We are living in a time of ‘more’.
More commodities, more consumerism, more content, more campaigns, more chaos.
The world is saturated, in fact, it is drowning in new brands, ideas, offshoots, and products. And with each of those, come the comms; the advertising, the billboards, the vying for attention.
It’s noisy. So noisy in fact, that most consumers’ preferred default now is deaf (myself included!).
Deaf to survive, to be able to think and to be able to move through the world and not live in a perpetual state of overwhelm and distraction.
The Challenges of Branding in a Saturated Market
For brands, this means not only are you fighting against the steady shrill of noise coming from your competition, but you’re also fighting to be heard by consumers who are no longer listening.
So, how does a brand not just cut through to be heard, but connect to earn loyalty?
What makes the brand-consumer relationship go beyond a merely transactional one?
And how do we battle the glut and form real, lasting relationships that have meaning beyond a sale to ensure connection and ultimately, longevity?
These days, it’s so much easier to get ideas off the ground, with technology breaking barriers to entry for everyone, we’re witnessing an avalanche of products entering the market each and every day. In fact, our team at Smack Bang often meet with founders launching nearly identical products in the same week. What most are coming to realise though, is that the difference in success largely boils down to brand.
A strong brand strategy helps you cultivate a strong brand. It defines who you are as a business, and focuses on how you’ll gain long-term loyalty. It also sets a benchmark to measure progress against
Because without a brand strategy, you have no way to judge whether your brand is moving in the right direction or not.
How Brand Strategy (Or Lack Thereof) Impacts Your Bottom Line
Brand strategy helps businesses grow in a mass of direct and indirect ways.
It’s not just a ‘nice to have’ luxury that brings consistency and clarity to branding and marketing. Its real impact is on the main levers of business growth.
Ultimately there are three ways a business can grow without creating new products or services:
- Lowering prices (to increase economies of scale),
- Raising prices (to increase buyer spend), or, my personal favourite:
- Increasing the perceived value of what they already have.
Branding, and the brand strategy that underpins this, is all about increasing the perceived value of a product or service.
More often than not, the best lever for business growth is to define (or redefine) your brand in a way that changes the perceptions of your ideal audience, for the better.
A brand strategy encompasses the deliberate and purposeful actions taken to shape and influence how a brand is perceived by the audience it hopes to reach. It goes beyond a catchy logo or an enticing tagline; it is the holistic approach that defines the essence, personality, and most importantly, the value of a brand.
The Pitfalls of a Product-Centric Approach vs. Brand Strategy
For many founders, their first inclination is to develop a brand that’s entirely product-centric. “Develop a great product and the people will come”, they say. I beg to differ.
If you create an entire business around a product, you’re not setting yourself up to sail.
You’re betting all your chips solely on the success of said product (which, I hate to break it to you, may not always be as game-changing as you expect), and blindly hoping that the people will come.
This tactic may have worked back when the corner store only stocked one brand of cookies, and your audience only had access to shops within walking distance.
Nowadays, there are over one billion brands of cookies, all within reach of our fingertips on the beautifully saturated World Wide Web.
So, as brand conductors, we need to flip the script and use our products as a vehicle to drive our mission.
Building a Brand Universe: The Ultimate Goal of Brand Strategy
I see brand strategy as a vessel. Every day, in my role as a brand strategist, I’m responsible for architecting a universe in which a brand comes to life.
The product is a tool that helps build on the brand vision, and when this universe is geared for connection and meaning, the product just so happens to sell itself. Clever? We think so.
This means you have an endless opportunity to invent, reinvent and expand your product line.
You’re not bound to rely on the success of each product, because if you get your brand universe right, the products are just one part of the roadmap to building the longevity and success of your brand.
Wait, hold up. Weren’t we talking about brand strategy?
What the hell is a brand universe and have I completely lost my mind to the cosmos? Perhaps. But I’ve seen it work. Time and time again. I’ve been lucky enough to play an instrumental role in the birth (and rebirth) of hundreds of brands and products in my 12+ year tenure at Smack Bang.
By formulating a brand strategy that’s founded on a well-articulated vision and a desire to change the world (even at a micro level), you create a vessel for connection.
Once the audience is drawn into your orbit (because the brand world you’ve created holds such magnetism), then they already have interest, soon trust, and then…
Voila; buying your product is simply collateral damage for existing in the brand universe. Conversion becomes effortless.
The Importance of a Deep Understanding for Effective Brand Strategy
Without a brand strategy, your product and its pretty logo are just floating in space, desperately hoping someone serendipitously bumps into it and likes the look of it enough to spend their hard-earned cash.
Genuine connection and lasting success are impossible without first taking the time to develop a deep understanding of your purpose and answers to the inevitable questions of who you are and what you stand for.
In today’s dynamic and highly competitive business landscape, a strong and well-executed brand strategy is a non-negotiable ingredient for success across all industries.
From multinational corporations to small startups, brands that understand and harness the power of strategic branding are able to differentiate themselves, build loyal customer bases, and drive sustainable growth.
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At Smack Bang, we are experienced conductors of this orchestra of feelings, memories, expectations and associations. Day in, and day out, we create the frameworks that influence brand perceptions for the better. Get in touch to learn more.
