Branding Strategy
We develop your branding strategy by remaining loyal to your core values and promoting your attributes
​
A solid branding strategy is essential, since it will position your company according to your capabilities and expectations and communicate your brand by making it trustworthy and appealing to your target audience. Your brand has to make a promise that can be fulfilled, speak a language that will be understood by your current and potential customers, and carry a look and feel that will engage them in order to become your brand ambassadors.
We develop your branding strategy by conducting extensive research and mapping of your operations, while remaining loyal to your core values and promoting your attributes.
​
The phases of a branding strategy
There are five phases in developing a branding strategy with several steps in each phase depending on the size and complexity of each company and its operations. Although the phases are common for all projects, the procedure, tools and actions should be tailored to your organization and your needs.
​
Brand Research
In order to develop any strategy, you need detailed information and up to date data that will enable you to base your decisions upon. Your strategy is as good as the research elements that you will use, therefore the correct data collection along with the inside information provided by the company is of utmost importance in a branding or rebranding project.
The brand research is the most critical phase since the entire project will be based on it. The perception people have about the current status of the company both internally and externally is one of the most important elements in any branding or rebranding project. Therefore, it is vital to get their opinion and understanding what they think of the company and why. We conduct the brand research by using several tools, which are different for the internal and external environment.
Internally, it is surprisingly interesting to find out the significantly different view the owners and stakeholders often have, compared to employees from different levels. Externally, the priority is of course customer’s opinion about the company but we should never neglect the view of both competitors and vendors. Accurate data lead to the development of successful branding strategies.
In the brand research phase, we follow several steps depending on the size, industry and complexity of each company:
Brand mapping
Competitive analysis
Current mission and vision
Values and attributes
Overall business strategy
Situation analysis
Offered products and services
SWOT analysis
Market research
Customer interviews and testimonials
Vendors and competitors research
Brand audit
​
Brand Definition
After accessing all data and operations of your company we define what the brand should stand for in order to be successful in achieving the company's goals. The most important step of defining the brand, is the positioning by taking into consideration what you offer and to whom you are offering your products and services.
At this stage we define what the brand stands for, what are the core values we share, which is our promise and our fundamental attributes. We humanize the brand and create an actual personality deriving from all those elements.
​In the brand definition phase, we develop the most important elements of your brand:
​Brand positioning
Brand benefits
Brand purpose
Brand promise
The mission and vision of your brand
Your brand's core values and fundamental attributes
Brand personality
Brand architecture
Audience personas
Content strategy
Naming
Taglines
​
Brand Development
The brand development stage is the most creative of them all since the we use all elements created in the brand definition phase in order to develop all your brand's aspects and means for interacting with the market.
​The personality developed in the previous step has to have a certain look in order to communicate the brand's elements. The visual identity which consists of all your visual elements such as the logo, colors, imagery etc. along with their usage is one of the first things we develop. The correct usage and the positioning of them on the company's website or a brochure is part of the visual experience of the brand so it's very important to use them properly in order to deliver the right message to the right audience.
The tone of voice is another important element of the brand development stage. By tone of voice we describe the vocal and written way the brand will communicate all its messages. From a product brochure to the annual report, a video on your YouTube channel and the speech of the CEO, your brand has to be consistent.
​
The following deliverables are the minimum for a comprehensive branding project:
​
Brand guidelines
​Logos
Color palettes
Tone of voice
Typography
Iconography
Illustration
Identity suites
​
Brand Implementation
Putting your strategy into action by implement all branding elements across all available channels.
​
In this stage ​we see everything getting together and form the bigger picture that we want to achieve. We put the branding strategy into action by implement all branding elements across all available channels and touchpoints. All print and digital applications have to be aligned according to the new branding guidelines and upon completing the process we communicate through public relations, social media, advertising, campaigns etc. the new brand to the public.
The steps and touchpoints we deliver for the implementation stage:
​
Brand rollout
Brand trainings
Website
Digital branding
Copywriting
Photography
Videography
Motion graphics
Signage
Packaging
Collateral
Stationery
Vehicles
​
Brand Impact
Any strategy is useless if you cannot measure its impact and be able to evaluate your actions and take corrective measures.
​
No strategy can be considered successful if you cannot measure its impact. After the implementation stage, it is vital to review our strategy and start managing the brand. In this phase we use brand metrics to measure the impact the brand has achieved both internally and externally by using several means and mainly extensive research.
​
We constantly review and assess each individual part of the branding strategy for evaluation purposes and take the necessary actions or corrective measures if necessary. We perform constant brand audits in order to examine brand alignment issues. Marketing tools provide several indicators for measuring the performance of each action. This enables us to have absolute control on our decisions to further invest in a specific tool or sift resources in order to maximize the ROI.
​
This phase is actually a continuous process in order to keep your brand current and active, which includes:
​
Brand management
Brand handling
Brand metrics
Brand audits