What exactly is branding service and how it looks is not quite obvious if you start exploring this topic a little. For example, what is the difference between branding strategy and rebranding? Is there a difference between marketing strategy and branding strategy? Should you use the services of a branding agency when launching your story or when your story encounters problems? Are marketing and branding agencies one and the same?
Answers may not come naturally, so to explain what branding service looks like, we'll show it through an example.
What does branding service look like?
Before that, let's try with some theory. A branding agency exists to take care of your brand. This typically means the perception that your customers or potential market have about you. A branding agency is there to determine what will be done and with what goal, in other words, to create a brand strategy. In this context, marketing, digital, or PR agencies are there to implement specific segments of your overall strategy, but the branding strategy is a kind of compass that sets the direction for the company and its brand.
To create a good branding strategy, several key steps need to be taken:
- Situation diagnosis
- Defining challenges
- Defining goals
- Creating possible solutions
- Elaboration of the selected solution (strategy development)
- Monitoring, measuring results, and adaptation
What does branding service look like in practice?
Let's see how it looks in a concrete example. We'll use the example of an online shoe store that sells sneakers:
- Situation diagnosisBy analyzing the competition, it is concluded that there is not much differentiation and distinction. All online shoe stores in the market offering sneakers have a similar user experience and structure, a similar visual approach, and similar options (ordering, payment, delivery). They provide the same information, so the only difference customers use to choose is the price.
- Defining challengesA decrease in website visits compared to previous periods is noticed. Something additional needs to be offered to the audience that others don't have.
- Defining goals: The goal is to be the first choice for customers when they are choosing sneakers or at least the first place they start exploring. The aim is to be the place that makes their decision-making easier.
- Creating possible solutions: Two approaches are offered to the client. One involves increasing the amount of content (blogs, customer care approach, and specifically targeted social media engagement) and the ability to provide a detailed product analysis (justifying the price and positioning higher quality for a higher price). The second approach focuses on creating frequent special offers for specific audiences, creating short but more frequent promotions based on seasons or product types (interest).
- Elaboration of the selected solution (strategy development): After the client chooses one solution, a strategy is created for it, which includes specific project goals, project phases with tasks, and the expected duration of each phase. The strategy included the following in this case:
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- Website changes + SEO optimization
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- Social media strategy (focus on Instagram, increasing followers and their engagement in posts)
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- Plan and budget required for advertising (META, Google platforms)
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- PR strategy
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- Influencer marketing strategy
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- Plan for reporting and campaign optimization in specific phases
- Monitoring, measuring results, and adaptation: After the implementation of the strategy, results are monitored on a weekly and monthly basis. The metrics monitored are determined by the goals and KPI values set in the strategy. In this case, they included website visits, increased engagement on Instagram posts, website sales, and ROI. Monitoring on a weekly and monthly basis enables the adjustment of ads, messages, and activities throughout the selected period to achieve the set goals.
What does the branding strategy service look like at TORRIS?
The branding strategy service is something that adapts to each client, but in terms of specific steps, the steps outlined are the same for everyone. What we particularly want to emphasize is that we don't work on the principle of the client providing us with a brief and us creating a campaign. What we do is have the client tell us about the specific problem they've encountered, and we seek a specific solution just for that problem..
Once we solve that problem, we move on to the next one. So if you have any kind of issue, you're not sure which direction to take, and something needs to change, feel free to reach out to us with confidence. If you feel that your brand has much more potential than what you see in terms of results and sales, get in touch. Together, we can explore what's going on, find a solution tailored to your brand, and work together to address the challenges you've encountered.
Don't worry, there's no problem for which there isn't a solution, and searching for that solution is something we immensely enjoy.
