3 Steps To Build A Brand Marketing Strategy With Examples + Courses

Table Of Contents

• What is brand marketing?
• 3 steps to build a powerful brand marketing strategy
• Brand marketing examples
• Branding vs marketing: The difference
• Take your branding to the next level
• The best branding and marketing courses online
• Branding and marketing strategies need each other
• The undeniable impact of brand marketing

Brand marketing is a strategic approach to sales, communications, products, and services that increases and promotes the assets of a business. When executed correctly, the power of the brand is immense, unifying countless people from different walks of life into a common understanding of one business.

For example, the idea that every business needs a logo is universal, but why do some logos work but others not? It’s because it is simply not enough for branding elements to exist—strategic efforts for exposure and visibility are fundamental in making a brand known. Behind every successful logo design is a process that entails cohesive marketing, and this goes for almost every aspect of a brand.

But what is brand marketing?

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What is brand marketing?

Before getting into the how, it's important to address the what.

A brand marketing plan is the way that you promote your products and services in a manner that highlights your brand as a whole. The ultimate goal is to seamlessly combine your brand’s identity, personality, and values into an effective communication structure curated for your audience.

Think of your brand as the bridge between your product and your customer. A brand marketing plan is not just about plastering your name and logo in as many places as possible and expecting an increase in sales. It’s building an undeniable connection with your audience that makes them say, “Hmm, I’d love to learn more about you!”‍

Some businesses overlook the importance of brand marketing because it takes time and effort before seeing results. In light of this, many marketing strategies focus on short-term accomplishments instead of nurturing long-term goals that impact the entire brand.

First-time entrepreneurs or small business owners may make the mistake of viewing brand marketing as an expense that can wait—focusing more on investing in tangible ways to make a profit and receive returns. However, it is a huge investment in itself, and the earlier it is prioritized, the better the outcome.

These are the assets of a brand marketing plan for your business:

• Communicates your brand message instantly and effectively
• Builds your credibility as a brand
• Evokes an emotional or mental response to your brand
• Motivates potential customers to learn about you
• Fosters customer loyalty on the long-term scale

Brand marketing is a compilation of tactics that make for a solid and recognizable brand. Investing in marketing means building a brand’s value and reputation to tip the scales for more visibility and gains. Now, what are some strategies to help you promote your business?

3 steps to build a powerful brand marketing strategy

Your brand marketing strategy can make or break your business. While some people believe the misconception that marketing strategies can only take you so far, the truth is, these methods make way for critical first impressions among consumers. ‍

Statistics show that it only takes 7 seconds to form a first impression. And this short period is fundamental as 13% of consumers would pay up to 50% more for your products or services if they received a positive impression of your brand.‍

These strategies help build a strong rapport with your potential customers and, hopefully, they can start a meaningful conversation about who you are and what you provide.

Below are three essential brand marketing strategies that will surely help in building your brand:

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1. Identify your target market

Who is your target market? Who are you trying to reach? If your answer is “everybody,”then it is a rookie mistake. A target market can’t be too broad as you’d just be setting yourself up for a downfall.

Instead, focus on a clearly defined target audience—the more narrow the focus, the faster the business growth. If you focus on a vast and diverse target market, your marketing efforts may become diluted and disorganized.

For example, you have a lipgloss business. You decide your target market should be women, and that’s an understandable choice. But here’s the catch: almost half of the world are women. That’s a huge market. And not a lot of women from older generations favor lip gloss; they opt for fuller coverage products.

So what if you downsized your target market to women from the ages of 13 to 24? With this in mind, you can modify your products to appeal to women in this demographic and promote them for more realistic and fitting preferences. Your chances of success are much higher in this scenario.

Don’t forget: bigger doesn’t always mean better. What counts is what you can achieve in a compact setting.‍

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2. Come up with your business name, slogan, and logo

Your business name, slogan, and logo are fundamental key pieces for your brand. They are the elements that people will perceive the most about you, so they need to be solid, relevant, and memorable.

Ideally, your business name needs to be:

• Distinctive and unique
• Relevant to your brand in its entirety
• Easy to pronounce and memorize
• Simple and recognizable

This isn’t always an easy feat, so feel free to check our business name generator for some inspiration. You can also get a logo and a free domain of your preferred name. Speaking of logos, this is another brand element you should never skimp on.

A logo is the face of your brand, and who can say no to a pretty face? Logos allow you to attach visual meaning to your brand, making it easy for your market to remember you. For example, you’re driving down a busy road and spot a bright red and yellow logo of a fast-food chain with two golden arches. It doesn’t take you much effort to conclude, “That’s a McDonald’s!”

