{"id":4022,"date":"2022-01-18T21:37:04","date_gmt":"2022-01-18T21:37:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/01\/18\/brand-strategy-vs-marketing-strategy-how-they-work-together\/"},"modified":"2022-01-18T21:37:04","modified_gmt":"2022-01-18T21:37:04","slug":"brand-strategy-vs-marketing-strategy-how-they-work-together","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/01\/18\/brand-strategy-vs-marketing-strategy-how-they-work-together\/","title":{"rendered":"Brand Strategy vs. Marketing Strategy: How They Work Together"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Humans love shortcuts to decision-making. Brands do that.\u00a0<\/p>\n

More than three-quarters of consumers<\/a> (76%) say they would buy from a brand they feel connected to over a competitor.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Building that connection with customers requires a clear brand strategy to define why you exist and a solid marketing strategy to communicate that purpose with your customers.<\/p>\n

In this article, you\u2019ll learn how to design a successful brand marketing<\/a> campaign that expresses your brand\u2019s core values, create content your customers crave, and ensure your entire brand ecosystem is designed to support customer loyalty.<\/p>\n

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Understanding brand strategy vs. marketing strategy<\/h2>\n

Your business<\/em><\/strong> strategy<\/strong> is the roadmap that details your business goals and the actions you will\u2014and will not\u2014take to reach those goals. It sets your priorities and guides all decision-making across the business.<\/p>\n

For example, at global employment platform Indeed<\/a>, one of their values is \u201cJob seeker first.\u201d This means that every job matters, even if they don\u2019t make money from it. It also means that they\u2019ll seek out and post every job they can find because that\u2019s what is best for the job seeker.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Indeed\u2019s values drive the business, not the other way around. If it were, they would only seek out the most lucrative positions for the highest commission.<\/p>\n

Sticking to their values has helped them attract over 250 million job seekers every month. Employers recognize this too, so many of them make sure to post their jobs with Indeed.<\/p>\n

A clearly defined business strategy allows you to set your brand strategy. Your marketing strategy is what amplifies that brand.<\/p>\n

Brand strategy: Defining why you existing in the world<\/h3>\n

Your brand is how the world sees your business. It\u2019s your reputation and ultimate differentiating factor. Getting your brand strategy<\/strong> right is critical to gaining and keeping customer attention.<\/p>\n

The most important part of brand strategy<\/a> is to define what your brand stands for: your purpose, core values, and brand positioning. Defining this helps people understand what you do and creates those shortcuts when it comes time to make a decision.<\/p>\n

Brand also helps customers understand themselves and gives them a way to self-identify. Customers like to buy from brands that represent their ideal selves<\/a>. This is called self-congruity, and it helps customers build strong emotional connections to brands that help them reflect the person they wish to be.<\/p>\n

You can encourage these connections by shaping your brand purpose and values around your customers\u2019 desired personality and lifestyle.<\/p>\n

If you have a global brand, this might mean different things in different markets. Your brand might need to shape its strategy to be relevant depending on where you\u2019re marketing.<\/p>\n

Indeed\u2019s German branch was struggling to close sales because they had no awareness in that market<\/a>. After running a culturally relevant marketing campaign, Indeed rose to number one in traffic and sales in Germany.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Indeed\u2019s CMO Paul D\u2019Arcy says their priority is brand awareness and reducing friction:<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe number one thing we\u2019re doing is making sure that that product is everywhere and a click away when people are looking for a job or looking to hire.\u201d [via The Drum<\/a>]\n<\/blockquote>\n

Brand focuses on the big picture\u2014the story you tell to your customers to show how you understand them and their pain points. Deciding on this starts with your \u201cwhy,\u201d which we\u2019ll cover in a moment.<\/p>\n

Brand strategy isn\u2019t just for marketers and their campaigns. It supports long-term company growth by helping every department, from sales to product and customer success, align on the company\u2019s priorities.<\/p>\n

Marketing strategy and marketing plan: Reaching and attracting customers<\/h3>\n

Your marketing strategy<\/a> is a function of your brand strategy. Brand sets the long-term direction, and marketing outlines the shorter-term actions (which tactics you will use to communicate key messages with your customers).\u00a0<\/p>\n

