Planning an Effective Brand

Whether we like it or not strategic planning is part of the branding-backbone efforts in a company. There is probably no other way of going terribly wrong in managing a brand as “not having a strategic plan to follow”. Just like a yearly marketing plan draws a more clear image or idea of what wishes to be accomplished, and even more importantly what NEEDS to be done to make those wishes come true, so will a branding plan provide direction to the brand management process.

Now let’s remember strategic planning works in a different array of practices, from marketing to sales, from production to accounting, and because of this it can just as well be applied to branding in its pure and un-touched form.

No true strategic plan can be written out and be effective without an initial situational analysis; whether a new or existing brand, the environment –in & out- of the company will affect this plan when it is set in motion. Start by identifying all the variables that will affect your ‘brand’ during the upcoming term (recommendation: 4 P’s analysis is a great starting point to segment the wide analysis). Once you’ve gathered this data, and depending on your situation, you might want to benchmark yourself with your main competitors specifically in these variables that will be influencing you.

With all this information, you will have a much more clear idea of the “waters you’re swimming in” and it will allow you to focus on what needs to be done.

Next, I’ll present a basic approach of what should be thought of and done to plan strategically for a brand:
(I advise, however, the reader to analyze and modify it to better suite its’ own needs)

Now, to better understand this we must comprehend how the main 4 components work and interact. In my opinion they do so as a pyramid (visual1). The lowest (4th) component supports the 3rd, while the 3rd supports the 2nd, etc., all the way up. If one of these components fails to do its job, a failure of the vision of the brand is likely to happen. Meanwhile, like I’ve already mentioned, all of the components must be supported by the values of the company, otherwise they won’t lead to productive practices and activities.

Although the four main components support each other to achieve the global vision of the brand plan, we can also look at them as “including circles” (visual2), where one component includes the other, all the way to the smallest one (tactics and actions). What we can see in this image is the vast importance to coordinate, plan ahead, and manage (control), the brand plan to be able to achieve the objectives, vision, and more importantly not deviate from the long term vision for the ‘brand’.

It really isn’t a coincidence that successful brands like Sony, Apple, Toshiba, Toyota, etc., plan up to 25 years ahead of the current year. The importance of strategic planning in a company is enormous, and seeing the great results planning strategically with a wide comprehension of the situation around us have given many businesses worldwide, after all planning for a brand sounds very logic and convincing to me.