Brand strategy is not an easy thing to grasp, especially if you are a smaller-mid sized brand. The big guys get it. They spend millions of dollars every year strengthening, expanding and advancing their brand. But smaller companies (and I mean even $80 million dollar companies) don’t get brand and further more, they don’t get why it is the single most important (in my opinion) thing to get right.

A brand strategy can help you:

1. Sell and market easier
2. Stand out in the marketplace
3. Create lasting customer relationships
4. Super power your SEO
5. Generate leads and increase sales

Don’t believe me. Let’s take a look at this jeweller. Delane 

Jewellery
that tells
your story.

Delane is a custom jeweller and goldsmith. She can probably make anything under the sun as far as jewellery is concerned – but she doesn’t want to. She wants to create special pieces for special moments. Her strategy is brilliant. Jewellery that tells your story. This short, simple and easy to understand statement is all she needs to carve out a unique value proposition. Not only is it simple and unique it has the perfect mix of emotion and aspiration. Many people are looking to buy more than a product or service, they are looking to buy an experience. And I am proof in the pudding.

This year for my 50th birthday (yikes) my best friends from Grade 9 London, Ontario and I decided to have a necklace designed to commemorate our birthday and our friendship. Looking for options (we googled and asked around) nothing really spoke to us enough to follow through on. That was until we bumped into Delane at the Dundas West Fest of all places.

Instantly we saw the quality if the work, the opportunity for her to give us the piece we wanted and the unique offering of an emotional purchase to accompany our emotional milestone.

Close to tears, when we received our necklaces, we all read with amazement her additional gift (value add) the story of our necklaces.

The Anchored Eight

She not only told the story of our trip to Croatia, our friendship and our history, she also brought significance to the numbers in our story and what that meant as well. We were all blown away. Her strategy of Jewellery that tells your story is supported once again with this written statement.

Sure you may say, that’s sweet – but don’t miss the power in this little statement. Her tagline, statement, strategy whatever you want to call it is a mighty grouping of words and can have an effect on her entire business.

For example, recruitment and interviewing could and should include telling one’s story in interviews and application forms. Staffing, culture and events could and should involve opportunities for story telling like camp fire outings and poetry nights. Sponsorships could always be in support of local libraries and independent book stores and PR initiatives could be around story telling contests and Spoken Word events.

You see, once you have a strong statement or theme it can and should support everything you do and make every decision easier. When someone calls looking for a sponsorship from you – your answer should be “we only support initiatives that involve story telling.”

So although a small example, I believe Delane is a great example of what brand strategy actually looks like right up close and personal.

Does your brand have a compelling theme or strategy? Can you make decisions based on that strategy? And does it allow you a unique and special space to own? If not, not to worry you can do this too. It’s not always easy to see your own uniqueness, but with the help of professionals or a second set of eyes, it can and will be uncovered.

Take it from me, you will never regret it.