Marketing initiatives include campaigns, content, PR, and interactions with your target audience or customer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Your organization may require multiple marketing plans at once, with each aimed at reaching different personas<\/a> within your audience or working in service of different products and services.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The brand strategy has some roots. Once you decide your brand strategy, you should stay the course to build brand equity<\/a>. (However, don\u2019t be afraid to pivot when change is needed.)<\/p>\n

The marketing strategy is continuously in flux.<\/p>\n

You might update your marketing strategy in response to campaign performance, customer needs, external trends and events, budgets, and even competitors\u2019 tactics.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Take one of the biggest events that many brands have faced yet, the COVID-19 pandemic. Most brands had to immediately pivot their marketing strategy to stay relevant to their customers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Their brand values, purpose, and mission remained, but several marketing campaigns were dropped for new ones.<\/p>\n

Ads began to feature people in masks, on video calls with family and friends, and staying at home.<\/p>\n

Like Yellow\u2019s \u201cRobyn\u2019s Undies\u201d campaign featuring a new business owner and her husband working out of their home:<\/p>\n

Branding and marketing overlap slightly in the visual expression of your brand. Your brand strategy should set your brand\u2019s visual identity<\/a>, and your marketing strategy should incorporate that brand identity into your campaigns.<\/p>\n

How business, brand, and marketing strategy work together<\/h3>\n

Effective integration of these three strategies requires that each informs the others in a top-down fashion: business strategy first, then brand, then marketing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Brand strategy cannot effectively communicate a brand with a muddled business strategy, the same way a marketing plan is useless without a brand strategy to set its direction.\u00a0<\/p>\n

All three strategies rely on a deep understanding of the customer and a clear vision of the organization\u2019s purpose. Build customer research into each<\/a> and ensure your marketing activities speak to what customers actually need.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Use marketing as the vehicle to communicate your brand<\/h2>\n

Most business buyers (95%) are not currently in the market to buy, according to research from the B2B Institute and Professor John Dawes<\/a> of the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute.<\/p>\n

With such a small cohort of possible buyers at any given time, messages that only aim to move customers closer to purchase fall flat, or worse, overwhelm and annoy potential customers, who are exposed to thousands of ads per day<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Targeting exists to help you reach the buyers who are<\/em> in-market right now. But those buyers are unlikely to consider your brand if they are unfamiliar with it.<\/p>\n

To get their attention, pay attention to the details. Use market research<\/a>, owned data, industry reports, and market trends to identify what it is that your customers truly value in your brand.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Build your brand from the inside out to ensure it\u2019s consistently delivered everywhere your customer comes into contact with your company.<\/p>\n

Every touchpoint is an opportunity to build or subtract brand equity from your brand<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Create a touchpoint map to find out where these places are. These outline every interaction a customer might have with your brand along their journey.<\/p>\n

Invite team members to brainstorm and document touchpoints with you. Then focus on the touchpoints where your brand needs work to fit that consistent brand image.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t overcomplicate things with new touchpoints\u2014strategically add brand value to the ones that need it, instead.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Marketers should focus on becoming and remaining the top-of-mind option for customers when they are<\/em> ready to buy, rather than wasting energy and resources trying to convince out-of-market buyers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This requires a shift from marketing designed for short-term gratification to marketing that takes a long-term view. Marketers must adjust their expectations and metrics with expanded brand tracking<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A focus on brand awareness<\/a> and brand lift, while harder to measure with numbers and revenue, contributes to overall growth by widening your customer base and deepening your relationship with them.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not to say we should all abandon performance marketing altogether. Instead, we must challenge performance and brand marketers to work together<\/a> to drive business growth.<\/p>\n

The 3 components of a brand marketing strategy<\/h2>\n

By setting a strong brand strategy, you\u2019ve already done the hard work to define your brand\u2019s story. That strategy and story serve as the backbone of a successful brand marketing campaign<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Stay relevant with your customer using the right channels and tactics to deliver on the promises outlined in your brand strategy.<\/p>\n

In practice, this requires marketers to:\u00a0<\/p>\n