Categories are an important part of a brand strategy and I recommend figuring out yours. Here’s why: the human brain is super adept at recognizing things and placing them into categories: designer dog or mutt? Fast fashion or couture? Trump appointed Supreme Court Justice or Obama appointed?
Why are humans like this around categories and why should you care? Although human brains can store specific experiences, we have a literal ton of experiences every day. So instead of recording each individual experience, we have evolved the ability to detect commonalities across experiences that allow us to group them into meaningful (to us) categories.
What does this have to do with your business success? Simple: you can HELP your ideal client REMEMBER YOU and UNDERSTAND YOU by being clear about your business category. That’s why my Brand Strategy program includes figuring out your brand CATEGORY. Categories differ slightly by industry. In my industry—brand strategy—for example, there are three categories:
1. Too small: Download a digital pdf. Here’s one. I’ve seen downloadable brand strategy guides for between $27-$129. PRO: SUPER low cost for something that–if it works for you–is great. CONS: No opportunity to get your questions answered. No industry-specific examples. No iteration. No forest through the trees to help your adult brain process information. No subject matter expert to keep you moving forward and tie it all together.
2. Too Big: You’re making bank. I mean BANK. So you can afford the $30,000-90,000 to hire a fawncy brand strategy firm. A team will bring you through an in-depth brand strategy process facilitated by senior brand strategists. PRO: no branding stone will be unturned. You will be offered coffee and pastries at meetings. Because first drafts are garbage, it will be an ITERATIVE process. Your consultants will gather qualitative and quantitative research data from your ideal clients so you know what motivates and speaks to them (scroll down to do the same thing for $37). CONS: $30,000-90,000.
3. Just Right: You hire a brand strategist like me to help you build a brand strategy for low four-figures (my program is $4,000) PROS: Your questions are answered by a subject matter expert. Industry specific examples help your adult brain understand concepts. Iterations galore. You will gather qualitative research from your ideal clients so you know what motivates and speaks to them. CONS: no pastries.
If you’re a business owner, you need to have a Brand Strategy. Why? Because companies that invest in building their brands consistently outperform the overall market, according to research by McKinsey and Interbrand. That’s the facts. Let me know when you’d like to get started!