Brand Strategy vs Marketing

Brand strategy is the story of you why you exist - your raison d'être. Marketing is about awareness.

I like to think of marketing as “top of funnel” and sales as “bottom of funnel.” In order to convert clients, they need to know that you exist and that you can help them. How do you identify “clients” and “their needs?” This is where brand strategy comes in to place.

Brand strategy tries to tell the story of why you exist. It’s a plan that creates a bridge from your hopes for the future to your ideal audience.

Good brand strategy tries to create parity between how you view yourself and how others view you. ie: Who you want to be vs how people perceive you. In great brands, these concepts are aligned.

This is not something that can be done over night. No logo or blog post is going to solidify your brand. A brand is built over time and reinforced by delivering on the expectations and promises to the people you serve.

Brand strategy is a key component because it is a north star in decision making. It can help guide design decisions and structure whether or not a specific tactic would reinforce your beliefs or cause dissonance. The decisions of what you make and build should reinforce your values.