Brand strategy - building loyalty, sales and pride

As companies, products and services become increasingly similar in the marketplace, the importance of nurturing and building your brand increases. Strong brands are not only more attractive to consumers, but also to employees, suppliers and retailers. By loading your brand with the right emotional values, you increase sales, pride and loyalty. And to do that, you need a well thought-out brand strategy.

Brand strategy model

We say that a brand, just like us humans, is made up of a body and a soul. The body is the name, the graphic profile and the symbols you use. The soul is thoughts, feelings, associations and relationships. You and your company own the body and can control how it looks, while your customers and employees own the soul and decide how you should be perceived.

Identity, profile and image

With a well thought-out brand strategy, it is possible to influence the soul to some extent, or at least set its direction. We use a model based on identity, profile and image. It's about getting the identity (who you are) to match the profile (who you want to be) and the image (how you are really perceived). Everything you do affects the brand, which in turn is the sum of all relationships and communications with the outside world. Everyone who comes into contact with the brand helps build it. That's why it's important to think long-term and let the brand platform live for many years.

Structure and culture

Building a strong brand with a balance between identity, profile and image requires a combination of structure and culture. The structure often consists of a well thought-out brand platform, often found in a brand manual. The brand platform describes, for example, the mission, vision and core values. To create a strong culture, the structure needs to be anchored in the internal organization and permeate everything from product development to sales processes and customer contact.

Trademark handbook

The brand handbook brings together the strategic platform and presents it in a clear and accessible way. The aim is for the handbook to be a natural part of every employee's everyday life, offering information and guidance on communicating the brand. But producing a brand handbook is not an end in itself, but only a tool that creates the conditions for success with the brand strategy. Implementing the structure internally requires understanding and commitment from every employee. It is a psychological and educational process that takes time. Otherwise, the risk is that the brand manual will become another forgotten document in a drawer.

Long experience in branding strategies

At Navigator, we have extensive experience of working with brand strategies for companies in B2B, B2C and Healthcare. If you want to see examples of what we have done for different customers, you should browse through our cases. You can find more inspiration and knowledge on our blog. Feel free to use the filter function to search your way around.