If you design an effective logo, the same can happen for your brand. But how do you make one? Our logo maker can surely help with that. And when you construct it, remember that a successful logo needs to:

• Have one or two brand colors at most
• Contain relevant brand colors that best represent your business
• Have one or two fonts at most
• Be readable and easily digestible
• Be simple yet substantial
• Look memorable and professional
• Represent your brand visually
• Not be overcrowded with too many elements

Now that you have a strong business name and logo, do you need a slogan? It’s entirely up to you. Some businesses have them, and some do not. But it is 100% in your best interest to develop an awesome slogan for your brand.

Slogans are words that vouch for you. It is a proud declaration of your business. If a logo is the face of your brand, your slogan is the words that come out of it.

For example, KFC’s “Finger Lickin’ Good” is a classic example of how a slogan can impact a business. The fast-food chain came up with it in the 1950s, and it has stuck all these years (excluding during the peak of the pandemic) for a good reason. It makes people want to try their products—it’s as simple as that.

If you believe in your capabilities as a brand, declare it meaningfully in your slogan. Customers can’t believe in something until you genuinely believe in it first.

Remember that your business name, logo, and slogan are not your brand. They are significant aspects of your brand identity but your brand as a whole is how you communicate and symbolize these elements in everything you do. They’re not immediately effective because they exist, they become effective when you take steps to get there.‍

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3. Develop a content marketing strategy

We live in a digital age, a time where most people digest content and information online. As a business, it is imperative to take full advantage of this by having a content marketing strategy.‍

HubSpot has released statistics on content marketing in 2021, and here are some of their findings:

• Text will always be the foundation of search, so make sure that the text around your website's assets is descriptive so it can rank well in search results.
• About 64% of marketers actively invest time in search engine optimization (SEO).
• 70% of marketers are actively investing in content marketing.
• 86% of companies produce blog content compared to other formats.
• 78% of companies have a team of one to three content specialists.
• 77% of companies say they have a content marketing strategy.

These are high-ranking statistics for a reason: a content marketing strategy brings visibility, traffic, and growth to your brand. Not to mention, it is a convenient way to communicate your brand’s message, personality, and mission to your target audience.

Content marketing does many things that traditional marketing does with an edge in spreading helpful information and evoking an emotional and meaningful response in your readers.

Educational content can attract, nurture, and qualify consumers to grow an inclination towards your brand. Fortunately, with the help of content marketing tools available online, you don't have to worry much about hustling at this step. You can use online creative tools to create infographics that showcase your brand. Engaging infographics are the perfect data visualization tool if you need to create presentations, explain a process, visualize data, or present information in a more understandable way. Additionally, generative artificial intelligence can help you with content ideas that are aligned with your brand.

Take note that the strength of your business is driven by its visibility and reputation. Visibility without a good reputation is rarely successful, and a good reputation without visibility is a road to nowhere. Content marketing increases both visibility and reputation simultaneously, making your brand stay known and relevant to your target audiences.

All this information may seem daunting, but there are brands today that reached incredible heights with the help and impact of successful brand marketing strategies. If they can do it, so can you.

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Brand marketing examples

What could be better inspiration for you to build your brand than by reading about the businesses who’ve done it all and succeeded?

Here are five brands that implemented effective brand marketing strategies with long-term and flourishing results:‍

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1. Nike - The importance of brand values

From the very beginning, Nike had one mission in mind: instill specific brand values in consumers’ minds. Nike employed its marketing strategy to evoke their beliefs into their products. What beliefs? Innovation, performance, athletic excellence, and overcoming adversity.

This intention shows in many of their products, most specifically, the waffle shoe. Nike invented the waffle shoe to help athletes improve their speed and endurance. The brand offered 12 waffle shoes for runners in the 1972 Olympic trials, and the design went on to make a global imprint and secure Nike’s place as a sneaker powerhouse.

Today, these shoes are the most expensive footwear product ever to be auctioned, with a whopping amount of $437,500. They belong to the collection of 100 of the rarest sneakers ever made in history.

This is an astounding accomplishment for a brand, and it all happened because of an inherent belief system in place. Not to mention, its slogan is a perfect representation of the business.

Nike’s branding and marketing strategies are rooted in empowerment, and their slogan “Just Do It” expresses that clearly and coherently. Nike’s brand marketing strategy is a nod to athletes and people everywhere to do their best every single time in every situation. And this brand perspective can never go out of style.‍

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2. Coca-Cola - The importance of a brand cause

Coca-Cola is a world-renowned soft drink company that shows a remarkable example of how brand causes can contribute to global brand recognition.

The brand regularly collaborates with many organizations focused on helping local communities. For example, Coca-Cola supports an initiative to improve school facilities in India known as the Support My School campaign.

Furthermore, when natural disasters strike certain regions, Coca-Cola is among the first brands to provide relief aids and offer much-needed recovery efforts. The brand strongly believes in giving back to communities and being a charitable member of society.

