Marketing is the soul of a brand, and it is what really makes a brand one. It is what connects the idea in the head of the manufacturer that turned into a product or service, with the final consumer or customer. How then can you make your marketing cum brand better? It is by forming a sound brand communication strategy that forms the invisible bridge between your brand and its prospects or/and loyalists.
There are five basic steps to achieving or forming your brand communication strategy:
- Aims and objectives of your brand: They are like the way we have core to the earth, they are like the backbone of every of your activities as a business owner. When it comes to attaching them to developing brand communication, they guide you on what to think of in the process of communication. Aims and objectives are the standing blueprint on which you build your brand from. What do you stand for? What are your offerings? What led you into business? Etc. are all what fall under your aims and objectives.
- Audience: Who are the audience of your brand? While studying this, you consider the demographics of your audience. What class they fall in the societal grouping, age groups, their lifestyles, neighborhood, exposure, choices etc. It is all these pieces of information that would allow you form the persons of your audience in your head and then ask yourself if you present one thing or another to them, will they find them relevant, truthful and emotionally engaging? Knowing the mindset of your audience is what is important in this step. It would make you go through a thorough research to get if not accurate but near perfect description of who you want to communicate with.
- Message: Since you can now visualize your audience through the above information gathered, you are empowered with the hint-set of what to say, how to say it, and when to say it. For every brand, there is a story to tell, then tell yours in a way that makes it interesting, relevant and persuasive to your audience. Then you answer the following questions on the message you want to send out: Who are we talking to? (knowing this perfectly allows you to know the kind of language to use in communicating with them), What do we know about them that will help us? What do they currently think/do? What do we want them to think/do? What is the main idea we want to communicate? (it was found through research that people generally remember one thing from a brand communication) so, what is the key thing you want them to remember? Why should they believe us? (give them reasons to emotionally and rationally come along with you).
- Creative: This is the ‘how’ of what you want to tell the audience. Would you like to communicate with them with a short video that combines everything in your message? At this point also, it is where you consider: What is the communication trying to do? (is the goal to introduce the brand? To tell them to switch from the one they are using presently to yours?) Since you know your audience, what should be the mood or atmosphere of the message you are sending? Should it have humor, strength, high enthusiasm, or traditional? Are they going to prefer pictures that tell stories? All these come to play when you are developing your creative(s).
- Media: You have to know wherever your target audience is and your message needs to get to them through the media they are familiar with. You may ask yourself, are they on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn? Are they TV, Radio, Newspaper generation? Knowing the appropriate media to choose to communicate your messages completes the whole process for you.
