Flintlock Marketing, a sector-leading brand strategy consultancy working with countless global brands and ambitious businesses, has shared some insights to support growing firms attempting to expand their reach and increase their market share through strategic marketing.
The company has a long track record of achieving remarkable success for the enterprises and organisations it collaborates with. Flintlock uses a unique and in-depth 'sparking' process to get to the finest possible detail about a brand's characteristics and define how to turn that knowledge into quantifiable growth.
Advice for UK Businesses Learning About the Value of Brand Strategy
Brand strategy is far from a new concept. Still, for many businesses, a lack of knowledge and education about branding often means that companies with substantial potential are left behind and may not identify that an absence of brand planning is the missing factor.
Flintlock Co-Founder, Tasha Gladman, has published a concise guide to support these businesses and clarify why brand strategy isn’t only fundamental to any organisation in a competitive sector but is equally vital to growth and scalability as the business goals that underpin the company.
She says, ‘We explain the importance of brand strategy by using an analogy of horses and carts, where the cart is the action and all the daily tasks and activities a business performs, and the horse is the brand strategy that provides direction, cohesion and steers the way forward.
So many fantastic businesses believe that filling their schedules with endless tasks is the right solution, be it responding to customers, completing financial projections, or attending meetings. This scenario applies across the board, including large corporations that have lost sight of their branding over time.
Strategic branding is overlooked and perceived as a 'nice to have' or an indulgent exercise, while the reality in a customer-centric economy is that without a brand strategy, a business is running with its feet tied together. Putting together a concise, bespoke strategy with an accomplished strategist provides scrutiny about current brand performance and supports exacting decision-making about the business's objectives. It refers back to the customer, their needs and expectations.’
Understanding the Differences Between Business and Brand Strategy
The brand marketing specialists go on to define the contrasts between overarching business strategies and brand strategies while noting that both elements must be consistent and work towards common goals to ensure all investments, communications, marketing, and decisions are based on the same targets and with a clear framework to shape the direction of the business.
Tasha says, ‘Business strategies act like the masterplan behind the firm, where directors, owners, and senior leaders pinpoint what they expect to achieve and create a series of steps and actions that they believe will take them there. However, what we often see here at Flintlock Marketing is that businesses have highly developed and professional business strategies without any awareness that their branding is letting them down.
In recent years, the consumer environment and customers' expectations have shifted dramatically. A good product, a competitive price, or a great service isn't enough if a company doesn't have the brand equity, value proposition, and customer buy-in to make it work.
Modern consumers make buying decisions based on ever-shifting factors, such as brand ethics, environmental impacts and carbon emissions, social responsibility, and the brand's style. This becomes
more crucial for B2C brands that primarily communicate with potential customers through personal forms of marketing, such as social media.
Even the most carefully researched and compiled business strategy may not be effective if the branding simply isn't there to back it up. This means all the marketing, visual content, and communications the company produces fail to provide the messaging and interactions that will assist the organisation in achieving those big-picture goals.’
Professional Brand Consultancy Services
According to Tasha's advice, the key takeaway is that rushing to 'do things' isn't always the best plan, and businesses must implement a baseline brand strategy to maximise their chances of success.
Companies looking to learn more about the intrinsic value of strategy or that recognise a need to review their branding before moving ahead with expansion plans or new product launches are welcome to contact Flintlock Marketing directly. They can also access case studies of the results achieved for previous clients through the company's website.
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About Flintlock:
Flintlock is an expert UK brand marketing and branding specialist agency. We blend pure creativity, professionalism, expertise and skill, extracting the knowledge and value our incredible team provides to create brand strategies that feel like home, and encapsulate what makes you you and how you communicate those intangibles to your target customer to make your business a brand they would choose over anybody else.
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Source Company – https://www.flintlockltd.com/
