Top Branding Strategies and Why They Are Successful

Before making purchases, consumers subconsciously go through an extensive decision-making process while contemplating between products. Obtaining an overall understanding of the process is vital for any business’s success.

Although this course of action consists of many layers, a solid branding strategy can be one of the most important tools in any company’s belt when executed correctly. A branding strategy is a series of short-term and long-term goals that help to define and identify a brand, along with telling its’ story in order to help consumers make buying decisions. Potential clients must be convinced to invest in the product, therefore using a well-thought-out strategy to help shape client perceptions is key. Branding can take both visual and verbal forms and is a great way to connect with current or potential clients on a deeper, more authentic level.

As more companies are realizing the importance of a strong brand strategy, we can learn a great deal from some of the world’s leading brands and the strategic decisions that brought them to their respective levels. Let’s take a look at a few of these strategies and why they are successful:

Apple

Image Source: Ink.

“Marketing is about values. It’s a complicated and noisy world, and we’re not going to get a chance to get people to remember much about us.”

- Steve Jobs

With performance and design at the top of Apple’s successes, communicating strong core values or guiding principles is key to ensuring their target audience sees the value of their products. Apple’s branding strategy appeals to human emotion and can be expressed with a few key words:

Lifestyle

Imagination

Style

Innovation

Passion

Hope

Dreams

By first asking themselves “what are the most important values for us as a brand?”, companies able to implement strategies centered around these values - which for Apple happens to be creating customer loyalty. All marketing efforts including product awareness, multi-channel engagement and nurturing client relationships hold the idea of creating customer loyalty at the core. By creating truly actionable core values and staying consistently centered around them Apple was able to create a substantial tribe around the ‘apple lifestyle’.

Nike

Image Source: Nike News

Nike’s branding strategy has everything to do with supporting the key values that encompass the brand; their key message: “Just do it.” While browsing through the company’s wide array of marketing channels, there is not a single placement that does not convey the same message - consistency is key! Nike’s branding strategy can be expressed with a few key words:

Loyalty

Hero

Inspire

Victory

Lifestyle

Athlete

Greatness

Innovation

By focusing on the general message of working hard to become inspired, be victorious, or achieve greatness Nike is able to form a holistic message which anyone and everyone can implement into any aspect of their lives. Through creating a successful branding strategy, companies can define what they want their audiences to remember about the brand, and using a powerful yet to-the-point slogan is one way to do so.

Starbucks

Image Source: Starbucks

“To inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup and one neighbourhood at a time”

- Starbucks Coffee

By offering the finest self-produced coffee and making the commitment to creating global social change, Starbucks’ positioning is one of the main reasons for their success, although their brand identity begins with their iconic circular, green logo. The colour immediately inferences tranquility and nature. The brand’s mission statement “To inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup and one neighbourhood at a time” ties together the logo and the personality in a beautiful way. By paying close attention to their core values of coffee, people and stores, the brand is able to create a holistic lifestyle-image around these 3 pillars.

As an avid coffee-lover I notice the warmth and the welcoming spirit of every Starbucks location, the friendly staff and personal touch of using real names provides a space where everyone can feel at home. Starbucks’ branding strategy can be expressed with a few key words:

Coffee

People

Barista

Nutrition

Name

Music

By keeping this strong vision of ‘nurturing the human spirit’ front and center in every single marketing or branding decision, Starbucks has been able to create a meaningful strategy which benefits both the client and the business.

Tesla

Image Source: Forbes

For many brands, having a sense of greater good behind their work is a fundamental part of their strategic branding strategy and as we have previously seen, Starbucks and Nike are both great examples of this. Another brand implementing this technique is Tesla.

Tesla Motors was founded in July 2003 by Marc Tarpenning and Martin Eberhard. In 2004, Elon Musk became the latest shareholder of the company through his $6.5 million investment and has been the CEO ever since. Backed by one of our generation's most prosperous entrepreneurs, Tesla’s “why” is the sole pillar of their branding strategy - “To accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.”

By digging deep and expanding your brand purpose into the greater good, companies not only make successful long term connections with their clientele, but increase the scalability of their market expansion. By tying their brand values to the greater good, Tesla has been able to not only conquer the electric vehicle market, but further expand their horizons into clean energy generation and storage solutions.

Human

Relatable

Fun

Sustainable

Cars

Accelerate

Innovation

technology

Conclusions

We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: taking the time to create a strong branding strategy can be one of the most important tools in any company's belt when executed correctly. Brand Vision provides a range of customized services including branding, website design & development, advertising, social media marketing, and more! You can trust us to nurture your vision and provide innovative, custom solutions for all your marketing needs!

This blog post was originally written by Akshita Tandon for Brand Vision Marketing's Insights page, and is the property of Brand Vision Marketing.

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