Are You Watching Your Own Brand Burn Without Having a Clue?

The "hair burning" moments when you’d wish you had a brand strategy in place...

We all know that having a brand strategy for our business is important. Why haven't you got one yet?

It probably doesn't seem like a burning issue right now. We get it.

With so many things going on, why not keep your time and resources in your pocket or focus on the more pressing issues, right?

The thing is, when it came a burning issue, it’s likely to cost you even more. In fact, you probably wouldn’t know where to start fixing.

Having a brand strategy is like having a compass for your business. It's what helps you navigate through the choppy waters of the market and gets you from point A to point B, from where you are now to your desired future state.

So, it's just like planning a trip - you wouldn't start without knowing where you're going, right? The same goes for your business.

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What Would Be the "Hair on Fire" Issues?

If we are to switch gears and look at it from a specific angle, in what scenario will a brand strategy be helpful to your business?

There are probably many more business cases for this, but these are the typical ones that we’ve witnessed first hand and had experience with clients.

New launch of business or product and service
Business restructuring
Market expansion, especially overseas and new regions
Long term business and portfolio planning
Changes in business focus offerings, or target audience
Significant changes in size and scale, such as mergers and acquisitions, or spin-offs.
Market confusion or even misinterpretation of a business and its offerings
Restore, refresh, and influence business reputations
Employee, investor, and media engagement
Pre or post IPO

You might argue that these are way too specific and only serve a very small number of instances for any given business. It is true. Probably a lot companies won’t even get close to any of these. It does illustrate one thing - it is not for everything, not until you are ready.

These are some specific scenarios for business that are eager to grow and scale and make some very strategic moves. When any of these instances do come around and you are just starting to figure it out, you hair is on fire.

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So, Who Needs It the Most?

Although we’d say every single company will benefit from a strongly crafted brand strategy becuase these scenarios are somewhat agnostic to any business nature, certain ones will surely leverage it a little bit more than others.

It all depends on the industry you are in and the stage of the business. Here are some of the examples where a brand strategy would come into play.

Consumer goods

This is a no-brainer.

Technology & Healthcare

Offerings in this space usually begin with highly complex ideas and can feel out of reach, even irrelevant to people. There is generally a barrier for users to easily understand what good is it to care and buy (what does a 10-core CPU mean anyway?).

Luxury & High-End Hospitality

It’s beyond the the tangible products that customers can hand in their hands - it has so much to do with the emotional impacts and feelings they get along with products and services they buy. The premium they are actually paying is to complement the status they wish to have.

Travel & Destinations

Similar to the previous one - it is less about tangible things. The key is to paint an emotive, mental picture of the experience customers are going to get, and eventually make them want to go.

Property Development & Asset Investments

This one is interesting, but it shouldn't be too much of a surprise. Think about it, their business model lies in long term value add to the assets over the years, and which sometimes can be very consumer facing if it is a commercial mall or residential property.

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Beyond What You Do. It’s Who You Do It For.

K11 is almost a perfect example to summarize the above. As a global high-end lifestyle retail operator under the New World Group, K11 has a unique strategy that is based on the blend of three essential elements: Art, People, and Nature.

In the grand scheme of things, it is essentially a shopping mall operator, but that description doesn't really do justice to the brand.

Rather than just being a place to shop, K11 offers a wide range of experiences, from art exhibitions to workshops and events, making it an immersive cultural destination. This speaks specifically to the type of customers they want - those who identify themselves as the non-ordinary and would love the association of high-end lifestyle.

Over the years, K11 has established itself as a symbol of high-end lifestyle with art and culture deeply embedded, offsetting competition from the typical retail market, and establish itself as one of a kind in the space.

All of these efforts come from a very clear direction of the brand and an almost imaginary future they once had in mind. They stuck with it long enough, and now it is no longer imaginary.

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Why Do You Need a Brand Strategy as an Up-and-Comer?

Offset competition.

Just because it's a small company doesn't mean that the competition isn't fierce and destructive.

In today's world, where competition is high and customers have a plethora of choices, a strong brand strategy is probably the answer. Without one, your brand may lack consistency, clarity, and relevance, which can have a negative impact on your business (duh!).

In any well-developed, saturated market, you may face challenges in establishing yourself. This makes it difficult in every single aspect for your business: lost sales, low customer loyalty, and difficulty in standing out from the competition.

All in all, a well-crafted brand strategy is where you stand out differently from others - meaningfully different. It will be an essential anchor from which your company flexes, scales, and grows beyond.