arco.

Founder

Personal Brand Strategist

Opulous

Digital Marketing Intern

PUBLIC PRESSURE

ITMV

Digital Marketing Consultant

Expedition Engineering Ltd

Junior Engineer

Helping businesses deliver impact by enhancing their visibility and reputation | Founder of arco.

I believe in business as a force for positive change. 

In my experience, most people agree…so why are so many businesses unable to impact the world in the way they want to?

They’re unable to align with their core purpose, communicate their mission effectively and connect with their target audience. 

Clear brand strategy can provide the guidance businesses need to solve these problems. 

I work with brands to help them tell their story and build brand strategy frameworks that provide  the foundation upon which the rest of their business is built.

Sound interesting? 

You can follow my profile on LinkedIn for more insights…

Or 

You could check out my website to see how we can work together.

The best brands in the world understand this more than anyone else…

Content is the best way to connect with the modern consumer.

If we consider “brand” as the gut feeling people have about you, your product, or your company…or the “perception” people have of you. 

And strategy as the means to get from where you currently are, to where you want to be. 

Then brand strategy can be considered, the means by which a company goes from their current “perception” to the way that they want to be perceived in the market. 

To do this, brands need to consider:

- Core purpose
- Values
- Mission
- Positioning
- And how they communicate all of the above

The list goes on…

There are several ways to influence the way you are seen. (your reputation)

- The product
- Website
- Logo
- Marketing campaigns
- Colour scheme


Content is just one of them.

It’s one of the many opportunities brands are given to shape the perception that people have of them. 

So here are a few things to consider when writing content for your brand:

Does it align with your core values and beliefs?

Are you being open and transparent with your audience?

Does it speak directly to the challenges and frustrations of your ICP? 

Alex  McCann

Brands really struggle with purpose statements. 

They struggle because they’re told that they need to be about how their brand is better than everyone else, and how they’re going to change the world etc…

Yeah, great if you’re Apple or Tesla, but 99.999% of brands aren’t. 

Most brands sell simple products for people who want them to simply do their job.

This is where most brands go wrong, they try to force a purpose when in truth, all a brand purpose needs to do is represent something bigger than the brand itself. 

Last year the CEO of Unilever got a lot of pushback for saying that brands that “didn’t have a clear purpose” weren’t welcome in their 400-brand portfolio.

With critics commenting that it was naive to assume that Hellman’s Mayonnaise (one of their brands), needs to have a brand purpose.

But here is how Hellman’s showed that even the most boring brands can represent something greater: 

“Born in a NY Deli back in 1913, Hellmann’s purpose is to help people enjoy good, honest food, for the simple pleasure it is, without worry or waste. 

Made with real, simple quality ingredients and true expertise and craftsmanship, Hellmann’s is the World’s No 1 mayonnaise.”

Simple, they aren’t promising world peace…they are promising to keep things simple, and do their bit to prevent food being wasted. 

It doesn’t feel forced, but yet it represents something bigger than mayonnaise.

We hear a lot about how brands need to communicate their purpose, their why…

But what happens if you don’t know that? 

It’s very common for founders to start a business for no other reason than they’re qualified and it's an opportunity to make money. 

Many brands have been successful without a clear brand purpose. 

But that doesn’t mean you wouldn't be better off without one. 

Brand purpose is the key to connecting with your audience on a deeper level. 

It’s what turns a one time customer to a loyal brand advocate…someone who tells their friends and family about your brand, someone that comes back to you even though your competitor has cut their prices in half. 

So how do you find your brand purpose? 

Unfortunately there’s no quick answer, it’s a long process that requires patience, and significant introspection. 

In my experience, the key lies within observation. 

Observation about what’s happening around you, observing what makes you feel deeply. 

For me, I learn a lot about my own brand purpose from speaking to other entrepreneurs and pushing myself out of my comfort zone. 

Whilst you’re observing you should be asking yourself questions. 

Here are a couple of questions I ask clients when I’m trying to help them discover their brand purpose: 

- What does an “ideal” world look like if your brand is able to fulfil its purpose?
- Why should your ICP care about your brand? 
- What frustrates you about the way that your competitors operate? 
- What is the motivation to keep growing your brand?

The answers to these questions will hopefully provide useful insights into what REALLY matters to you and your brand.

It's normal for founders to get stuck.

You’re so concerned with the day to day running of your business that you can’t see the wood for the trees.

Something isn’t working but it’s impossible for you to be unbiased. It’s difficult because you feel like you should be the best person to diagnose the issues you’re having, but in actual fact you’re one of the worst. 

You need someone with no emotional attachment to the business to bring an outside perspective. 

The businesses I work with often think their problem is one thing (like their product) when the root cause is somewhere deeper. 

Maybe it's misaligned messaging, or not truly knowing their ideal client…

Brand strategy is about asking the right questions and digging deeper to find out what’s really going on. 

Are your customers loyal to your brand, or loyal to your prices? 

We talk a lot about brand loyalty as the pinnacle of brand success. To have loyal customers who:

Resonate with what your brand stands for
Identify with what your brand represents
Tell their friends and family about your brand

Is really where every brand wants to be. 

But sometimes we mistake a customer's reason for loyalty. 

Are they coming to you because they identify with your brand on a deeper level?

Or is it simply because your brand offers the lowest prices?

Really it's just a question of priorities. 

For the “brand loyal” consumer, it’s not about what they buy as much as it is about what they buy into. Their priorities might look something like this: 

- Does the brand I’m buying from align with my own core values?
- Does this brand accurately reflect who I am as a person?
- Is the product high quality?
- Price

And for the “price loyal” consumer, it works the other way round, with price sitting at the top.

To be clear, there’s nothing wrong with a bargain hunter, and there are most certainly categories of products where price should be higher up the list of priorities for consumers. 

But it’s far more sustainable in the long term to build a brand for people that will stick with you, even when the next brand cuts their prices, because they respect you.

Taplio

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