Author: Jamie Schwartzman

Every company needs a strong strategy to reach their customers. But smart companies know their business and marketing strategies should be driven by a strong brand.

Brand-driven strategy means your brand is the force behind all external and internal communications. Implementing this kind of strategy results in a cohesive brand experience, ensuring alignment across touchpoints. People know who you are and what you stand for in an instant. And that matters.

Because a strong brand is your most effective tool for getting people to take action. 

Customers know exactly what kind of product, experience, and results they’ll get from brands they recognize, and they are incredibly loyal to them.

Think about it. When given the choice between staying at a Hilton or an Airbnb, which would you choose?

You might be an adventurer looking for a unique, bespoke experience. You’d go for the cute, stylish Airbnb. Or you might be a traveler looking for a predictable, known experience that’s the same no matter where you go. You’d go for the Hilton. Neither is better than the other, they’re just for different people. But regardless of what you like, you know exactly what you’re getting into. You’re able to choose between the two in a second.

And it’s bigger than just price– your choice actually says something about your identity. Do you always go with the trusted, dependable option? Are you spontaneous and a little more risky? The connotation that these two companies bring to mind is deeper than just “places to stay.” It’s an emotional connection. And that’s much more powerful than selling a product or service alone.

Hilton and Airbnb are very different companies, but they both have brand-driven strategies. They know who they are, and everything they do reinforces that fact. They aren’t trying to be everything to everyone. Instead, they occupy a unique position in the market that appeals to a specific customer persona. In this way, Hilton and Airbnb pre-qualify their audiences– because they know their position and ideal customer, they speak directly to the most receptive people. This results in a customer base that’s highly loyal, forging a connection much deeper than price.

It’s all because their brand is the driving force behind everything they do. Branding is more than just good looks– it’s an active, tangible ingredient in your company’s success. If you want to incorporate brand into your overall strategy, you’re in the right place. Here are seven steps to effectively executing brand-driven strategy in your business.

 

1. Know where you’re starting from– and close the gap to where you want to be.

Before you can execute a brand-driven strategy, you need to make sure you have a solid brand to begin with. Who are you? What do you stand for? What need do you fill? If you can’t answer these questions, you risk confusing your image further.

Let’s say your customers see your brand as dependable, realistic, and grounded. Any brand-driven strategy will need to take that into account and lean into it. That might mean running a campaign to strengthen that image.

Conversely, if that’s not how you want your brand to be seen, it could also mean addressing that image as the past in order to introduce a new future. Either way, you need to know what your story is before you can start telling it to the world. 

At Flux, we use the IDEA method as the brand strategy framework for our branding services. The first step is always a brand audit to understand where your company is, where it’s going, and how to close that gap. It’s called the Ignite phase, in which we undertake competitive, audience, and employee research to get a sense of how you’re seen and how you wish to be seen.

 

2. Know who you are– and say it loud and clear.

What’s your mission? What’s your ethos? And what makes you different? Knowing your position in the market and communicating it effectively is key. Without the core intelligence of who you are and why you exist, you can’t begin to implement brand-driven strategy for your company.

At Flux, after the Ignite phase of gathering information about your company and market landscape, we move into the Distill phase. This is where we find your brand position– how you fit into the market and what niche you fill. The result is an internal strategic document that lays out your reason for being and unique differentiators, in a voice that’s unique to your brand. It’s the foundation from which everything else can be built. Think of it like a manifesto.

Once you have a clear brand position, then you can build an entire strategy from it. But without that, you’re just shooting in the dark.

 

3. Think beyond your logo. Brand is an experience.  

We can’t stress enough that your brand is who you are as a company. This means that executing brand-driven strategies can’t be restricted to the creative and ad departments. Your brand needs to shine through the entire customer experience.

We’ve all encountered companies that don’t align with their brand. Think of a company that had poor customer service, a bad work environment, or a subpar product that was harshly contrasted with the image they presented.

All branding is emotional branding. And in the example here, customers might feel betrayed or frustrated. The feeling might be overt, or more subconscious. But this will impact their decision to become a repeat customer.

If your strategy is truly brand-driven, you avoid inconsistencies across different faces of your company. With a clear idea of who you are and what you need to communicate, every action you take should be aligned with that goal. That creates a cohesive brand experience, ensuring memorability and trust. 

The brand positioning document you get from our Distill phase can help with this. As you share it internally, you can make it clear just how important acting in alignment with your brand is. From there, you need to audit every customer touchpoint along the buyer journey to look for branding inconsistencies. We call these opportunities– and we’ll help you make the most of them.

 

4. Make sure your team is all on the same page.

As with a new product launch or marketing initiative, your team needs to be in the know when it comes to executing brand-driven strategies. Depending on their role within the company, each person may require a different level of education about what the company hopes to achieve moving forward.

It’s normal for your employees to wonder, “What is a branding strategy?”

One thing you never want them to wonder, however, is “What is our brand?”

Executing a brand-driven strategy is impossible if your brand is unclear internally. Your brand is who you are as a company. Team member buy-in is imperative. Otherwise, your brand on paper will be lightyears away from your brand in reality.

