Make Your Strategy a Verb
At Hush, we talk about strategy as a verb. It is only useful if it can be set in motion, and this is particularly relevant for brand strategy, a historically fixed deliverable. As the importance of brand building work increases, brand strategies must prioritize action, pliability, and human need.
Brands that understood how to behave, how to adapt, and how to connect during a global pandemic have proven the value of strategies built for brand-building work. If there is one thing the last 18 months has taught us as marketers it’s that brand has been, is, and always will be worth the investment.
Here are three ways to make your brand strategies a verb and support more brand building work:
1. Build Relationships. Act on your values.
Perhaps the most obvious is the importance of brand values. As the purchasing power of generations continues to shift, what a brand says they value and more importantly how they are acting on said values, has increased exponentially. A recent study on generational attitudes about brand values post-COVID states that 82% of consumers would pay more for a value-aligned brand and are six times more likely to defend a value-aligned brand during tough times.
As the drivers of brand choice continue to evolve, actionable values are no longer a ‘nice-to-have.’ Brands that can create true connection and emotional closeness with their consumers by understanding their circumstances, personal goals and values, the closer they are to building relationships and community – the ultimate drivers of brand loyalty.
An example of a brand that doubled down on one if its values was Headspace, the meditation app. Not only living up to but acting on their ‘selfless drive’ value they offered services free of charge for all US Healthcare workers in 2020 and have continued to provide free sessions and services focused on “Weathering the Storm.” Notice they didn’t do this for everyone, they did it for those who needed it most, a move that garnered goodwill regardless of personal benefit.
2. Understand your edges. Create adaptable strategies.
Our worlds got both smaller and bigger during the pandemic. While we were connected as a global community living through a pandemic (to varying degrees), we were also cut off from many of the people, activities, time, and personal mechanisms we had come to rely on to thrive.
In response, brands found themselves needing to expand, shift, and in some cases completely reimagine the experience, utility, and access they provide. Moving forward brand-building work will require constant reassessment of what consumers anticipate, expect, accept, and act upon. While single-minded messages will still win when segmented, single-minded strategies will not. Consumer behavior is more personal and dynamic than ever which means your strategy must be a verb. In order to succeed brands and the people who manage them need to identify the situations where they stay the course and the opportunities for adaptation.
Take Diageo for example, a brand among many in the alcohol space who shifted their manufacturing capabilities to start making hand sanitizer at a time when the world’s supply was running out. Sure, they promoted that work with the ‘It’s in our hands to make a difference’ campaign, but it was the pivot to people over profit that consumers will remember.
3. Experience is everything. Invest in consumer journeys.
A consumer journey allows you to map out how to reach consumers in moments they need you most. This may feel like an intuitive statement, but many brands don’t have a true understanding of what this looks like beyond agreed upon RTB’s and competitive statements. Value propositions are incredibly important but are only as good as the connection you make to bring them to life in a communication strategy.
Creating a consumer journey that identifies the moments is imperative to building a meaningful brand experience. It is the difference between being followed, bombarded, or interrupted by a brand versus one that seems to know you so well they’ve arrived at the perfect time. A brand can always learn more about its consumer and investing in their journey will always strengthen a comms strategy. It gives a brand a clarifying and competitive advantage as it relates to values, engagement, and your ability to adapt.
Peloton, a tech and content darling, accelerated their success during COVID based on a true psychological understanding of their consumers. The fitness company built an experience for riders that helped trigger and create habits, engaging their desire for participation and competition all while building both a rigid and flexible brand that has achieved full-blown cult status.
If you or your team could use support in developing the knowledge and skills to build actionable brand values, dynamic strategic solutions, and consumer journey work contact kate.moret@hushcollaborative.com for more information.