No matter what industry you are in, or the size of your company, if you want to be a successful business, then you need to have a strong brand.
Not only does it help you stand out from the competition, but successful branding also leads to enhanced customer loyalty and greater brand awareness. If you are looking to take your brand to the next level, read on for the top tips on coming up with the best brand strategy in Dubai.
Here are the five essential elements that you need to consider:
1. Your Mission and Values
Before you can formulate an effective brand strategy, you need to ascertain your company’s mission and values. After all, these are the core of your business and, therefore, should be at the forefront of any branding decision.?
Your mission is what you hope to accomplish, and your vision is where you envision yourself going in the future. Through the growth, your values represent what your company stands for. By opting to build your brand strategy around your core values, you can be assured that you are developing a business that you are proud of.
Your brand is more than merely the products or services that you sell; it is also what you stand for. Therefore, no matter how many times you change your marketing campaigns or other aspects of your products or content, your values must always remain the same.
If you are unsure of how to define your brand values, start by discovering what matters to you and your target customers. Your values are what differentiate you from your competition, and they influence how consumers view your brand.
2. Positioning
Once you know your brand intimately, it is time to start placing it within the current market. This element of brand positioning is where you ascertain where your brand fits in your industry and how you are going to make it stand out.
To effectively position your brand, you need to recognize how each of your competitors is positioning theirs. By comparing and contrasting your positioning, you will be better equipped to identify your uniqueness, thus formulating a distinct positioning idea.
Once you have determined your current brand positioning and competition, and you have conducted competitor research and ascertained what makes you unique, you then want to write a positioning statement. This is a two- or three-sentence declaration that sums up to customers your brand’s specific value compared to the competition.
When it comes to positioning your brand in the minds of your target consumers, it is crucial to establish an emotional connection with them and connect with them on a human level. Throughout your branding strategy, you must be continually reinforcing your brand’s differentiating qualities.
A clear brand positioning strategy is essential if you are going to make a statement, maintain your target market’s attention, and successfully increase brand awareness.
3. Design
Of course, no branding strategy is complete without artistic direction. For this reason, design is a significant element. Logo design is a substantial part of brand design, which is why you want to ensure you have the best minds in logo design Dubai working on your logo. There are also a few other essential design aspects to consider, such as the primary and secondary colors, typeface, image styles, and graphic elements.
Once you have designed a logo, chosen a color palette, and prepared the other design aspects, you then need to put them all together to see whether they work in harmony. In many cases, it takes a few rounds of variations before you can establish a design system that works for you and your brand.?
Usually, once a company has determined its visual material, it is then recommended that they create a style guide that includes the agency brand guidelines. This document compiles all the instructions for using the visual content in campaigns and other marketing strategies. It should also present examples of incorrect usage to avoid incorrect applications and inadequate visual performance. Generally, the style guide also covers the background story of the logo and any other relevant insights into the creation of the brand’s visual identity.
4. Cohesion
When it comes to branding strategy, you have to keep it all cohesive. In other words, every touch point that consumers interact with (website, magazine advert, social media platform, pop-up shop, etc.) should be consistent.
By prioritizing cohesive branding, you are ensuring that your brand is immediately recognizable and that consumers aren’t confused by mixed messages. For cohesion, fonts, graphics, colors, and tone of voice must be consistent across all your branding and marketing materials.
Cohesion is so essential for branding strategy because it helps you to make the right first impression. After all, you never know when an individual is first going to be introduced to your brand, so you want to have all possibilities covered. Moreover, by having a cohesive brand strategy, you are developing brand recognition and increasing brand trust ? both of which are crucial for developing your brand and for getting potential customers to do business with you.
5. Implementation
At the end of the day, even the most well-thought-out branding strategy is going to result in nothing if it isn’t implemented correctly. For this reason, while you are developing the strategy and all the elements that are involved in it, you always want to be thinking about how you are going to implement what you create.
One of the best ways to ensure that you actually implement your branding strategy is to set up a tracking system of the plan and the results. This will help keep you accountable and show you how the approach went in terms of objective measures, such as new leads and search traffic. By tracking the results, you will be better equipped for planning your next branding-related initiative.
What do you think are the most critical elements of a brand strategy? Do you have any additional factors to add to this list?
Let us know your thoughts and any branding-related experiences in the comments below!
AUTHOR BIO
Stuart Harris is the Creative Director at Yellow, a Dubai branding agency, digital partner and advertising company working with progressive businesses to build bold, meaningful brands.
As the editor of the blog, She curate insightful content that sparks curiosity and fosters learning. With a passion for storytelling and a keen eye for detail, she strive to bring diverse perspectives and engaging narratives to readers, ensuring every piece informs, inspires, and enriches.