At Flux, we solve this problem during the Distill phase of the IDEA Method. The Distill phase gives you a comprehensive, internal document that communicates your brand to your team. This is used as the guiding light during the Energize and Activate phase, where we send your brand out into the world.

 

5. Let brand strategy drive your campaigns. 

Your brand is bigger than one campaign, but it should be the guiding force behind each marketing campaign you undertake. If your marketing strategy isn’t brand-driven, you’re going to present a confused image to the world. If you keep the brand as the north star, you can have many different creative iterations to show who you are, but you’re always expressing a consistent concept. That does wonders for memorability and building trust.

Let’s consider some examples of brand-driven marketing campaigns:

Airbnb’s strangers aren’t strange campaign or Apple’s 1997 Think Different campaign are both hallmarks of well-executed brand strategy. These campaigns aren’t selling a place to stay or a Macbook computer. They’re selling the emotions, memories, and desires their audience connects with.

Even product marketing campaigns like Hilton’s For the Stay or Samsung’s Buckle Up are brand-driven, while still focusing on specific products. “For the Stay” is specifically marketing hotels as different from Airbnbs. “Buckle Up” is specifically marketing the Galaxy S22 Ultra as different from the iPhone. But the focus is still about evoking an emotion from the person viewing the campaign. This, in turn, creates positive brand awareness on a larger scale than just the particular product they are pushing.

At Flux, the Energize phase of our IDEA Method is when we use brand-driven strategies to stoke your customer’s emotions out in the world. This is when we develop external communications– content, campaigns, websites, and more.

When you use brand-driven strategy to inform your external communications, campaigns are about much more than product marketing– they’re about bringing people into your story and your ethos. The idea is to get people to buy not just because they like your product, but because they like who you are. They feel belonging to your brand says something about their own identity. That will keep them coming back no matter how stiff the competition gets.

 

6. Bring together branding and marketing.

Your brand, just like your business, is a living, breathing, changing entity. This means that rebranding or refreshing your brand is necessary from time to time, especially when you’re taking a hard look at your business strategy. When you’re gearing up for these, finding a branding agency should be on your rebranding checklist.

You might be tempted to look at your brand yourself. You know your company better than anyone, right? But getting an outside perspective can be critically useful here. It can be hard to see yourself as your customers do when you know your business so well. Even trusting an internal department – like your marketing team – to handle a branding project is likely to go awry.

Your marketing team knows how to run product marketing campaigns and move people to visit your site or click a link, hopefully making a purchase. That’s their area of expertise. But implementing brand strategy services is a different beast.

Rather than looking for clicks and views, branding is about creating a connection. Branding is inherently a creative and emotional process. A branding agency should help you find your overall brand identity– your personality, voice, look, and feel. This goes hand in hand with marketing– the brand is the what while marketing is the how. Branding determines the kind of content your marketing team will use, while marketing is about the tactics of getting it in front of people.

During the Activate phase at Flux, we use brand campaigns to attract customers to your business based on ethos. Branding campaigns are long term loyalty building exercises. They might not convert as many followers and buyers in the short term, but over time they build recognition, trust, and eventually loyalty from your audience– which are the keys for sustained success. Therefore, the metrics your branding agency measures may look different than the metrics you’ve tracked your other campaigns with.

 

7. Decide who you’re for, then focus on building connection.

Brand campaigns should help you show up in the right place at the right time. An experienced branding services agency knows just how to make this happen.

Being in the right place at the right time doesn’t happen because you spend time, energy, and money to be front-and-center on every platform 24/7. Not only is true omnipresence impossible to achieve, but it may be impractical.

Your branding goals should be to reach your ideal customers when and where it’s most relevant – and they are most receptive.

Branding isn’t about reaching “people.” It’s about reaching the right people at the right time and connecting with them on an intimate, personal level. So executing brand-driven strategies for your company shouldn’t be about simply “getting out there.” It should be about showing the most receptive people who you are and what makes you different, in a way that is cohesive across all external communications. But it all starts from having a solid foundation– you can’t know who you’re going after if you don’t know who you are.

 

Excellently executing brand-driven strategies 

Branding can be tough – especially for founders, C-suite executives, or anyone who spends their time looking at the way a company is performing at a high level. It requires thinking outside the box, and synthesizing creativity into concrete actions.

Creating a brand is about connecting with people on an emotional level. Making promises about your products is nice, but making promises about who you are and who you can help your customers become can completely change the future trajectory of your business. And that’s exactly what a truly brand-driven business strategy can do.

In order to execute brand-driven strategy in your business, take these 7 steps:

1. Brand Audit: This 360 assessment of your competitors, audiences, internal culture and future objectives is key for charting a successful strategy.  You need to know where you’re starting from in order to get where you want to go.

2. Brand Position: Your position is your unique space in the market. It’s the big idea that will inform all strategies moving forward. You need to know who you are– and say it loud and clear.

