What are some ways to incorporate strategic thinking into your organization's brand messaging?

Strategic thinking is at the heart of powerful winning brand messaging. It is not only about company vision, mission and goals but it is also and more importantly in communicating the value to consumer that the company wants to deliver. To communicate this value and make sure it is well perceived by customers (and that they can take action - e.g. purchase) you need to: - get clear customers insight in what they need at tangible and / or intangible level - mirror that with a winning value proposition, then define the benefits and reasons to believe - work on a creative proposal - test this proposal to make sure it is correctly perceived and get necessary amends

Maybe “What if…” scenarios/stories…try bringing this thought process into the mind of your audience to fire imagination and inspire a “how” response in defense of the dream you inspire with the prompt, “What if”, Interactive works, yet it needn’t be clicking links or exchanging words, it may simply manifest via inciting an emotive response tying what you seek to achieve with each individual audience members’ life experience.

Compelling brands connect with their audience emotionally. They have a clear personality that conveys values and mission that resonates strongly with their audience. Strategic thinking is critical to keep messages on brand for the target audience, especially in times of crisis or when expanding into new areas. A clear brand helps guide strategic decision making by answering questions like: What would the brand do in this situation and why? What does the target audience value and why? What objectives align with brand values?

Brand strategy is a vital component of business and organization, there are a few ways to incorporate strategic thinking into brand strategy and message. Spend time to research, analyze, and obtain business and market insights, as well as understanding client needs, in order to build a strategic vision and strategic thinking. It is essential the organization's mission, vision, and values as you get more knowledge about your business, products and services, and value proposition to give value to customers, communicate in an effective and consistent manner through different channels.

From experience, the simplicity and clear messaging including sustainable approach to Strategic branding is key. Of course, research trends, data analytics in line with the vision and mission must align to providing a solution for the market the business is servicing/ demographic are all important. But most impressive to see, is the culture of the business through its people lead by transformative leaders that carry the brand in their daily grind. Publicly it is recognised and is alive turning a thought process to a tangible experience. Makes it a brand to remember.

Most companies have a rich direct source of data that should be considered in their strategic branding process - that is the data which they are collecting every day about their customers. New GEN AI technologies are allowing for unprecedented opportunities to collect real time, actionable data. Today's savvy brand managers will want to take advantage of these new tools to truly understand customer behavior and see how it aligns with the expectations for the brand, and where opportunities lie to improve brand perception, loyalty and preference.

There are many ways to engage in strategic storytelling, but the first thing to determine is what type of story you're going to tell, for example, your origin story, your purpose story, or your customer story. If you're brand new, I suggest starting with your customer story. Let them know you understand their pain points and/or desires, their fears, frustrations, and challenges, and how your product/service is going to address these. I've also seen origin stories be successful for new companies if there's a particularly compelling narrative, such as the founder being a customer who couldn't find a solution in the market to their problem. No matter what type of story you're telling, keep going back to your why over and over again.

The same core objective can (and should) be delivered with slight nuances in order to resonate best with the intended audience via that specific channel.

Expanding on the last point here, creating a strategic brand planning document is an essential exercise. You'll want to make sure that everyone in the organization aligns with the strategic brand "bible." And, it will give everyone an opportunity to think about how their role fits into the brand strategy and how to measure success/failure. This plan should be regularly reviewed and updated over time to keep the plan fresh.

It’s important for branding to be as authentic , relevant and realistic to the customer and to what “character of the business upholds, especially the people that represent it”. Keeping it simple and sustainable is key. Strategic thinking, is very important to achieving the vision in line with the mission, but equally to have a team that reflects the process in making it all happen requires, an expansive mindset, transparent attitude and loyal leadership and culture to celebrate the wins and take risks despite losses or delays.