Over the weekend we went to Cragside – a national trust property in Northumberland – and had a great time walking up to the house, walking around the house and playing in the playpark. Cragside is the first home in the world to be lit by hydroelectricity and is full of impressive “firsts” to make life more like it is today for the people who lived there – and includes a Turkish Bath Suite which has a plunge bath. My daughter managed to drop Cathy, her teddy bear in the plunge bath.. and so I am going to use this story to explain brand strategy to you!
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There are four main parts to creating a brand strategy:
ONE – get to grips with the purpose.
WHY do you need to have a new or revised brand? It could be that your market has changed or that your message is different. Sometimes it can take a while to get clear on what it is that you are trying to tell people.What IS IT that’s important about what you do? Maybe you know that you need to be reaching out to Mums instead of Parents or perhaps you have discovered something about your business that is SO exciting that you need to share it in a clearer and maybe more direct way? Define what the purpose is and determine your desired outcome so that you know what you’re aiming for. Perhaps you want to feel more confident about your business when you’re telling people about it and you know it looks rubbish. Or perhaps you know that how your business looks doesn’t inspire confidence in others and you need your audience to see you as a professional business that they can take seriously so that they will trust you with their money, their kids, their time – whatever it is. Maybe you know that there are approximately 1 million other people doing what you do (or it feels like it) and you need to stand out from aaaalllll of them so that you will be the one who is seen as the best.
So my purpose was to rescue the bear so that my daughter wouldn’t be upset anymore.
TWO – Know your customer.
Spend some time working out who your ideal client is – who you want to work with, what would make them want to work with you – what’s the thing that’s preventing them from sleeping that you can solve? How can what you do help them, improve their lives and give them more happiness? What makes your ideal client tick? What are they interested in? How can you get inside their mind?
My customer in this situation was my daughter. I know her pretty well. This required fast action – she was crying – I didn’t want to leave Cathy in the bath while I went off to seek permission and I knew that she would end up in more of a state AND my friend was currently watching over my kids as well as her kids – and my smallest one is a runner. There wasn’t time to phaff about.
THREE – plan.
Decide what it is that you need to do to help you reach your ideal client and help them to connect with you. Connection is really important because if they feel a connection with you then they are more likely to purchase from you. “Fully connected customers are 52% more valuable, on average, than those who are just highly satisfied.” – so making that connection can make a huge difference to your income. (source) so create a plan to develop a brand identity which creates connection and then go further by thinking about how you can increase connection in all areas of your business. How you can go further, do better, reply faster, how you can help your customers to feel really special?
The plan for the rescue operation was easy. I knew where I needed to be, and I knew how to get there (although I wasn’t sure how I was going to get out! It’s a deep bath) and I knew that I should take my wellies off as it’s an old bath and I didn’t want to damage it or get it dirty.
FOUR – Do it.
That’s the easy part right? Maybe not – but if you have a plan then you can break it down into chunks, outsource some of it, do the required research and set deadlines so that you can make it all happen.
So I got in the bath. I rescued the bear and I was a hero!
Rescuing a bear from a plunge bath is certainly easier than creating a brand strategy, but creating a brand strategy is a lot less traumatic and the results are worth the effort. That thing you identified when you thought of the purpose will happen and you will have a better business and make more money as a result.
Amy Purdie is the founder of Whiteacres (where you are now) she can help your business become irresistible to your ideal clients so that they can’t wait to work with you.
Amy has been enjoying designing logos, brand identities, illustration, print work and websites – since 2007 fuelled mainly by tea and chocolate.