3. Brand Experience: Think beyond your logo. Brand is your entire company. Look at every touch point your customers have with your business, and make sure that the brand is coming through.

4. Brand Culture: Make sure your team is all on the same page. If your employees don’t know what your brand is, you’ll never communicate it to your customers.

5. Brand Campaigns: Let brand drive your campaigns. All external communications should be unified by the brand– there can be many creative iterations, but the underlying message and concepts should always be constant.

6. Brand Marketing: Bring together branding and marketing. Your marketing team knows how to get eyes and clicks, but it’s the brand that informs what content the eyes and clicks are going to. Branding and marketing need to work in a symbiotic relationship. When they do, engaging with a company becomes more than a transaction– it’s an emotional connection.

7. Brand Connection: Once you know who you are, how to communicate it, and have effectively instilled it at every level of your organization both internally and externally, you’re ready to make people love you. If you know who you are, you also know who your customer is– so you can focus on appealing to the most receptive people, building long term loyalty and affinity.

The results of brand-driven strategy are incredible: greater internal alignment, more effective sales and marketing, and a loyal customer base that’s emotionally connected to your company. It’s not easy, but the outcomes are well worth the effort.

Flux is a branding agency in Los Angeles that has worked with hundreds of clients all over the country. As a result, we have the frameworks, know-how, and technical expertise to take your brand to the next level. Get in touch today to see the difference a focused brand strategy can make.

There are dozens of companies out there with brand strategy services, and finding the right one can be overwhelming. Even if you know you need branding services, defining the specifics can be tough.

Using a framework (like our IDEA Method) can take some of the stress out of changing your brand, but branding is never one-size-fits-all. The truth is, you need a team of skilled experts to brand a company successfully. They will take a tailored approach to your needs and your customers’ preferences.

After all, your brand is your company’s lifeblood. Changing a brand isn’t something to take lightly, and– if you have a strong brand– it’s not something you’ll need to do often.

That being said, these six big events might mean it’s time to take a closer look at your brand and invest in some brand strategy services.

 

6 times to use brand strategy services 

Here are some crucial times to take a look at your branding:

1. When you’re launching a new product or product line

Are you expanding your current offers?

You might be moving from managing suburban apartments to your first downtown building. Or offering co-working spaces in the same building as an apartment. Whatever your new offering, you want to make sure your brand reflects all of what you do.

That’s where brand strategy services come in. Product marketing vs. brand marketing aren’t necessarily competing with each other, but they are both necessary when launching a new product or line.

Brand strategy services can help you reposition yourself and change how customers see you. When your brand reflects your full suite of services, you’ll be spared from hearing, “You do what??? I didn’t realize!” from your customers six, 12, or 24 months post-launch.

Benefits most from: the Energize phase

At Flux, branding services start with our IDEA Method – Ignite, Distill, Energize, Activate. Each and every brand we work with goes through all of these phases. However, different brands need more emphasis placed on certain steps.

A brand that’s making changes due to a new product offering benefits most from the Energize phase. In this phase, we take strategic intelligence gathered from the Ignite and Distill phases and translate it into visuals.

That visual change can spark a conversation with your existing customers and draw in new ones, giving you the perfect opportunity to talk about the changing services you provide.

Brand example: Pfizer

In 2021, pharmaceutical giant Pfizer visually rebranded to draw attention to their new focus on scientific research. The logo changed from a flat, commercial-feeling oval to a double helix – representing the DNA research Pfizer is committed to.

The CEO described the rebrand as a sign that “Pfizer is no longer in the business of just treating diseases – we’re curing and preventing them.” We describe it as an excellent example of using rebranding to highlight new products and services.

 

2. When you’re looking for a fresh start

Companies can have whole lives of their own, and these lives have occasional twists and turns. Sometimes, this means that your brand becomes associated with something you don’t actually stand for – or something you no longer stand for.

This can cause a widening spiral of problems for your company and your customers. Maybe you’re dealing with bad press, negative reviews, or a course-changing event that you need to correct.

Brand strategy services can help you refocus your company and take back the narrative. 

Branding services can help you effectively communicate who you are as a company and what you truly stand for.

Benefits most from: the Activate phase

In the Activate phase of the IDEA method, we take your brand out into the world. This includes showing up in your customers’ lives in a bold, positive way. It’s easy to see why this can make such a difference to brands looking for a fresh start.

Brand strategy services can (and should) help you create excellent internal-facing documents. But companies struggling with an inaccurate image benefit strongly from the Activate phase with its focus on putting your new brand in front of customers.

Brand example: Meta

Meta (still sometimes called Facebook) underwent a massive rebrand after a slew of accusations. Even before this, the company was considered “old person social media” – not the image that Facebook wanted to convey.

Rebranding to Meta shows the company’s new outlook on life and its commitment to moving forward and bringing people together in the digital space. While people are still divided on whether this was the right move, Meta has altered the public’s perception of them – even if it’s only a small step in a different direction.

 

3. When you’re finalizing a merger, acquisition, or sale

Mergers, acquisitions, and sales are exciting times in a company’s life. They can also be some of the shakiest. A branding checklist can help minimize the stress, but there are some questions it can’t answer.

