Why I Don’t Design Without Brand Strategy

Would you build a house with no foundation? Make a business design without reason behind it?

You wouldn’t. Or maybe you would, but that’s none of my business. 

The same should be applied to your business journey, including branding. When it comes to client work, I don’t design without completing brand strategy first. A strategic base is the backbone of any good business or design for promotion. Brand strategy sets you up for success, whether you gain or lose investors, the longevity of your employees, and more.

I have a YouTube video all about this topic. Check it out below!

What is a Brand Strategy?

Brand strategy is the process of building the foundations of your business. This includes your mission, values, audience, and competitors. As a designer, I use brand strategy to make decisions about the client’s aesthetic, ensuring the work always comes from a place of research and data.

That’s the benefit of Brand Strategy Workshops. I take all of that info from our two-hour call and come out with a strategic and creative direction for the project. There are a few things that Brand Strategy provides that you simply won’t get if you hop straight into design software.

Brand Strategy Gives You Clarity 

Most of us are so busy running our businesses that we don’t take the time to slow down and think for more than a few minutes at a time. If you don’t take the time to understand what the root of your business is, or your audience’s problem and solution, you will blend in just like everyone else.

A clear example is an influencer who is approached by a brand that doesn’t align with their values or audience but will move forward anyway because they don’t understand the bigger brand picture.

Brand Strategy helps you to clarify your business and stand out in a tailored way.

Brand Strategy Increases Your Confidence

You deserve all of your designs to be based on an actual plan. You are no longer grasping at straws and answering a dozen question questions from potential clients because you know what will and won’t work. You know what’s for you and not for you. You know what your clients say they want vs. what they truly need because you’ve taken the time to do the research. You won’t have trouble communicating your “it” factor.

Brand Strategy Strengthens Connection

One day you sell intensives, and another, you have a mastermind. A week later you have a podcast. Your audience is confused because they don’t know what it is that you do, so they dip.

It’s one thing to understand why you started, but another thing to determine where you’re going, and where you want to end up. If you can take your audience along that journey, they feel much more connected to you and know they can work with you during their journeys.