
The importance of having a clear inside-out brand strategy from the start

The importance of having a clear inside-out brand strategy from the start
Your brand is your promise to your employees and your customers. It’s how your customers perceive you as a company, product, or service and the trust they place in you to deliver on it.
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Brand strategy brings brand value
It is therefore essential that every company has an effective and measurable inside-out brand strategy in place that reflects authentic brand value. Your brand strategy must be closely aligned to your business strategy, comprise brand purpose and specific, long-term goals to be achieved which distinguish your organisation from your rivals in the eyes of the customer via both brand development and brand positioning.
A strategic and professionally devised brand strategy should guide every approach in which you communicate and interact with your customers. Not only does it provide consistency for your customers, but it provides focused intent for your employees and provides a trusted blue print with a clear brand vision of value that ensures everyone is working towards the same objectives.
Your brand strategy is how, what, where, when and to whom you plan on communicating and delivering on your brand messages together with the help of your organisations’ greatest asset, your people. Anchored to your brand promise, internal communications support your employees to activate and support the delivery of your brand promise. And they need to be engaged and willing to do so, making internal connection with your brand value your starting point for strength and the capabilities for doing business into the future.
Brand strategy arises from the core competencies of your business to drive change, innovate and adapt product development and services to changing markets. Just one example of a successful global brand strategy is Starbucks. With around 20,000 stores in 63 countries, the world’s most popular coffee company has made its mark from the US to Brazil to South Africa to China (a market many thought it would fail in because of its tea drinking culture). How does Starbucks maintain its brand value?
Firstly, the brand is built from the inside out, where every employee is a partner in the company, delivering a personalized interaction with customers. This is part of the brand strategy of making sure that every Starbucks feels like a local coffee shop, without losing brand consistency. In China, for instance, they introduced coffee-free drinks, and many stores in Asia feature seating arrangements to cater for larger groups. The brand was also one of the first to introduce a consumer-centric digital strategy (now duplicated by many other companies), with personalised rewards on the Starbuck’s app that include a free birthday coffee.
The end result – across the globe, the brand never feels like an impersonal large corporation and always delivers on their purpose,‘to inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time’.