How will you incorporate elements from both companies’ brands?

Are you dealing with one small brand integrating into a larger one?

Or are you looking to start a totally new brand?

How will you convey these new changes to your team members?

These are all questions brand strategy services can answer. Rebranding can help significantly with how to integrate companies after acquisition.

Every person involved in a merger, acquisition, or sale wants to make sure their voice is heard. This can lead to unnecessary stress and confused brand identity – at least for a while. In a time when your company’s identity is constantly shifting, an outside eye is the greatest power of brand strategy services.

Benefits most from: the Distill phase

All that to say, brands undergoing a merger, acquisition, or sale will love the Distill phase.

The Distill phase of the IDEA method results in a beautiful, internal-facing document. This document clarifies your internal branding from top to tail. Your employees (especially the marketing team) won’t be left to figure things out on their own.

More importantly, you don’t have to deal with a hundred branding questions a day during this stressful time. Instead, you’ll sit down with our team, and we’ll help you organize your ideas over the course of our time working together.

Brand example: Verizon

Verizon wasn’t always Verizon. The company as we recognize it today began with a merger in 2000.

Telecommunications companies Bell Atlantic and Vodafone recognized that the market was changing due to cell phones, and they needed a way to keep up. The result was Verizon, a company that exploded into the largest wireless network operator in the United States.

 

4. When you need to solidify your brand in a growing market

That leads us into the next reason you may need brand strategy services – a market that threatens to edge you out.

The rise of the internet means that ideas grow and spread faster than ever. For your business, that could mean trouble. Take blanding, for instance. Once big companies like Google and Apple simplified their logos, companies in every sector rushed to do the same.

When it comes to your brand, you might start to notice that you and your competitors are… a little too similar. Brand strategy services can help you make a splash and stand head-and-shoulders above other companies in your market.

Benefits most from: the Ignite phase

When competition is starting to get on top of you and you see revenue shrinking, it’s all too easy to get caught up in a frenzy of activity while you try to course-correct. That’s why Flux’s brand strategy services always start by slowing things down with the Ignite phase.

During the Ignite phase, we stop, look, and listen. We gather data on what your competitors are doing, how your customers and employees view your brand, and where your business lives within the larger industry.

This data is the foundation for a stronger, more distinct, and more authentic brand identity.

Brand example: Momentive

 

Anyone visiting the Momentive website may not immediately connect it to SurveyMonkey, but it’s the same company. SurveyMonkey was early to the software-as-a-service (SaaS) game, but that market is seeing rapid expansion.

The rebrand helped Momentive to stand out from the huge selection of “quirky” SaaS companies and make a home for themselves as innovators – which is right where they belong.

 

5. When you’re in need of an update

Brand strategy services aren’t just for massive restructuring efforts. The truth about brands is that they evolve with time – just like the people who own and work for them. Most people change up their clothing style or haircut every couple of years when they “just need a change”.

Your brand is the same.

Every now and then, it comes to your attention that your brand is just a little outdated. Maybe the color palette or logo screams 90s. Maybe your brand doesn’t quite reflect the kind of company you’ve grown into. Maybe it’s missing the mark a bit with the latest generation of consumers.

Brand strategy services can help.

Benefits most from: the Energize phase

Like brands introducing a new product line, brands who need an update can get excited about the Energize phase. When your brand strategy services start working, we can see the company you are now, not the company you once were.

In the Energize phase, we take that identity and turn it into visuals that more clearly communicate your place in the here and now.

Brand example: Dunkin’

Coffee chain Dunkin’ underwent a brand refresh in 2019. The company had previously been called “Dunkin’ Donuts”, and their logo featured the name and a coffee cup.

Now, the logo is just the name, and the product packaging looks more playful and modern. The change wasn’t massive, but it was significant in aligning the company with the way people see the brand.

 

6. When you’re ready to attract (and retain) top talent

Branding isn’t always all about the customers. It’s about your employees, too. Attracting and retaining talented employees is one of the most difficult challenges a company can face.

Not surprisingly, your brand can make a big difference.

Brand strategy services touch every place someone is interacting with your company – and that includes job boards and boardrooms. A strong brand can instantly communicate what kind of person will thrive in your company’s environment.

Benefits most from: the Distill phase

Like companies finalizing a merger, anyone looking to attract and retain talent desperately needs the Distill phase. The internal-facing document is something that can be shared with everyone in the company, not just the marketing team.

When those job listings are being posted and when it comes time for annual performance reviews, your HR team will have a guiding light. The Distill document can ensure that your employees never get a mixed message – they know exactly how you want to treat them.

Brand example: Starbucks

 

During the economic crash of 2008, Starbucks was struggling. Customers were looking for cheaper coffee, and Starbucks suddenly had to compete with fast food chains like McDonald’s adding coffee to their menu.

Starbucks responded by running a rebranding campaign. Surprisingly, caring for their employees was a part of their new brand identity as a place for community and support. Since then, they’ve continued to expand their employee benefits.

