Target audience
Who are your best customers, what do they need, what convinces them, and what puts them off?
Branding
Brand strategy: knowing what you stand for
Brand strategy and positioning: clarifying target audience, competitors, value proposition and tone of voice. The basis for every appearance. Der-H Medien, nationwide.
Branding
Brand strategy: what exactly is it?
A brand strategy answers four questions: Who are we here for? What do we stand for? What sets us apart? How do we speak? The answers give rise to positioning, core messages and tone of voice. Everything else, from the logo to the copy on the website, follows from them.
A strategy is not a document to file away and forget. It helps you make decisions faster, for example which jobs suit you, which channels are worthwhile and how to word your offers.
Background
Brand strategy: why it matters.
Without a strategy, every measure decides afresh how the business presents itself. That costs time and leads to an inconsistent picture.
With clear positioning, a great deal gets easier: copy, design, offers and even the question of which jobs to take on.
Overview
Brand strategy: building blocks and variants.
Competitors
How do others present themselves, and where is there room for you?
Positioning
One clear sentence on what you stand for and why people choose you.
Core messages
The three or four statements that recur in everything.
Tone of voice
How you speak: matter-of-fact, warm, direct, with which words and which not.
Our work
Brand strategy: what we do for you.
Understanding your target audience
Who are your best customers, what do they need, what convinces them?
Looking at the competition
How do others present themselves, and where is there room for you?
Formulating the positioning
One clear sentence on what you stand for and why people choose you.
Core messages & tone of voice
The most important statements and the way you speak.
Guidelines
A compact summary for your team and service providers.
Quality
Brand strategy: how to recognise good work.
- You can state your positioning in one sentence
- Employees describe the business in similar terms
- The target audience is described concretely, not as “everyone”
- Statements can be backed up
- Copy, images and offers all follow the same line
- There is a compact summary for your team and service providers
Costs
Brand strategy: what it costs.
The effort depends on depth: a compact workshop with a positioning statement, or a comprehensive analysis with surveys and a competitor comparison.
The calculation behind this: How we calculate our prices.
What determines the price
- Depth of the target audience and competitor analysis
- Number of people involved and workshops
- Development of messages and tone of voice
- Translation into concrete measures
What you can prepare
- Your three best customers and why you enjoy working with them
- Offers and copy you have used in your marketing so far
- Competitors you know of
- Your goals for the next one to three years
Pitfalls
Brand strategy: common mistakes.
- trying to appeal to every customer
- promises that cannot be kept
- a strategy that is never put into practice day to day
- slogans instead of real differentiation
Frequently asked questions
Questions about brand strategy.
Do I need a brand strategy even as a small business?
Especially then. Limited resources should be used purposefully, and that takes clarity about who you want to reach.
How long does it take?
That depends on size and depth. We give you the timeframe in the quotation.
How do brand strategy and logo differ?
The strategy defines what you stand for. The logo is one part of putting it into practice. Without a strategy, the logo has no foundation.
Guides
Further reading.
What does an advertising agency actually do?What an advertising agency does, which services it covers, when working with one pays off and what to look for when choosing an agency.Read more →Having a Logo Developed: Process, Variants and FilesHow logo development works: briefing, drafts, refinement, variants and files. With pointers on what to look out for.Read more →Corporate design: what does it include?Corporate design explained: logo, colours, typeface, imagery, layout rules and applications. With a checklist for businesses.Read more →Corporate Identity and Corporate Design: The DifferenceCorporate identity, corporate design, corporate behaviour and corporate communication explained: the difference and how the building blocks work together.Read more →Developing a claim and slogan: making it stickDeveloping a claim and slogan: what a claim does, features of good ones, a four-step approach and the mistakes you should avoid.Read more →Finding a Brand Name: Criteria and ChecksFinding a brand name: criteria for a good name, how the naming process works, and checking availability, domain and trade mark rights.Read more →
More topics in Branding
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