Coca-Cola’s brand marketing strategy is to align with causes they are genuinely passionate about and involve customers in their journey. Another excellent example of this is their “Share a Coke” campaign.

The "Share a Coke" campaign was designed for consumers to spread generosity and kindness to their peers. Today, it remains to be one of the most compelling examples of brand marketing.

This campaign is an incredible marketing success story, prompting countless customers to share their Coke products and experience with other people on a large-scale setting. It was so successful that it wound up increasing traffic on the Coca-Cola Facebook page by 870%.‍

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3. Netflix - The importance of brand innovation and engagements

Netflix provides accessible streaming services to millions of customers in over 100 countries all over the world. Its digital marketing strategy is a true example of the impact of building positive engagements.

Netflix offers members the opportunity to watch any of its content on any screen connected to the internet at any time and any place. The service is designed to be fully accessible and lacking many restrictions commonly found in other streaming platforms.

In addition to providing convenient entertainment needs, Netflix is known for its excellent customer relationship management. It doesn’t stick to the run-of-the-mill social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram—it widens its scope of engagement to Twitter, Snapchat, and even word-of-mouth marketing.

Understanding its target market to a tee, Netflix knew early on that its audience is widely active on social media. It curated a marketing strategy from there with outstandingly positive results.

Netflix regularly engages with its audience— asking questions, creating polls, and casually conversing about trending topics and opinions. The brand also keeps its customers up-to-date with new content, suggestions, and updates on their official accounts and various social media platforms. Talk about reliability at its finest.

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4. Dollar Shave Club - The importance of unique brand advertising

Advertising is a common strategy among most businesses, so how do you stand out with it?

Dollar Shave Club does this extremely well with its witty marketing strategy, employing extremely unconventional but effective methods. How? By entertaining its customers with laughter, showing them that it is a brand that does not follow the rules of ordinary professionalism.

In Dollar Shave Club’s first launch, CEO Michael Dubin displayed unique confidence, breaking the barrier of conventional marketing by declaring, “Our blades are f***ing great.” Today, the launch video has 27M views and counting, with positive comments from viewers stating the idea to be excellent and distinctive.

This launch video which cost about $4500, turned a small business into a billion-dollar brand. After the video had gone viral, Dollar Shave Club raked in more than $3.5 million in revenue in the same year alone.

During an interview, Dubin stated,

“Entrepreneurs are in some ways immune to the notion of risk. But when you have an idea for your business, no one can talk you out of it.”

It didn’t take long for Dubin to be coined a "market disrupter" and "marketing genius" for paving the way that marketing doesn’t necessarily need to follow conventional rules to be utterly successful.‍

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5. GoPro - The importance of social media marketing

It’s not easy to provide products and services reputable enough to be “the best” in your industry, but GoPro did precisely that and more.

A GoPro is a sleek and small camera that provides customers with high-quality photos and videos. The product’s most notable traits are that it’s waterproof and durable enough to withstand any conditions that may hinder consumers from getting perfect images.

The product itself is effective, but how did GoPro get such a massively positive reputation in the photography industry? They did so with a unique marketing approach.

GoPro's editing program creates videos for customers with start and end frames that feature its easily recognizable logo. So every time a user posts a video, the brand’s elements are exposed to everybody that views it.

To drive a higher frequency of posts, GoPro also shares them on their Instagram and other social media channels. This motivates more users and customers to create and post their videos. By sharing their videos taken with GoPro cameras, customers can become brand ambassadors— promoting the product in proud and organic ways.

The brand also created the GoPro Awards, where people can compete with their high-quality content on YouTube and Instagram. GoPro selects the “content that emotionally engages, amazes, or excites.”

The prizes include $500 for the best photos, $1000 for the best raw video, and $5,000 for edited clips across all categories. Overall, the business invests $5 million on their customers during these contests annually.

This marketing technique results in customer loyalty and retention as it promotes a feeling of community among its users— with each other and with the brand itself.

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Branding vs marketing: The difference

At different stages of your business, either branding or marketing can take the front seat of priorities. In the early stages, building a solid foundation for branding is essential in constructing a clear and consistent brand identity. Once your brand’s characteristics come to life, marketing follows.

Marketing is essentially finding ways to best showcase what your brand is and what it has to offer. Branding and marketing strategies need each other to render fruitful gains and engagements, and they need to be consistently developed over time. When used together, they have the potential to complement each other in the best ways.

Before you can grasp how truly powerful they are together, it is important to understand what they are outside of each other.

Marketing

Marketing is an integral aspect of your brand. To put it simply, how would potential customers learn about your business (or that it even exists) and products without the ways you can shine a light on it?

Marketing consists of these strategic steps that make your business known to the right audience in the best possible ways.