The result? Workers stay at Starbucks around a year longer than they do at other food service jobs, and frequently have more people applying than they know what to do with.

 

Put your best foot forward with the top brand strategy services

Shopping for branding services is difficult. You’re trusting the future of your company to someone you’ve only just met. That level of trust is hard to find, but not impossible.

Like any part of running a business, there are proven, strategic ways to ensure the final brand will perform the way you need it to.

A top branding agency in Los Angeles will have clear, measurable goals they look to meet. They’ll have a process you can put some trust in. And they’ll help your business make the right first impression.

If you’re looking for the leading brand strategy services in Los Angeles, get in touch! We give you the tools you need to be the company you want to be – and make sure everyone knows it.

Just about everyone you meet will have some idea of what a “brand” is. But while the imagery and aesthetics tend to get the spotlight, the behind-the-scenes work that it takes to create a brand, like branding strategy, doesn’t enjoy the same level of fame.

Why?

Well, many people can’t answer, “What is a branding strategy?” Because there are many moving parts, it’s not so simple. Furthermore, they may not understand fully how having one (or not having one) can impact business in major ways.

When most people think of brands, they have a surface-level understanding. Most of what we initially know about brands comes from how we experience them, not from the work it took to get there.

A brand isn’t just a logo and a color palette. And it isn’t your taglines, merchandising, or other external facing messages or visuals.

Those things are part of your brand, and the most immediately recognizable. But you can’t just slap together a logo and choose a tagline at random. They need to resonate with your audience and be authentic to who your company really is.

Your external-facing brand elements are the tip of a very large iceberg. Beneath them, there’s a huge amount of strategic intelligence that’s necessary for support. Without this support– the brand strategy– a brand stays afloat about as well as the Titanic.

Building a brand is about engineering your customers’ experience of your company. It’s a way for your customers to know who you are and what you stand for – no matter where, when, or how they encounter your company. The branding strategy is what you need to make that possible.

Knowing the importance of a brand is important when asking, “what is a branding strategy?” With a clear brand strategy, your buyers instantly know who you are and what you stand for. This leads to increased customer loyalty and a higher lifetime value.

Branding strategy – why does it matter?

So, what is a branding strategy, and why does it matter?

First, let’s discuss some basic terms. The answer to “what is a brand?” is interlinked with the answer to “what is branding strategy?”

“A brand” in general refers to a bird’s eye view of who the business is (or wants to be) perceived by customers. It’s all-encompassing– it includes how you talk to your employees, your customers, your stakeholders, and your competitors. The brand is you.

“Brand strategy” is how you get there. Think of it like a roadmap to becoming yourself, and the lighthouse that keeps everyone clear on where you stand. Brand strategy is the first step in taking all the intangible elements– how your company makes people feel, what makes your offering unique, why you matter in the market– and turning it into clear insights that then fuel concrete actions. The brand strategy identifies the core concepts, values, and promises that will guide all actions you take to communicate your brand to customers.

Take brand examples like Coca-Cola, Apple, or Nike. When you think of these brands, you might see their logo or one of their products immediately in your mind. You might also instantly think of their tagline– “Just Do It,” or “Think Different.” You might identify a feeling– happiness, innovation, or freedom. This is all the product of a solid brand strategy.

A brand strategy lays out who you are and what you stand for. It’s the foundation on which all external messaging and visual elements are built. With a clear brand strategy, all your brand elements are aligned around the same idea.

Without a clear strategy, there is no brand. It’s all the intelligence that positions you in the market. Once your position is clear, then you can start telling people about it through visuals, messaging, and campaigns.

Asking “what is a branding strategy” is really only the very beginning of the question.

The actual work of brand strategy is asking if your brand represents who you are and who you help, care for, and dream of as a company. This means that you can’t accidentally stumble upon a winning brand. You have to craft it on purpose, whether that’s in-house or using an agency with branding services.

Our Branding Strategy Framework

Here at Flux, we intentionally craft brands using our tried-and-true brand strategy framework – the IDEA Method.

The IDEA Method uses four steps to form a strong, complete brand marketing strategy, whether a business has some idea of what they want their campaign to look like or whether they’re still asking, “what is a branding strategy, anyway?”

Depending on where a company is on its branding journey, different steps of the IDEA Method might have a different emphasis. And, of course, the same step may look very different from business to business. The flexibility of the IDEA Method is what allows companies that use our method in their branding efforts to thrive.

Let’s take a deeper look at each step of the IDEA Method – Ignite, Distill, Energize, and Activate.

Ignite

This is the most “underground” stage of a brand marketing strategy. We go deep, with a 360-degree scope– looking at your company, your customers, and your competitors. Brand strategy services should always include this stage, which is heavy on auditing, research, and internal investigation.

At Flux, we believe that it’s critical. In the Ignite phase, you’re really laying the foundation for your brand, and getting together all the raw materials that will make up the brand strategy process. Like laying the foundation for a house, the Ignite phase isn’t always the most glamorous, but it certainly builds excitement.

