brand”, how are we going to determine brand marketing and how are we going to create a brand marketing strategy?

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What Is a Brand?

Is it the logo? The color combinations? The name? The tone of voice? All of these elements go under the umbrella of “brand”, of course, but they’re not the “brand” we’re looking to define. I mean, sure, Coca Cola letters are distinctive, but so is the red-white combination.

So, for all intents and purposes, branding is what will help your product “belong” to your company. And your brand is the sum of actions, images, tone of voice used… All in all, a brand is the way people perceive your company, from the ads to digital marketing and email marketing efforts.

Of course, a brand cannot be timeless if it’s dead set and not adaptable to the time and crowd it’s “talking” to. A good brand marketing strategy is one that can represent your brand successfully, especially by adapting to the day and age’s demands.

What About Brand Marketing?

Let’s define what brand marketing is, before talking about brand marketing strategies that will create a strong brand.

So, brand marketing is the logic behind showcasing your brand as a whole, by promoting your key product or key service to, of course, your key audience.

If you decide to promote to someone that hasn’t got a use or some sort of connection with your brand, you won’t manage to have that audience appreciate you, your values and your tone, as your brand is what gives prospects a taste of who you are.

Therefore, brand marketing is the “art” of promoting a brand as a whole and, more importantly, of creating and simultaneously answering the major questions: “Why do I need this product?”, “How does this product benefit me?”, “In what ways can I become better by using it?”.

Brand Marketing: Do It Properly

Have you ever called window-cleaning products anything but Windex? Have you watched a minimal ad with shoes and sportswear as its main product and thought of anything but Nike?

This is what brand equity can do for you. In its very essence, brand equity is what you should be aiming for, as it raises value, both in theory and in practice, as it can really raise market value above all else.

Think of Apple, Nike, Adidas… Yes, there are cheaper alternatives out there, and one would think that these could be beaten, but having a brand that is trustworthy and whose image and tone of voice is adaptable yet consistent, can eliminate that kind of competition.

Almost to the point where using XYZ brand can become a lifestyle choice and a statement. Especially when, by highlighting the features of a product, you can highlight the brand itself.

Now don’t tell me that this minimalism, this design and this choice of colors doesn’t scream Apple. This is what brand equity and perfect brand marketing is all about.

What Is Your Vision?

First of all, you need to think why you need this brand to exist. What does it stand for? What does it offer? How does it make prospects feel?

Don’t try, at first, to create something that you can easily scale. These things will fall under the umbrella of your vision. Rather, the first thing to determine, would be the type of experience, the feelings you want your prospects to have when they’re using your product or service.

For example Airbnb’s website is talking about “unique places” like so:

And it’s true, by booking a place through Airbnb, what you do essentially is book something unlike a hotel room, probably in a place that is not an area where one would typically find a hotel.

By working out the specifics and, of course, utilizing competitor data and your own, you can definitely come up with a vision, first and foremost.

And mind you, your vision is your story and you need to say it by taking a pain point or two into account and using proper tools.

Your vision might be perfect, but it only takes a couple of wrong tools, like the wrong free email marketing services that offer the wrong options or using a social media tool that will not exactly do it for you, to ruin it.

This is why you constantly need to test, create different stories and utilize different tools. Creating a good story is as much of an experience as reading it.

Your vision should be able to be expressed through the emotional logic of storytelling. Rather, it should be expressed as a result; The version it can turn the prospect into.

Who’s Listening?

Let’s assume that your product is helping your prospects network with others-kind of like LinkedIn does.

Are you going to showcase how great networking emails and email subject lines you can come up with or take that as granted and actually show a person with a great network that can have more opportunities as a professional and as a person?

Of course, you need to do the latter. But who would be interested in that? This is what you need to work out.

Profit is directly dependent on your target audience. Segment that audience and create a message for each segment. Your product might be doing one thing, but it consists of various parameters.

Those parameters can create a message.

So long, of course, as you do great research and utilize AI and machine learning to distinguish patterns so small that could make an impact-not a huge difference at first, but an impact for sure.

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Research, questionnaires, surveys, everything that a prospect can use to state and form an opinion is your weapon, in order to reach the example you can see above.

