INSIGHT PAUL REES ASSOCIATES HOW TO BUILD A BRAND
TACTICS FOLLOW STRATEGY
In my first article in March, I highlighted the importance of building a brand, and my second article in April covered customer targeting, the first key strategic step in developing a strong brand. In May’s edition, I discussed brand positioning, and last month, the focus was on brand identity. In this fifth and final article within the theme of how to develop a strong brand, I’ll be highlighting the importance of brand communications.
As outlined in my previous articles, when embarking on the process of developing a strong brand, it’s key to first shape your brand strategy, in particular, defining your customer target(s), then develop your brand positioning, create a strong brand identity, and clearly articulate your objectives.
Once you have your strategy right, the appropriate tactics can be identified. All too often, when I speak with small to medium-sized businesses, there’s a tendency to jump straight into tactics without first developing a strategy.
Strategy before tactics is rather like planning a road trip across the country. Your ultimate destination is the strategy, a clear vision of where you want to end up. Before you start driving, you look at maps, consider different routes, identify places to stop for fuel and food, and decide on the best path to take. Tis planning ensures that you know where you're going and how you'll get there most efficiently.
On the other hand, the tactics are the individual driving decisions you make along the way: when to take a rest stop, which lane to drive in, and how to navigate traffic. Tese decisions are important and necessary, but without the overall plan, you might end up driving in circles or taking inefficient detours, wasting time and resources.
THE IMPORTANCE OF BRAND COMMUNICATIONS
Brand communications are a key element of your tactics. Tey are the vehicle through which tactical actions are executed and brought to life and translate strategic goals into specific, actionable messages that drive customer engagement, influence behaviour, and achieve business objectives.
Without effective brand communications, even the best strategic plans and tactical efforts can fall flat, failing to connect with the target audience and achieve desired outcomes.
Many businesses that I speak with want to discuss lead generation. Tis is understandable: growing businesses need a healthy pipeline of good opportunities. However, it’s key for any business to consider brand building activities alongside shorter-term sales-driving tactics.
Paul Rees Founder Paul Rees Associates
Paul Rees is a marketing consultant with 20+ years' experience in successfully driving brand and revenue growth across a range of sectors including Betting & Gaming, Retail, and Consumer Goods, for companies such as SIS, Argos, Coca-Cola, Nestle, and Campbells.
Paul works with SMEs who have ambitious growth plans but require senior marketing expertise to help develop a strong brand and an effective marketing approach. Paul helps businesses by utilising best practice brand and marketing planning processes, as well as lead generation to help drive company growth.
WHY FOCUS ON BRAND AWARENESS AS WELL AS LEAD GENERATION?
Marketers sometimes refer to brand building and lead generation as the ‘long’ and ‘short’ of marketing, a reference to an influential study published by the IPA (Te Institute of Practitioners in Advertising) some years ago.
But what do they mean by ‘long’ and ‘short’ in this context? Put simply, brand building drives long-term growth, and lead generation drives short-term revenue. Te two activities also impact one another. Over time, investing in brand awareness makes lead generation easier, cheaper, and more efficient. Te ‘long’ drives down the cost of the ‘short’.
Te reason for this is common sense. When we decide to buy something, we tend to prioritise brands we’ve heard of before. We also treat brands we’ve never heard of with a degree of suspicion. After all, if they were that good, surely we’d have heard of them?
Many businesses that I speak with want to discuss lead generation. This is
understandable: growing businesses need a healthy pipeline of good opportunities. However, it’s key for any business to consider brand building activities alongside shorter-term sales-driving tactics. Building a brand with high levels of trust and awareness can positively impact everything from sales close rates to exit values.
Building a brand with high levels of trust and awareness can positively impact everything from sales close rates to exit values.
Beyond your brand identity, i.e., your values, personality, tone of voice, and visual elements such as logo, colours, etc., your brand is your reputation. It’s the culmination of everything your target market thinks and feels about your business—whether good or bad.
Brand building through communications is about shaping and amplifying the perception of your business in a way that benefits your company and ultimately impacts your bottom line.
HOW YOUR BRAND STRATEGY HELPS TO INFORM YOUR COMMUNICATIONS
As referenced in my May article on brand identity (a key element of your strategy), your brand personality helps to shape all your brand communications. Within my brand workshops with clients, I work with them to define their brand personality by choosing three magic words. For example, Red Bull’s magic words would be Daring, Spirited, and Imaginative.
Your brand voice is how your personality is communicated verbally. It includes the tone, language, and rhythm of your written and spoken communications. Tis voice should consistently reflect your chosen personality traits across all platforms, from advertising and web content to social media and customer service.
Typically, your brand personality influences the three Pillars of Communication, namely: Messages (emotion), Look (visual identity), and Sound (tone). When developing brand communications, it’s beneficial to create messages that connect with your customers’ emotions.
BENEFITS OF BRAND COMMUNICATIONS THAT CONNECT WITH CUSTOMERS' EMOTIONS
Research shows that emotions significantly influence purchasing decisions. Customers are often driven by how they feel about a brand rather than just the logical aspects of the product. By tapping into emotions, brands can drive purchasing behaviours more effectively than through rational appeals alone.
Before developing brand communications, it’s beneficial to first define what your ‘brand stand’
WIRE / PULSE / INSIGHT / REPORTS P43
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