Rather than wondering, “what is a branding strategy,” the Ignite stage asks different questions.

• Who is your brand for?
• Why are you looking to make a change?
• Where can your brand find an edge over your competitors?
• What are you all about?

Ignite is for collecting data on your customers, stakeholders, and competition to determine where your brand stands above the rest.

Distill

From there, we move on to the Distill phase. In this phase, we take all the raw data collected in the Ignite phase and turn it into distinct strategic insights and recommendations.

The information gathered in the Ignite phase is only helpful when it’s synthesized. Otherwise, you’ll end up with an inability to turn insights into action.

Or worse, interpreting the same piece of information differently– resulting in an inconsistent brand presence.

For example, say you’re building a hotel brand.

The research in the Ignite phase has determined specific unique differentiators for your hotel– you’re boutique, you’re immersed in nature, and you’re not the most expensive option (but neither are you the cheapest). People like you for your intimate service, historic building, and proximity to fun destinations.

But how does that all come together into a cohesive idea– into a brand?

This stage of the brand strategy framework is when everything concentrates on the big idea, promises, and values that the brand is built around. We take the data from the Ignite phase and boil it down to the most basic wants and needs that your brand should fill. Then, we carefully determine how to creatively express those wants and needs in your brand’s written language and visuals.

The result is a beautiful, internal-facing document.

Now when anyone on your team asks “what is a branding strategy?” or “what is our brand strategy?”, you’ll be able to point them to a manifesto that lays out everything they need to know.

Put simply, the Distill phase gives your team all the tools they need to communicate your brand without a hitch.

Energize

Energize is when we start to really electrify your brand. It’s the part of the brand strategy framework where we start turning the spotlight on your new brand. In the Energize phase, we use the brand positioning document from the Distill phase to start building your visual identity and external messaging strategies.

It’s time to put together your brand identity, or how you look. This includes logo, color palette, stationary, and more. Your identity is the visual expression of your brand strategy.

Note that visuals come after the research and brand strategy phase, so how you look is supported by a larger framework.

In the Energize phase, we’re making visible changes that will resonate with your customers. And the power of visuals can’t be overly emphasized.

Visuals are one of the things we associate most with brands because our brains can process an image in as little as 13 milliseconds. That means that it takes 0.013 seconds for a customer to recognize a brand… or ignore it. The Energize phase crafts visuals that are striking, emotionally moving, and (most importantly) memorable.

Activate

The Activate phase closes one chapter and opens another. In the Activate phase, we’re done gathering data and compiling it into something that connects with your customers.

Now it’s time to put your brand out there.

What is a branding strategy if no one sees it? The Activate phase ensures your brand gets seen by your ideal audience. In this phase, we get your new brand out in the world– creating content, campaigns, events, and more.

The internal document we put together in the Distill phase and the visuals we created in the Energize phase come together to create stunning, seamless customer interaction. Your customers can see you anywhere and know exactly who you are and what you stand for.

Your potential customers might catch a glimpse of your logo driving by, see a targeted ad on social media, or visit you during an event. No matter how they find you, they are having the same experience– it’s all an extension of the larger brand strategy. They are able to form a connection with you because they know what you’re all about.

That sense of trust is the result of all the hard work in the last three stages of the brand strategy framework.

Activate is the stage where you get to put your brand out into the world. The success of this effort is largely based on how tight the strategy is. Without a clear strategic direction, you’re throwing spaghetti at the wall.

With a solid brand strategy, your campaigns can be laser-focused and crystal clear– so you can build recognition, loyalty, and equity.

What’s the goal of a brand marketing strategy?

If you’re familiar with the marketing world, you’re probably used to setting highly-measurable goals. Maybe you want to generate $100,000 in new business using paid ads. Perhaps you want to increase the re-purchasing rate by 20% using email newsletters.

Everything has a number tied to it.

This is one of the biggest differences between product marketing vs. brand marketing.

In brand marketing, you aren’t measuring something tangible, like 1,000 products sold by the end of the month. You’re measuring something intangible – the way your employees and customers feel about your company.

That isn’t to say that it’s impossible to measure the success of a brand marketing strategy. You’ll just use different metrics.

You’re trying to measure feeling, and that may show up in an immediate increase in sales, but keeping your eyes peeled can show all kinds of other success.

How does a branding strategy affect your customers? They’ll be seeing your company with new eyes.

With a successful brand strategy, they’ll see how their values align with yours. They’ll experience your brand DNA. They’ll want to stick with you for reasons beyond the product or service you’re selling. And doing business with you won’t be just a transaction– it will be an emotional relationship that reinforces an idea they have about themselves.

And what is a branding strategy in the eyes of your employees?

They’ll also be seeing your company with fresh eyes. Your employees will get a clearer picture of the purpose and vision. Their alignment with the company’s values, ideas, and goals will elevate their work. They won’t be doing “just a job” anymore. They’ll be working for something that they can believe in.

Showing your spirit

Ultimately, a brand shows your company’s spirit. This is why it’s so hard to pin down… and so important that you do so.

