Have you ever wondered why some brands have almost a magnetic vibe to themselves? You might notice a ‘tick’ mark on a t-shirt and go, “Oh, that’s a Nike”! Or you might look at a half-apple (kinda) and immediately connect it to Apple (the brand). But have you always wondered why people recognize these brands so much? I will keep these two brands front and center as I discuss the secrets of multi-billion dollar brands.
Today, we’re going to be discussing ‘Brand Strategy’ – which is the secret to Nike’s mass appeal and Apple becoming a household brand globally. At its core, Brand strategy refers to the plan and process of building a strong and distinctive brand that sets a business apart from its competitors. It is an essential aspect of any successful business as it determines how customers perceive and interact with the brand.
A strong brand strategy can create brand loyalty, increase customer trust, and differentiate a business from its competitors. This is the key to becoming not the next Apple or Nike (hypocritical, right?), but becoming the first XYZ Brand in the market that has the same pull and attraction that Apple & Nike have.
Market Differentiation and Competitive Analysis
The biggest trick Apple & Nike pulled off is making consumers believe that they ‘differentiated the market‘ somehow. That is just not true! Contrary to popular opinion, Apple wasn’t the first to innovate mobile phones, nor was Nike the first brand to focus on comfortable shoewear in every market. The former had IBM as the undoubted industry leader while the latter was a nobody in front of a giant like Adidas.
However! These two brands figured out the gaps existing in the market and instead of focusing on an existing narrative, they completely changed their target audience’s mindset. Apple saw that computers were still not available to the general public (they were but not marketed as such) while Nike simply utilized rookie athletes to create their first ever ‘Just do it’ campaign which was all based around athleisure, but not just for athletes.
So, just to recap – Apple & Nike didn’t differentiate product-wise so much so as they did with their target audience. Their marketing campaigns changed narratives for their target audience by capitalizing on areas where their competitors lacked.
And how do you identify those flaws? It’s simple – List down your Top 10 competitors and analyze them in-depth. Don’t just look at their marketing strategies. Look at their product placements, copywriting, financial reports, and audience insights, and then figure out an opportunity where your competitor isn’t pushing down too much.
Brand Messaging and Tone of Voice
The second most important step is figuring out a Brand Message & Tone of Voice. If you’ve already analyzed your competitors and found a space to differentiate your products in, it’s time to get started on creating a unique brand message and tone of voice.
Before I go a bit in-depth, look at these two statements from Apple & Nike and write down your perspective of them:
Done with this? Now it’s time to start crafting your own statement. For a kicker on Brand Stories and creating a statement for your own brand, my article on ‘Crafting Compelling Brand Stories‘ is something you should check out.
Your Brand Story will comprise these things:
- A Brand Messaging Strategy
- Tone & Voice
For the brand messaging, your brand should clearly communicate your brand values, mission, and personality. More important than creating brand messaging is developing a consistent tone of voice across all channels. If you check out both Apple and Nike’s marketing, you’ll notice that they are always consistent across all mediums. Their social media echoes what their website says, and their paid ads are the same as their physical stores.
Trust me – if you can get this part right, you will have hit the jackpot!
Studies have found that consistent brand messaging across all channels can increase revenue by up to 23%. This is because customers are more likely to recognize and trust a brand that has a consistent voice and message. So, before you start creating content or building a marketing campaign, make sure to solidify how your brand will talk and act online. And then focus on making that consistent over time.
Visual Identity
The next step is creating a visual identity and this is where you need your creative juices flowing all over your body. As the term implies, the visual identity is that part of your Brand Strategy that your audience will notice the first time they see your brand. This includes everything from your logo to your color palette, typography, and other visual elements that convey your brand personality and message.
These elements are all present on every marketing channel that your brand is on. And just like the tone or voice, this part needs to be consistent too. Here are some use cases of a Visual Identity:
- In Content Marketing: You will make sure the colors and typography are the same. There should be a single font or color for headers and the same for body text. Otherwise, your audience will get confused.
- In Paid Advertising: There shouldn’t be a conflict between the deals and promotions that you promote on social media and the ones that you promote on your website. Otherwise, what’s in it for your audience?
Pro Tip: When you’re picking a color palette, create two sets of primary colors (colors that will be dominant in your content) – one dark color and the other one should be a darker shade. You can supplement these two with 2-3 accentual colors to make your content more creative. For typography, go for two fonts – a primary font (for your header text) and a secondary font (for body text).
And here’s an activity for you – Go to Apple & Nike’s websites & social media profiles. Check their typography, colors, background elements – basically, any content that you can see. Now write down the similarities between all these channels and what’s staying consistent amongst all of them.
Marketing Plan and Brand Awareness
The final step before you launch a brand is, of course, a ‘Marketing Plan’ because let’s just not kid ourselves – The main goal of any business is to make money unless you’re a non-profit in which case your Marketing Plan would still not cut it if it doesn’t generate revenue.
Now, developing a marketing plan that aligns with your brand strategy is crucial for increasing brand awareness and reach. It’s not the most difficult thing either but it’s something that brands don’t prioritize. However, the biggest issue I’ve seen is that brands either put too much emphasis on this synergy or too little. Some new brands would go all in on their Brand Strategy but fail to follow up with a concrete revenue-generating Marketing Plan, while others would do the exact opposite.
In the case of our two subjects (Apple & Nike), do you understand their Marketing Plans? If you analyze Nike, you’ll see that they’re always focusing on fitness for the general public, and their shoes are always advertised as something that the mass market should buy. The outcome – luxury and premium feel in all of their shoes.
Now consider Apple – Each year they come up with a new iteration of their iPhone and people speculate over which feature they’ll cut out or what the price tag would be. Apple understands that there will be resistance to its high price tag and value-cutting activities. But why does Tim Cook & Co continue to do the same thing each year? That, my friend, is where Brand Strategy & Marketing Plans align. Apple clearly understands how the price tag would still make their money (they’re the first trillion-dollar company despite what the nay-sayers say), and at the same time, Apple enthusiasts, or the ‘Cult of Apple’, as I like to call them, still flock and promote the brand by word of mouth.
Remember that your Brand Strategy and Marketing Plan should connect to your overarching business goals. To reiterate, most businesses exist to make money. While the Brand Strategy & Marketing Plan provides a superficial description of that goal, it should still very clearly align with your business goals.
Conclusion
In conclusion, developing a strong brand strategy is essential for small businesses and startups to differentiate themselves in a crowded market. By continuously acting upon the sections highlighted in this article and doing due diligence, businesses can increase brand recognition and recall similar to what Apple & Nike have always done.