If we asked you to think of a skincare brand, there are two or three that would likely to spring to mind. Same with bottled water. Vacuums. Even payroll subscriptions.  

You might not be able to visualise their logos exactly, or remember their taglines. But you know how the brand makes you feel. You know which ones you’d be most inclined to reach for on the shop shelves, or search for on Google.  

This is because they’re clear about who they are and why they exist. And, it comes across in the way they show up in front of their audiences. That’s what strategic brand development is. 

What is strategic brand development? 

Strategic brand development is about defining your company’s North Star. It’s the process of pinning down who you are as a company, what you stand for, and how you’re different from the other products and services vying for your target audience’s attention. 

Your brand strategy needs some core elements. These are what keep you anchored whenever you need to make business decisions – from internal ones like ‘what employee perks do we offer?’ to external ones like ‘what products and services do we share with the world?’ 

• Values – What are the three key values driving your business?
• Vision – What is the long-term goal for the business?
• Mission – How are you going to achieve your vision?
• Proposition – What do you offer? Why do your audiences want this? Why are you the best choice over your competitors?
• Brand identity – What do you look and feel like?

You will likely need to refine these elements over time. Your vision might evolve as the world around you does. Or maybe you slide into a gap in the market that you hadn’t planned for, but which feels right. Your brand strategy can help you adapt and scale, while making sure you stay authentic at the same time. 

Next, consider reading: Why and how to invest in B2B branding 

Why is building a brand strategy important? 

Brand strategy isn’t a wishy-washy concept; it’s a key business driver, just like good financial planning. Ignoring it could even set you back financially, according to Kantar: 

“UK brands are leaving $10 billion of value on the table as a result of gaps in their brand building, and a reliance on short-term marketing tactics.” 

With a well-developed brand strategy setting the tone for everything your company does and says, you can:

Develop positive brand recognition. 

How your audiences perceive and speak about your brand means a lot. It’s what tells prospects, industry partners, investors, and future employees that you’re a company they can trust to deliver on their expectations. Your brand development strategy is your chance to figure out how you want to be known, so you can take the steps to make that happen. 

Stand out from competitors.

Unless you have a very niche product or service, you’re unlikely to be offering something completely new. What might be new to audiences is the values and vision that drives you. Pinning down your unique brand identity will help you to convey these across your marketing efforts and audience interactions authentically, so that you don’t fall back into just doing what everyone else does.  

Resonate with customers. 

Building a strong connection with your audiences can pay dividends. It can help you build a loyal customer base with a high lifetime value, for instance, or retain your best employees in the long term. You’ll need to create a consistent brand experience across every touchpoint to achieve this, which your strategy will lay the foundations for.  

Align your team on key decisions. 

A strong brand identity should be felt inside the house, too. After all, there’s little point in telling the world that you’re a sustainably driven brand if your senior leadership team regularly flies internationally. This misalignment won’t only look inauthentic to your customers – it also won’t cultivate the employee culture needed to keep driving brand growth. 

You might enjoy: The advantages of effective brand and design 

What is B2B branding? 

Terms like ‘branding’ are often confused with things like ‘graphic design’. And while creating an authentic and aligned visual identity is a key part of the process, B2B branding refers to a whole lot more.  

B2B branding is the process of consistently applying your brand strategy when making internal and external-facing decisions, so that you can: 

• Communicate your company’s internal truth  

• Carve out space in your target market  

• Resonate with your key audiences 

• Achieve your long-term vision 

Long-term B2B branding also requires a marketing strategy and activity plan. After creating your brand, you need to bring it to life by marketing yourself consistently – whether that’s by building a social media presence, producing out-of-home advertising campaigns, or creating investor pitch decks.  

How do brand and marketing strategies work together? 

If your brand strategy – your who and why – is your North Star, then your marketing strategy is the compass you use to reach it. It’s how you communicate the bigger picture of your brand to meet your long-term goals. This means determining things like your company’s messaging (how you speak), your content strategy (what you say), and how you’ll track your results. 

You can learn more about what strategic marketing actually entails – with real-world examples from brands we’ve supported – in What strategic marketing for tech and science leaders looks like. 

What’s clear is that brand and marketing strategies need to align for the best results. Think of a brand like Monzo, which aims to make money work for everyone. A core part of this is marketing a very human brand – one that doesn’t use financial jargon, and which uses people-centred videos to normalise money conversations across social media.

Or consider Who Gives A Crap. The brand doesn’t just say that it wants to give people access to clean water and toilets. It lives and breathes it, donating 50% of profits to people in need and spotlighting its impact partners. 

(You can read more about why Who Gives A Crap’s marketing works so well in 5 tech brands doing sustainability marketing, perfectly.)

These brands work because they don’t rely on component parts, like a clever logo or their ability to jump on the latest TikTok trend. Everything about the way they show up visually and verbally ties back to who they are, the values they stand for, and the goals they’re trying to achieve.

Start building your brand strategy in 4 steps

Your mind is probably already whirring with ideas around your brand and why it exists. To help you start putting them to paper, we’ve written another blog with four strategies for developing your brand. It’ll help you pin down your values, vision and mission statements, and get started on evolving your brand identity.

Check it out here: 4 brand development strategies [with real examples]