Humans are emotional beings. They make decisions based on what feels right and what resonates. Therefore, you need to leverage strong emotional branding. When you have a strong brand, you elevate the experience for everyone.

Your employees aren’t just punching in and out, they’re contributing to a greater whole.

Your customers aren’t just buying goods and services, they’re buying into a bigger emotional concept.

In conclusion, what is a branding strategy, then?

It’s the job of your brand strategy to figure out what that concept is. Then, a solid brand strategy will put structure all the necessary visual and written communication tactics to make that big idea clear to everyone.

Think of building your brand as you would building a house. Before you can have a beautiful house to entertain friends, you need a blueprint. You need a foundation. Without that, the house will fall. Brand strategy is the big idea and the plan to bring it to the world.

But you don’t have to do it alone. Flux is a top branding agency in Los Angeles – and we help people all over the country. Reach out to see how the IDEA framework can help your business and feel the difference a solid brand strategy can make.

Striking the right balance of product marketing vs. brand marketing can determine where your company’s money goes – and whether your customer’s attention follows.

But marketing is a many-legged beast. And when it comes specifically to product marketing vs. brand marketing, you might not know what part of that beast you’re looking at.

Is this a question of different kinds of marketing – like pre-launch and post-launch marketing? Are they different methods you take to reach the same result – like marketing frameworks? Is there any chance of getting a “two-for-one” where your brand marketing is your product marketing and vice versa?

In short… kind of, no, and no.

Product marketing and brand marketing are two different kinds of marketing you need in your business. They’re looking to accomplish different goals, and they’ll take different journeys to get there.

The one thing that product marketing and brand marketing have in common? Increased revenue for your business.

Product marketing vs. brand marketing – how can you tell which you need and when?

Occasionally, brand marketing and product marketing will cross paths, further muddling them together. So how do you know what’s what? More importantly, how do you know when you need a product marketing vs. a brand marketing campaign?

The truth is that you need both – consistently – to see the best growth.

It’s no secret that companies with a strong brand do well in any economic climate. The brand equity of your company essentially measures what working with your brand means to your customers. Companies with a high brand equity feast while companies with low brand equity often find themselves in seasons of famine.

So, if what you need to weather economic storms is a brand, where does product marketing fit?

What is product marketing?

The clearest distinguisher of product marketing vs. brand marketing is that product marketing is focused on one specific product or service. This means you can be running multiple product marketing campaigns at the same time, all with different offers.

Product marketing is going to be heavily benefits and features-based. You want to explain why the product itself is a cut above, what pain points it solves practically, and how it differs from similar products on the market.

In a single sentence, product marketing declares:

“This item/service serves this specific need, using these features.”

This is important. People need to know what your product is, how it works, and why it’s better than other offerings. However, the vast majority of people don’t make purchases solely on concrete information. Consumers use emotions (personal feelings and experiences), rather than just information (attributes, features, and facts) to guide their buying decisions.

What is brand marketing?

When you get into the “brand” side of product marketing vs. brand marketing, everything changes. Brand marketing is emotional and creative. It’s about communicating your brand to your customers– telling your story, your promises, and your feel. In brand marketing, you align your company with an emotional reward or a sense of belonging. By making a purchase, consumers buy into that feeling or vision, rather than just buying a good or service.

The result is a much higher level of satisfaction and loyalty.

Brand marketing is more emotionally-focused. You need to decide on every level which emotions are evoked by your brand experience. By successfully aligning with emotional motivators, you’ll be rewarded with enduring customer (and employee) loyalty and strong brand equity. Considering how your brand resonates emotionally is a critical part of any branding strategy framework or rebranding campaign.

It goes without saying that, in both product marketing and brand marketing, you’ll appeal to emotion a bit and appeal to logic a bit.

In brand marketing, though, emotions and the story you’re telling really take center stage. This is because you aren’t selling something tangible, like a bike or a beach-view suite. You’re selling the bridge between who someone is and who they want to be.

Brand marketing doesn’t sell just one of your products, it sells your whole company– including your vision, your purpose, and your vibe.

Why your company was founded, why they solve specific issues, who these issues speak to, what kind of people are in the group that works with the company – these are all questions that should be answered in your brand marketing.

In a single sentence, brand marketing says:

“Who we are as a company serves and connects this type of person because…”

Marketing vs. branding – who’s going to find you and how

What’s the difference between brand “marketing” vs. branding “normally”?

Branding is who you are. Marketing is the tactics used to get that message into the world.

Many companies focus on getting the word out, funneling all their resources into marketing. But that’s just not enough. If you don’t know what you’re saying, you’re just making a lot of noise. The current market (and the internet) is an infinity pool of options for today’s customers. And this means that they’re making choices with higher standards and a wider lens. A good product and good service are the status quo. People expect it, so that’s not what keeps them with a company.

What keeps them coming back is a feeling. A sense of belonging. An alignment with who they want to be.

People aren’t just buying things, they’re buying emotions.

People stay with a company when they feel that they align with the company’s ethics and values. And that’s what the brand is there for– to communicate those feelings succinctly and powerfully.

