What does a brand strategist do?

Oct. 13

“But… what do you really do?”

It’s a question I get asked a lot as a brand strategist. (It’s not always quite that blunt… but that’s the gist.) And I get it!

The idea of “building a brand” in the modern digital economy is incredibly multi-faceted and has a lot of moving parts. The first thing many of us think of is design — especially your logo and colour palette. But that’s really just the tip of the iceberg.

There’s also the way you talk and the words you choose, the photography and imagery you use, the stories you tell. And there’s the way you get that story out there — your website and social media, email and content creation, speaking and networking.

It’s a lot.

All of those moving parts are like mini-machines in their own right, taking time and expertise and investment to figure out how to do them well and how to make them work for your business.

When you run a small creative business and it’s just you and (maybe) your small team, that adds up to… many… (too many?) pieces to think about.

And so to me, when I hear the question “so what does a brand strategist do, really”, what I really hear is, “For the love of red wine and weekends, where on earth do you fit into all of ** gesticulates wildly ** that??

It’s a good question. 😅 Here’s my answer.

Brand strategy acts as the bridge between your overall business strategy, the way you deliver your products and services, and your marketing activities. It’s about making sure that there’s a clear, strong, and purposeful connection between your high-level vision and goals for your business with the way you show up, connect, and take action in your day-to-day.

When it comes down to it, a brand strategist’s work is all about two things: clarity and action.

Clarity, so you understand at a deep level where you are going and why.

That means clearly articulating:

Your business goals — What you are trying to achieve in your business
Your brand’s heart — Your purpose, vision, mission, and values — so you are rooted in something meaningful to you and your team
Your brand’s personality — How it shows up in the world; its voice, tone, and characteristics
Your target audience — Who you serve and what they need to see and hear from you
Your positioning — Where you sit in the marketplace and what makes you unique
Your message — The ideas and impact you are trying to share with the world, the stories you tell, and the words you use to tell them

And I do mean “articulating”.

It’s so essential to get all of those big, lofty ideas out of your head and onto paper! That process forces you to distill your ideas, figure out how they are connected (because usually they just feel like a big ol’ ball of yarn in your head), and simplify them into something easily read and understood by others.

You should end up with real messages and design direction that are written down — a strategic guide to your brand’s fundamentals that you can easily refer to in the future, share with your team, and use on your website and in your marketing materials. If it’s languishing on a shelf gathering dust, it’s not doing its job.

Action, so you know how to get there.

BUT - words without action are useless. The whole point of brand strategy is to move you forward and to make an impact — and to do that, you need a plan.

That means:

Doing research to identify the options for action that make the most sense for you as move towards your goals. Research is what allows you to step outside of your own point of view and get a wider sense of where you sit and what’s happening in the marketplace. It also gives you vital intel that will help you connect all the clarity stuff we just talked about with the doing part.
Setting clear priorities so you know what needs to happen now, what can happen down the road, and (maybe most importantly) what really doesn’t have to happen at all!
Building out a step-by-step plan for confidently executing on your priorities in a sustainable way — making sure that the budget, time, and other resources you have at your disposal are respected and maximized. One-size-fits-all cookie cutter templates won’t work here!
Walking with you through that plan to help you bring it to life. Sometimes, the strategist you hire will also have the skillset to do the execution themselves (for example, brand design or copywriting). In the case of an agency, they’ll have an entire team of experts behind them. Other times, they’ll recommend and/or collaborate with other experts as needed to get the job done. But make sure that you’re hiring them for their strategy skills first and foremost — you can always bring other specialists in to nail the execution.

So what does that look like?

Brand strategy can be delivered in a lot of different ways, expanding and contracting to fit the scope of each project and the needs of each client.

Here at Cursor & Ink, I’ve broken it out into three main services: A three hour consulting session, a day-long brand retreat, or a custom brand strategy and roadmapping project.

Every engagement — whether it’s a single day or three months — involves the same two components of clarity and action. It’s just the deliverables that change.

In a day-long brand retreat, I can give you documentation to take away and refer to in your business going forward. Usually that’s a brand vision guide that captures the core “clarity” elements I talked about earlier in this article. But it can be tailored to focus on creative direction (if you’re going into a rebrand), messaging and copywriting (if you’re redoing your website), a content calendar (if you want to up-level your blogging / social media game), or something else entirely. The goal is to give you a tangible asset to anchor your actions going forward. Share it with your team, use it in your marketing; I’ve even had clients print it out and paste it on their wall to keep them focused and inspired!

And in the Elevated Brand Blueprint or a custom consultancy project, I build out a fully fleshed out roadmap and action plan for your brand that captures the heart of who you are, documents your personality and message, and sets your creative direction in place. Depending on the project, this can also involve working with brand designers, photographers, copywriters, and other specialists as needed to bring the various pieces of your project to life.

Brand strategy is a massive term that involves a lot of moving parts — so much so that it’s easy to equate your brand with just one of those pieces. But in the end, for a brand strategist, it all comes down to two things: getting clear, and then taking action.

If that clarity-action combination sounds like something you can use in your business, please reach out! Take a look at the ways we can work together here, or contact me to schedule a time to chat.

And if you’re still not sure if this is the right fit for you, this post might help: How to know when to invest in brand strategy for your creative business.