How to Define Your Brand Strategy

20 Questions to Help Reveal Your Brand Strategy

By Annie ZelmFeb 9 /2021

When developing your brand strategy, there are a lot of elements to consider before you finally get it right. You’re eager to share your story with the world, but you have to do it in a way that pings your target audience just right. 

Before you launch, here are 20 questions that can help you identify your brand strategy. Use your answers as a roadmap to where you want to guide your business in the future.


20 Questions That Define Your Brand Strategy

1. What’s your brand’s story? (Your literal history - why you were founded and how you grew)

Your brand story should attract the interest of your target audience, help them see the value of your products/services and turn prospects into long-term customers.

2. What’s your brand’s mission? (Your ‘why’—the reason you exist)

Having a written mission statement gives your company a clear direction. It helps your employees feel more engaged and can even improve retention. Research shows that mission-driven employees are 54% more likely to stay at a company for more than five years. As Simon Sinek’s research shows, customers are also more likely to be loyal to a company with a mission they believe in. 

3. What’s your brand’s vision? (Where do you want your company to be five years from now?)

While your mission defines why your company exists, your vision is where you are headed. 

4. What are the core values that define your company and brand? 

Core values help to set expectations for all employees. They’re also important in the hiring process. 

5. Who are your ideal customers?

Understanding your buyer personas is one of the first steps to building a consistent brand. It’s impossible to have effective marketing without understanding customers’ demographics, challenges and what motivates them to buy. 

To learn more about the relationships between buyer personas and brand identity, check out this blog post

6. What does success look like for them? 

Taking the time to determine exactly what success looks like for your customers will give you a clear idea of how you can better serve their needs and convince more people like them to do business with your company.

7. What pain points do you solve for them? 

If your company is struggling to define your customers’ pain points, it’s helpful to interview a few of them. You’ll get great insights into their challenges, where they go for information, how they search for solutions to their problems and how they buy. 

8. How do you make your customers feel? 

This may be a bit harder to quantify, but it’s another great insight you can gain from buyer persona interviews. 

9. What do they love most about you?

While many of your customers will have a ready answer, conducting a more formal survey can give you more comprehensive data on what they care about most.   

10. Who are your competitors? 

Who are the biggest threats in your space right now, and why? How do they communicate the value of their products or services in their marketing?

11. What do you offer that your competitors don’t, and vice versa? 

You might assume you know this already, but the best companies are constantly rolling out new features. If you haven’t done a side-by-side comparison recently, take the time to do one. 

12. How are you perceived in the competitive landscape? 

The way your customers perceive your brand compared to your competitors may be different from the way you see your brand. Asking recent customers about what other solutions they considered before deciding on you can be telling. 

13. What do you wish you could change about that perception? 

The way your customers perceive you gives you a better idea of what misperceptions or concerns you need to address in your marketing. For instance, if customers believe your solution is significantly more expensive than your competitors, you may not be communicating the value well enough. 

14. What are the biggest barriers that keep people from investing in your brand?

These are the questions that often come up late in the sales process. Barriers could be related to cost, speed to market, compliance concerns, long-standing relationships with other vendors, lack of buy-in from other decision-makers, or other factors. 

15. What makes your customers trust you? 

Building trust is essential to establishing a strong brand. Symbols of trust include company logos, ratings and testimonials. 

As you think about how you can build trust for your brand, consider where your customers look to validate you as a trustworthy provider. 

Look at case studies or testimonials on your website? Search what others are saying about you on social media? All of these are important elements that can help you build a trustworthy brand identity.

16. What other brands do you admire? 

Looking at brands that your team admires and identifying what it is about those brands that you like, can help bring alignment throughout your organization in regards to your brand. It can also give you a better sense of what your customers may or may not like about your brand.

17. How would you describe your brand’s personality? (If you were choosing a celebrity spokesperson, who would it be?)

According to Investopedia, a brand personality is something to which the consumer can relate; an effective brand increases its brand equity by having a consistent set of traits that a specific consumer segment enjoys. 

18. What does your brand’s voice and tone sound like? 

It’s important to establish a consistent voice, especially when you’re publishing content across multiple brands. To offer guidance in this area, you could develop a writing style guide for your company.

Brand guidelines can also include: 

  • Whether you write in second person (you) or third person (they)
  • What grammar and punctuation is acceptable
  • Use of trademarks or copyright symbols
  • What industry jargon is common and what to avoid

19. What do your logos and colors reveal about your brand? 

Your colors and logos are the building blocks of your visual brand identity. They can help you establish credibility and generate excitement, or they can be a distraction. For instance, too many contrasting colors can create feelings of anxiety and confusion.  

20. How well does your current brand strategy resonate with customers and align with your future goals? 

After you’ve gone through a brand-building exercise by asking questions like these, it’s time to check any assumptions. Start sharing elements of your brand with customers with an updated website, new videos and social media posts. Then, see how they respond. Are your posts getting a lot of comments or silence? Are people clicking on your calls-to-action? 

Your brand strategy is always evolving, so you’ll need to continue testing different elements over time. 

The Next Steps in Establishing Your Brand Strategy

Having a clearer picture of your brand identity is exciting, and you’re eager to share it with the world. Before you make a big splash, you need logos, custom imagery, brand guidelines, and clear, enticing messaging that compels people to learn more. 

This is where Kuno Creative helps your company shine. In addition to helping you establish your brand strategy, our creative team can design all the branding assets you need to turn your vision into reality. If you’re ready to take your brand to the next level, schedule a free consultation with us today. 

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The Author

Annie Zelm

Annie is the driving force behind content strategy for clients. She uncovers insights about what motivates buyers and uses that knowledge to shape client websites and editorial calendars. Annie brings several years of PR experience gained from working at the amusement park, Cedar Point.
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