Jeff Risley

Testing your brand strategy with your key stakeholders is an important idea. However, we would caution to not overly rely on this testing. Most stakeholders don't know how to react to you testing regime to be helpful. And often the target audiences can provide conflicting feedback. Just bear this in mind.

Your brand’s look and feel is what visually and emotionally differentiates you from everyone else. It is typically the last element we design because it brings all of the other brand elements together in a robust expression. Brand design typically includes but is not limited to: logo, colors, AI prompts, photo & video style, and fonts. It’s essential for brands to differentiate themselves visually and build equity in their brand through governance. Well maintained brands have a higher level of trust from customers and increase the company’s value.

Brand personality is a set of human characteristics that are attributed to a brand and make it more relatable to its stakeholders and customers. It’s often associated with one of 12 “archetypes.” Your brand’s tone of voice should match its personality. Just like you, your brand has a personality and should act and speak as such. It helps drive cohesion when marketing as well as increase memorability for your customers. Once you have developed your other elements like differentiators and mission, vision, values you will be armed with the data to make a decision of how your brand acts and the way it speaks.

These are the statements that tell your organization what you do and why you do it (Mission), where we are headed in the future (Vision) and how we were act or show up as you live your mission and accomplish your vision (Values). These elements are the bedrock of not only your brand but your organization - the brand + business balance. They are a unifying force that clearly tells every current and future stakeholder what you believe, how you work and where you’re going. Typically mission, vision and values come from input gathered from key leaders and from across your organization. It can be gathered in workshops, surveys or informal conversations.

Always work backwards from the buyer. That's my mantra when starting a brand strategy process. In addition to primary and secondary research, I would recommend always turning that research into persona maps. The psychographics of your buyer are as important as the demographics. Understanding all your stakeholders is critical for a solid brand strategy.