How To Be A No BS Branding Strategy Expert
It’s clear you’re a brand strategy expert - why else would you be a branding agency owner, right?
But seriously, even though you’ve put in your 10,000+h to develop your unique branding skills, becoming masterful at branding and developing top-notch branding projects is a lifelong endeavor.
Here, I’m going to dive into what that really means, and how you can incorporate that into each new project you take on.
Brand strategy - what it means to be a master
Bottom line - branding strategy is simply making a plan to get your client from where they are right now, to where they want to, using branding as the tool.
And it might be something that’s so obvious to you, that you do it without thinking.
But haven’t there been times when you start a client project, and despite all the prep you’ve done, with and without the client, you still sit there scratching your head, staring at a blank Illustrator screen, second guessing yourself?
It’s at this point that you could do one of two things.
You could either take a previous project you did for another client, make a few tweaks and then present the finished product.
Nothing wrong with that, and in a pinch, it’s useful.
In fact, drawing on what has proven to work successfully in the past is a great tool branding experts can use.
However, I sense that your creative brain (and soul) won’t be satisfied with that, and you shouldn’t be!
Pushing your boundaries, living on the cutting edge of branding and design is where you’re probably most fulfilled, and translating that into a client’s vision and goals is your sweet spot.
So, if you’ve decided not to use a tried and tested shortcut, and you want create something truly extraordinary, here’s some things to try:
Stay curious: Above and beyond the detailed onboarding process with your client, where you’ve got to learn everything about their business, their brand, their aspirations, their frustrations, you want to ask yourself another set of questions. Take the view that you’re an outsider - you could be someone in your client’s target market, who they want to attract as a lead or close a sale with.
What questions come up for you that would need to be answered, before you were to build any kind of business relationship? What would you love to see on their website? What would turn you off? What would have you choose your client over someone else in the market?
It’s this perspective that is priceless for your creativity and also for your client. It’s next to impossible that they ask themselves these questions - that’s why they hired you, whether they realize it or not.
So it’s up to you to put on that lens, and metaphorically walk around the problem, from all sides, and see what jumps out.Trial & error: Embrace failure as part of the process - even it’s a tricky one to swallow. It’s really counterintuitive when you've got a client who has paid you top dollar to deliver an amazing branding project.
Do the words ‘failure is not an option’ ring in your ears?
So here’s where I want to reassure you that it’s OK to fail, even if you’ve got a high-paying client. Remember that when the client hires you, there’s obviously an expectation that you deliver a high-quality piece of work. However, there’s no GUARANTEE of any specific result (and if you’re offering one, you should stop right now).
You’re always going to give your best effort, and your best effort is going to be way above your client’s (otherwise they wouldn’t need to hire you).
And sometimes, with all your best efforts, things just bomb.The server for your client’s website goes down.
They don’t get the traction on social media with the new memes and captions they had expected.
The new logo gets copied by your client’s competitor.
Or something else outside your control.
All there is to do here is fix what you know you can, within what you’ve offered your client, learn from it, put new systems in place where you can, and move on.And each time you do that, without any blame or judgment as to ‘why you didn’t catch it sooner’, the easier it will be to foresee any future challenges and problems, and fix them.
Evolving techniques: Keep up with what’s happening right now. With all the different ways you can do this, from blogs to micro content on social media there’s really no reason not to know what’s working now.
Your expertise comes from being able to translate that to something that works for the client - like taking those wild runway looks and making them accessible to the average Macy’s shopper.
Hanging out with fellow branding agency owners is a great way to stay current too. That’s one of the things I love about the No BS Agency Mastery Program - our students come together and collaborate on really cool projects, and there’s always lively discussions about what’s happening in branding and design on our Circle platform.
Personal v. Business branding 2.0
A lot has been written (and continues to be written) about personal and business brands, especially for entrepreneurs and agency owners.
Which one do you need? Should they be the same, or completely separate?
And what about your clients? Should they have a personal brand, a business brand, or both?
Here’s my take on this whole thing.
It really depends on your long-term goal - for you or for your client.
Is your goal to build a multi-million dollar empire that stretches across multiple locations? Or even to get to high 6- or low 7-figures, but ensure that you’re known across the industry?
Those are some good cases for going all in on a business brand, because the likelihood is that you’ll want your business to continue without you. Apart from maintaining a good personal reputation online, and having a welcoming presence on your website, you don’t need to put much more effort than that into your personal brand.
Now, what if you want to be the face of your agency, and have other interests that you’re known for, outside of your branding agency? Maybe you love to share about your love of cooking, or making art?
A personal brand is great here - people connect with you first, and then they get to know all the things you do - your business, your hobbies, even your family, if that’s something you really love to share about.
Customizing brand strategy for clients
Throughout your branding career, you’ll find that you play with the key elements of branding strategy to suit the project right in front of you.
Things haven’t really changed much from the fundamentals, but there’s some smart ways to tweak them to get the best results for your client.
First, let’s get a quick refresher:
Your mission is to develop your client’s unique brand positioning in their markets, so they’re the go-to solution to the problem they solve.
There’s 7 fundamentals that make up a brand strategy:
Mission Statement - why your company exists
Vision Statement - where you seen your company in the long-term, and what you aspire to
Core Values - a.k.a. how we do things around here
Target Audience - all those things that tell you who exactly you’re serving with your products and services
Differentiators, Competitive Advantages, Unique Selling Propositions (USPs) - all the things that set you apart from everyone else who claims to do what you do
Brand Voice and Tone - how you communicate everything - written, spoken, visual that matches how you want to show up in your market
Visual Identity - everything you want people to see about your company, from the colors and fonts, to the images you use
All of these can be compiled in a Brand Guidelines document - it’s something that you might help your client set up, as part of the project.
(And if you don’t have one yet for your agency, you might want to get on that too!)
When I’m working with my clients, to create a custom branding strategy, I use a blended approach that takes the 7 fundamentals, and tailors each step to their needs.
There’s a reassuring certainty to having a structure - it saves you time so you don’t have to go back to the drawing board with each new client, and deliver high quality work quickly, but still leaves enough room that you can bring your creative flair each time.
I go way more in-depth into my repeatable processes with clients that I teach my students, but if you’re new to this way of creating brand strategy, try it with your next client, and see how it makes a difference.
Here’s what you need to get…
Being a branding expert is an ongoing thing - each project and client teaches us more about how to refine our craft and become a master.
Ensuring that each client’s brand strategy is robust, and that their brand stands out, is a combination of our artistic senses and strategic thinking. Getting the perfect blend of both means taking risks that may not always pay off, but will always elevate your skills and effectiveness with each new project.
P.S. You can always jump on a call with my team if you want to learn how to master branding strategy that is highly creative, and highly effective, as well as all my other tools and strategies to scale up your agency - just go here to get started!