Why Brand Strategy and Copywriting go hand in hand
You may have heard of all these terms such as brand positioning, brand differentiator, or brand persona, and wondered what all of it meant. Well, we are going to go down a deeper hole of the role of Brand Strategy, and what that looks like, in copywriting .
There are several elements of branding. Ideally, when parsing a brand strategy you will go through these elements in a certain order. But, you may ask, what is branding to begin with?
What is a brand?
Muhtar Kent, the CEO for Coca-Cola once said, “A brand is a promise. A good brand is a promise kept.”
Okay, so what does that mean? I’ll give you the Market Business News version:
A brand is the image and personality of a product or service that a business provides. A product’s features, such as logos or slogans, make it unique and different….Brands are intangible reputational assets. In fact, they are the most valuable asset of many corporations. Intangibles are assets you cannot touch, they have no physical form, but are valuable for the company.
Brands are often referred to as their physical assets, such as logos or color palettes, but what I’ve learned in this business is that they are so much more than that. Branding is creating an experience for your customer–your ideal customer to be specific (that’s the customer you are strategically targeting for your brand).
Coke vs Pepsi Cans battling it out
Case in point, Coca Cola and Pepsi both have the same target audience (originally middle-class: White American who are family oriented and between the ages of 18-35 btw). They offer a similar product, but we prefer one over the other because of the connection we have to that brand (don’t try to tell me that it’s because they taste different, because they don’t).
So now that we got that out of the way, let’s clarify: A brand is who your business would be if it was a person.
Copywriting is the sound of your brand on screen (or paper)
Do you remember learning about personification in English class? That’s it. If brands are strategic, then that brand becomes similar to the targeted audience (or say someone who the audience would connect with or be friends with). Scientifically we feel close to people who are similar to us, so this would explain why we are drawn to certain brands because marketers do research and use psychology to appeal to the target market.
What do I mean by brand strategy?
Brand strategy is the map or plan of how to build out the brand. Objectives go over what the brand is to accomplish and how. Then we shift into those objectives with the elements of branding; including brand identity, brand image, brand gap, brand equity, brand communication/messaging, and brand experience. Brand experience is the end goal which builds affinity, advocacy, and loyalty.
Whew!
There was a lot of “brand” dropping in that paragraph, sorry about that. Now, we are going to further break this up so you’re not confused.
Journey to Building a Brand
Brand Identity
First, we have to start with the brand identity. Of course, as any builder will tell you, you need a solid foundation. In this case, it’s brand identity.
Brand identity is the umbrella term for the elements that make your brand unique. Just like your identity is what makes you unique. It is made up of your mission, vision, values, tone, voice, positioning, and brand personality/archetype.
Mission: Why does your company exist? What's the purpose?
Vision: Different than mission, it often describes goals that it aims to achieve
Values: What beliefs drive your company?
Perception: What do you want to be seen as? Down-to-earth, approachable, professional, higher quality
Tone: As the queen of copywriting herself describes, the tone goes over tempo (fast, slow), the terminology used (slang, formal), and finally traits (quirky, optimistic, romantic, cynical).
Voice: Does your brand tell a long drawn-out story? Or does it prefer quippy anecdotes? How does your brand communicate its voice, especially as an introvert? With punctuation of course.
Positioning: What makes your brand unique? I.E: Innovative
Do you offer faster turnarounds? Mentorship? Different delivery methods)
Hint: This should be displayed above the fold of your homepage so everyone can see it and it shouldn’t be filled with jargon.
Personality: Who is your brand if it was a person? (For example, Apple would be the techy but minimalistic guy at the party, while Dick’s Sporting goods would be the adventurous, Crocodile Dundy-like guy)
You may be wondering: How does copywriting fit into all of this?
Well, The foundation of branding goes beyond visuals. It’s the story, goals, values, target audience profiles, and message behind your brand.
Brand Messaging
Wait, my brand has a message?
Of course, it does!
Your message isn’t just your values and what your brand lives by (take mine for example). Your message is the who, what, where, why, and how that your copy should delicately answer.
Like branding and brand strategy, messaging and copy go hand-in-hand. Messaging is just the goals and execution of a brand's copy (also referred to as “Golden Circles").
I go further into this because just like a good book or film; your website should have a message (or moral) to the story while the copy (or narration) tells you how that all plays out.
You see, we have been exposed to messaging all along. Sometimes, it’s subtle, but it’s there.
Curious as to what that looks like?
Who is your audience→so that you can know how to talk to them as a familiar friend would (tone of voice, values that speak to them, the vocabulary they use)
What are the problems that they are facing→in order to show empathy for what challenges they face?
Where are they at now →to further understand what solutions are accessible to them in this stage of business
Why are they in business?→what matters to them? What transformations can you speak into their lives to inspire them?
How are you going to help them get there?
This is the very foundation of why I created my brand messaging package, “The Poem”, so we can go further into your brand’s insights; like its mission, vision, positioning, what makes you different, and competitive analysis to identify gaps in the market (to name a few).
And as a marketer who knows that processes change, you get locked into any updates that I include in your messaging guide and next steps guide (because we’re all learning here).