Four Fundamentals of Business Strategy and Brand Strategy

Align business, brand, culture, and communications so your company wins in the marketplace.

I had a prospective client once say to me, “I’m not sure what it is you do, but it’s not marketing.”

I thought that statement was curious because what I was doing at that meeting was presenting how my agency, Aespire, could help this organization with what they considered “marketing.”

Over the five years we have worked with this organization, we have done some marketing and re-branded the organization. We’ve designed some things and helped them create experiences for their members.

The foundation of what we’ve done is to advise them on strategies to communicate more effectively and grow an organization whose maximum possible audience is less than 1,500 people in North America.

That’s not the kind of audience you can market effectively without claiming an indispensable position in their category, having deep insight into their audience, and knowing how to communicate in a way the audience pays attention to.

When ideas are passed along as strategy, the marketing team often wants to jump to implementation without a clear view of the fundamental business strategy.

Fundamental business strategy asks, “Where are we going to compete?”, “How are we going to win?” and “What will it take to win in the marketplace?”

When you think about fundamental business strategy questions, you realize a company needs a clear understanding of its audience, offering, and the resources necessary to create revenue and value.

In many companies, there’s a disconnect between strategy and operations, sales and marketing, products and customers, leadership and teams. Instead of functioning as a system, companies devolve into silos.

What is beautiful about approaching any business from a design perspective is that design is cross-disciplinary and interdisciplinary. You don’t just build a business or a brand, you design them, and that design is informed by extraordinary strategy.

Well-designed companies don’t have silos. They have cross-functional teams that know how their role impacts other company areas. Companies that start with strategy break down the silos and think strategically about the long-term plans that help companies grow.

Being an extraordinary strategist isn’t complicated. It requires focus and discipline. Let me be clear; extraordinary strategy is a goal we can all aspire to. The Society of Extraordinary Strategists is about what we learn and practice together.

Six Principles of Business and Brand Strategy

To helps us know how to recognize and implement extraordinary strategy, consider these six guiding principles of this framework:

1. Extraordinary Strategists look deep into a business and its brand to find and create connections between the company, products, and customers.
2. Extraordinary Strategists are future-focused, seeing opportunities others can’t see.
3. Extraordinary Strategists experience the world differently and solve problems that appear unsolvable.
4. Extraordinary strategists confidently guide, learning from hindsight, acting with foresight, and speaking with insight to direct the company along a clear path to its desired future.
5. Extraordinary Strategists position a company in a category of its choosing in a way that outmaneuvers competitors and creates superior value for the company, consumers, and society.
6. Extraordinary Strategists align every aspect of business, brand, culture, and communications around a shared vision of value and prosperity.

Are you a US-based business owner?

Would you like to be a guest on The Extraordinary Strategist Podcast to discuss the growth and marketing challenges facing your business?

To apply, here’s all you have to do:

1. Take the Aespire Marketing Assessment (powered by StoryBrand).
2. After you get your results, send me a summary of your business and the challenges that keep you from growing your business (my contact info is in the report).
3. We’ll schedule a recording session if you qualify to discuss your Marketing Report results.
   

With these principles in mind, we’ll continue to share insight on aligning leadership, business, brand, and marketing to show you how they are all part of a connected system that helps people like you grow your business.

I’m excited to announce that I’m changing the name of the podcast from “Everybody Brands,” to “The Extraordinary Strategist Podcast.” As a listener, you’re a member of the Society of Extraordinary Strategists.

I will still share interviews with marketplace leaders, you’ll hear my insights more when we publish, and maybe we will find some new music to celebrate our name change.

Thanks for listening and following. You can subscribe to receive our content directly in your inbox when we publish. Look for the link in the show notes or visit extraordinarystrategist.com. And, if you listen to the podcast, please leave a five-star review!