Strategic branding vs brand strategy

In this post, I’ll be walking you through the need-to-know differences between brand strategy and strategic branding. They may sound the same, but the difference is very significant!

What is brand strategy?

First, let’s go through what brand strategy is and what it isn’t. Brand strategy is an in-depth look at who your ideal customer is, the competitors in your industry, and what sets your brand and products apart. It’s produced from hours of research, polls, and consumer studies and covers topics such as your brand’s mission, vision, purpose, personality, values, messaging, unique selling point, competitor analysis, and audience personas.

All of this information comes together to give you a 360 look at your brand’s positioning and how you can best appeal to your target audience. It becomes a solid foundation that your designer can use to build your brand’s visual identity.

That’s what brand strategy IS, here’s what it is NOT. Brand strategy is not simple, thrown together, or inexpensive. It’s done by professional brand strategy specialists and can cost anywhere from $2k to $40k+ depending on who you hire, the size of your brand, and the goals you are trying to achieve through the strategy.

Brand Strategy deck

What is strategic branding?

Strategic branding, however, is visual identity design that is done in a strategic way. This involves less in-depth research and more of an overview to kick off the project. Typically, before strategic branding begins, I have a 2-hour call with our clients to talk through their target audience, brand personality, and competitors. I guide the conversation with questions that help us get to the root of each topic.

Afterward, I do research to fill in the gaps and put it all together into a presentation to walk through with my client. If I were doing brand strategy for my client, the presentation would be a brand strategy guide and this guide would be 30-40 pages long. Instead, for strategic branding, the presentation is 5-10 pages long and sets the stage for the design work to be done.

Rather than the focus being on the strategy, the focus is on how we will use the information we have gathered to create a powerful logo, color palette, and font suite that appeals to your target audience.

Strategic Branding and Print Collateral for OZEL

Which one do you need?

I get this question a lot and the answer can really depend on your situation. But. here’s what I recommend.

If your business is less than 6-12 months old, I’d say hold off on the brand strategy. The understanding of your own products and business that’s needed to get the most out of brand strategy comes with time being in your business, making those first sales, and getting to know your customers. Having this experience and first-hand knowledge is priceless for your brand strategist, and as a business owner, you’ll have a much better idea of your goals at this point. However, I’ve certainly done brand strategy for new businesses and it has been a valuable source of structure and guidance as they each began their journey.

If your business is more than 12 months old, though, you don’t always need a complete brand strategy. I recommend talking with your brand designer first and determining if brand strategy is right for you because it can often depend on the goals you’re trying to reach and the obstacles you’ve found yourself facing. Brand strategy is a great resource to have if you have the budget for it and thrive on having the in-depth research to go back to as you grow. As an analytical type of person, I love having a brand strategy for my own business but have met business owners that, for better or worse, will never refer back to their strategy guide. So that is something to consider as well.

In the case of not wanting or not being able to invest in brand strategy and design, I highly recommend investing in strategic branding design. This is one of the most common services I provide for my clients and what I recommend for most cases. It gives you a touch of strategy for us to make well-informed design decisions as we build your brand identity. It’s a great solution for businesses at any stage looking to stand out from their competition, connect with their audience on a deeper level, and increase sales through brand recognition and loyalty.

Pages from the brand guidelines showing the color palette and logo design

Here's how you can get started.

The best way to get started is to book a consultation call. Once you fill out the form on my contact page, we can set up a time to chat more about your specific business goals and vision. Together we can discuss what best suits your needs and budget.