There is a vast array of marketing strategies that businesses use, however, a good rule of thumb is designing your marketing based on:

• Your brand identity
• Your brand promises
• Your core industry
• Your brand’s personality
• Your business vision and mission
• Your brand tone and positioning

The primary goal of marketing is to generate interest, engagements, and trust among your target audience. It is not just a simple one-time task—it is an ongoing set of actions designed to communicate the benefits of a growing brand.

To create and manage a flourishing marketing plan, you need a strong brand identity that conveys a specific message. After all, without a brand identity, your marketing won't have something strong to hold on to?

Branding

In comparison to marketing, branding is more broad and internal. It is about defining who you are as a business, how you project yourself, how you communicate, and what you stand for. Once you successfully define and determine your brand strategy, your marketing efforts become straightforward.

These are some crucial factors that make up your branding:

• Your business name
• Your slogan or tagline
• Your logo
• Your designs and brand color schemes
• Your history and story as a brand
• Your promise to the public
• Your products, goods, and services
• Your tone and expression
• Your mission statement

These characteristics of your brand, when pursued with authenticity and drive, can easily allow your target audience to recognize and identify you. Even the smallest details should not be overlooked.

A splash of yellow in your logo means something. One word in your business slogan means something. Everything that you associate with your brand becomes a part of it, so every decision you make with your branding should be well-considered and relevant to your business.

Branding, like marketing, is something to be regularly developed. But when you have a firm plan in place from the start, that makes your job a whole lot easier. The most crucial step in branding is to be consistent—not only in general but also with the variables that make up your brand.

Your logo should be compatible with your business name, your business name should be consistent with your products, and the list goes on. Every aspect of your branding must come together seamlessly to form a solid and unified message.

Here are a couple of steps to help you define your brand’s message:

• Identify your target market and connect with what's important to them
• Showcase why and how you are better than your competitors
• Let the purpose of your brand come through with every step you make as a business

Branding is built on culturing and developing an identity— one that can resonate with your audience. The key is to be a brand that customers can grow an attachment to.

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Take your branding to the next level

Google "branding and marketing tools" and you'll get more tools than you can try. There's a tool for the smallest thing you need and while that maybe useful in some cases, for businesses that are just starting out, that can be a lot.

What you need is a simple tool/platform that you can use to design all your branding and marketing collateral.

For example, when you design a logo using our logo maker, you get access to our very own graphic design platform called Stitch. What this means is you can get every other branding and marketing collateral designed on one platform.

This includes social media posts, business cards, letterheads, notepads, posters, flyers -- anything you like!

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The best branding and marketing courses online

If you want to learn more about branding and marketing strategies, there is nothing like hands-on experience. Here are a six popular online courses to consider taking to boost your knowledge of these complex topics.

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1. Branding: The Creative Journey on Coursera

• Level: Beginner
• Presenter: IE Business School
• Duration: 5 months (5 hours per week)
• Certification: Yes‍
  

2. Branding Foundations on LinkedIn Learning

• Level: Beginner
• Presenter: Drew Boyd
• Duration: 1.5 hours
• Certification: No
  

3. Branding & Marketing for Startups: Learn How To Stand Out on Udemy

• Level: Beginner
• Presenter: Mac Piechota
• Duration: 1.5 hours
• Certification: Yes
  

4. Digital Branding And Engagement on edX

• Level: Intermediate
• Presenter: Curtin University
• Duration: 4 weeks (3 to 4 hours per week)
• Certification: Yes
  

5. Viral Marketing And How To Craft Contagious Content on Coursera

• Level: Beginner
• Presenter: Jonah Berger
• Duration: 4 hours
• Certification: Yes
  

6. Digital Marketing Course on Google

• Level: Beginner
• Presenter: Google advisor
• Duration: 8 to 10 weeks
• Certification: Yes
  

Branding and marketing strategies need each other

Branding and marketing are two fundamental components of a business. They have their differences, but ultimately, they rely on each other to succeed.

If someone sees your logo on the side of a truck and finds themselves intrigued by your business, that is branding working its magic. At times, the visual alone is not enough for them to engage with you and make a purchase. This is where marketing comes in.

Your marketing efforts will be amplified with the help of a strong brand foundation, allowing you to highlight the best of what your business has to offer with pride and conviction. Branding benefits from marketing strategies as it helps bring people closer to your products and services.

Marketing can convince people to purchase a particular product, but it is the brand that determines if they will only buy these types of products for all time. When the two are done correctly, prepare to be on the receiving end of multiple win-wins for your business.

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The undeniable impact of brand marketing

Your value as a brand boils down to the factors that authentically make your brand stand out from the sea of competitors in your industry. A brand marketing plan is not just about telling captivating stories about who you are— it’s that and the ability to satisfy your customers’ needs.

When implemented right, marketing campaigns can elicit an emotional response from your customers, creating loyalty and trust over time.

As a brand, you can’t trade those assets for the world.

Ready to design your free logo? Get started with our logo maker!

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