Publish a case study or two and actively ask for their opinion. And don’t be afraid to check out some case study examples if you’re not sure how to do it.

All in all, great and frequent research will help you figure out how to see through your prospects’ eyes and show them exactly what they need to see and hear.

Be Honest With Yourself

You probably think that your product or service is answering a lot of questions and solves a lot of problems.

And this could be very much true, however, you need to be honest with yourself before crafting some great storytelling to create a brand identity that people would love.

Figure out what sets you apart. What is it about you that will make you unique and irresistible to the general crowd? Why are you better than your competition? This is the first piece of information that you’ll need to utilize.

Secondly, figure out the life and overall demographics of your target audience. Is your product a luxury to the audience you’re trying to attract? Is it going to make a difference? Where and how does it fit into their lifestyle? This should be the core of your marketing campaigns.

Thirdly, create your segments and your buyer personas. This, along with your brand’s own communication pillars, will set the tone and make you know exactly how to speak to your prospects.

If your product is too niche, don’t even try and communicate with someone that is not in your niche, you’ll waste time, resources and a lot of effort.

Oh, and while we’re at it, your buyer personas and your data and demographics will show you exactly the place where your money will be best spent. Would that be your Facebook profile? Your LinkedIn?

Perhaps Instagram is where it’s at? Or does your target audience love a good storytelling the old way with emails and you creating a presentation that will get clicked and shared around?

Answer those questions first and shape your content around them.

Create Fantastic Content

What is your name? How is it tied to what your brand’s offering? What is the overall atmosphere around your brand?

You need a color that will be able to answer these questions, a logo that will be pinpointing exactly what you need it to pinpoint and of course, the same goes for the taglines you’re going to use. Long, “heavy” words don’t belong in youthful brands, as much as clever word plays don’t belong in law firms.

These elements will be what will end up morphing your content marketing strategy that will establish your brand.

Great content can attract and nurture prospects and, in the end, turn them into customers. It can also help with your brand’s reputation. Use all arrows in your quiver and make sure your content and your brand’s tone are aligned overall.

Create Strong Messages and an Even Stronger Website

Your target audience is the one that will end up being interested in your product or service and will end up, eventually, buying something.

Therefore, what you need to do is create a strong message that will resonate with the various segments of your target audience.

Of course, your target audience doesn’t consist of one specific group of people with one specific background. Rather, we’re talking about a sum of people with different demographics, different backgrounds and, eventually, different needs.

The basis of your message should be one and it should be able to pinpoint and express the core message of your brand, including your values but not limiting your tone.

You see, you should be flexible and able to create a message that will resonate both with influencers in your niche and with the older audience that won’t be too much into social media.

But that’s not the only issue. As I mentioned before, every segment of your audience should be able to understand different aspects of your message, seeing as they’ve got different pain points. Make sure that your message will bring those forward and target them effectively.

And as far as your website is concerned… I suppose you’ve got everything down, your colors, the brand’s tone, the brand’s message and so on and so forth.

Go ahead and find the most powerful keywords in your niche. Optimize for those. And make sure that your message is prominent there and that your website’s content will be working harmoniously with the content of your social media profiles and your email marketing game.

Frequent changes in brand tone could make prospects feel like they can’t trust you. Check this out:

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Your brand’s tone of voice is a valuable tool that can help you build your content, create a powerful website, landing pages and email marketing content that will convert and curate your SEO efforts in the best way.

Not to mention that your brand’s tone and the strong message could very well help you create a great text messaging marketing strategy and, of course, train your customer support team-provided you need one at this point in time.

To Sum Up

Tools like landing pages, email marketing campaigns, PPC and SEO efforts are fantastic, but these are mere tools.

Brand marketing and the strategy it entails is a whole mindset and branding is one of the most difficult and most important things one should go through.

But setting up a brand marketing strategy shouldn’t be hard and the above 5 Ways to Build an Effective Brand Marketing Strategy will help you get through it successfully.

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Author Bio
Téa Liarokapi is a content writer working for email marketing software company Moosend and an obsessive writer in general. In her free time, she tries to find new ways to stuff more books in her bookcase and content ideas-and cats-to play with.