A brand’s equity is now directly tied to how quickly and accurately this message reaches consumers. For your brand equity to grow, you need to position your brand intentionally. Then, a stellar marketing team can take that to the world.

Zoom out for a clearer image of brand marketing

This is another place product marketing vs. brand marketing part ways. In brand marketing, you need to zoom out.

Your product is great.

You stand behind it; that’s great, too.

Now it’s time to look at the bigger picture.

The truth is, you can have a great product and absolutely no brand. Think generics of common household goods. They have a product but no brand. All the generics have going for them is a lower price point.

This attitude of “but the product is great!” can cause a business to fail.

One place you can see this over and over is “Shark Tank.” Many of the contestants have great ideas but get turned down for funding because they have no brand strategy. They’ve failed to understand product marketing vs brand marketing – and make a plan for both. There’s nothing stopping someone from copying the product and doing just as well – or even eclipsing them – in sales.

What makes a business stand apart and see explosive growth is branding.

Then, you’re no longer selling something that just anyone can make. You’re selling a sense of belonging, a feeling of buying into a bigger purpose or vision. Branding is how Kim Kardashian can sell everything from skincare to clothing… and still have her branded earbuds sell out in record time. People aren’t buying earbuds or lotion or curve-creating shapewear. They’re buying the chance to be part of Kim’s inner circle.

Have a clear perspective

You might think this is where the “product” side of product marketing vs. brand marketing comes in. Actually, you have to get specific with brand marketing, too.

When it comes to telling your story, there are many different ways to tell it. You can be light and funny. You can be established and serious. Or you can give someone just enough detail for them to have a sense of intrigue and mystery.

The same is true for branding. A company can be offering the same broad offering, but how they talk about it can be wildly different. Think hotel brands– Ritz Carlton, DoubleTree, and a boutique hotel all offer rooms to rent. But the way they’re positioned is distinct. One is the epitome of luxury, the other is a convenient and economic business traveler’s choice, and the third is a unique experience that you won’t find anywhere else.

Here at Flux, we differentiate brands through the use of brand archetypes. Ritz Carlton, DoubleTree, and boutique hotels all have different base personalities– or archetypes– that inform why their voice, visuals, and vibe are so varied.

You need to know your position in order to be successful in brand marketing. Your position is who you are and what feelings you evoke. It’s your perspective on the world. That’s really what you’re sharing through brand marketing efforts.

What brand marketing looks like to buyers

So what does product marketing vs. brand marketing look like to your buyers?

Think of hotel management and franchising. Each franchise has its own marketing. Each embodies its own local flavor and interprets the larger company culture in its unique way. But all of them have the same brand tying them together.

For example, DoubleTree Suites may change its interior design and layout to evoke a sense of adventure in the mountains or soothing relaxation in a beach location. But customers know they’ll always get a warm cookie and welcoming customer service to match – regardless of where they check-in.

That’s worth quite a lot in brand equity.

Here’s more food for thought: Customers have between five and twelve points of contact with your business before they buy. What happens if every one of those – or even some of them – are so different from each other that the customer is unsure whether it’s the same company?

The safe bet is that they won’t take intentional action next time. Being unsure of a brand leads to being unsure of the products, the quality, and the consistency.

To buyers, brand marketing is like going on a second date. They might like the first impression. But are you really always like that? Showing up for potential buyers clearly, consistently, and with no intention other than “getting to know you” is the mark of a successful brand marketing campaign.

Branding vs. marketing vs. advertising – where to begin?

The nuances of marketing can feel overwhelming to businesses. Like anything, the deeper you dive, the more complex things get.

On the surface, it might seem like branding vs. marketing vs. advertising are all the same. They’re not, but they all work together. Think of branding as the big idea, core messages, and core assets. Your brand doesn’t change often, because it’s the solid foundation you need to exist. It’s your identity.

Advertising is like the clothes you wear to express your identity– just like clothes, advertising is typically created for a limited time, targeted to specific occasions, and highlights a particular aspect.

Marketing is like the invitation you send to the party where you’ll show off your new outfit– it’s the tactics that are used to get the right eyes on your advertisements and your overall brand.

The truth is that each one is an art form– and they come together in something that might resemble a venn diagram. Each one has its own strengths and weaknesses, and it takes collaboration to make a beautiful, successful business.

So, where should you start?

We believe you should always start with a strong brand. Without a brand, you don’t know what you’re drawing people into. With a big marketing and advertising budget, you might get a lot of attention, but you won’t be able to retain it without a larger understanding of who you are and what you stand for.

And your advertising and marketing won’t really know who to target and how without a solid idea of what you’re all about. That always comes from the brand.

Whether you’re looking for a branding agency in Los Angeles or a branding agency across the world, know that you’re looking for an artist (and we’re actually all of the above!). You’re looking for someone who can elevate your brand in the minds of your customers from another name to an intimate connection.

Ready to start on your branding? Reach out to us, and we’ll help you untangle product marketing vs. brand marketing, strike the right balance between both, and elevate your brand equity.