Our definition of a Brand and the BrandQuest process

BrandQuest fundamentally believes the most valuable, enduring and authentic brands come from within.

They are not the result of an outsourced creative endeavour, rather they are born of the founders and staff who work there.

The BrandQuest process relies on the people inside the organisation charged with running them. They form a core team that within 3 weeks can help develop a robust, authentic and enduring brand strategy.

Stage 1: Brand Alignment Survey

Stage 2: Brand Strategy Development

Stage 3: Brand Implementation Planning

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Stage 1: Brand Alignment Survey

An initial background brand alignment questionnaire of key stakeholders and contributors to future success - to inform and prepare BrandQuest for the inclusive stakeholder workshop ahead.

If your management and staff are not aligned, then it is impossible for your brand/s to be aligned.

Our BrandQuest (pre-strategy workshop) Brand Alignment Survey of your key staff, management teams and (if required) external stakeholders, is a discovery of where gaps in alignment and/or erroneous assumptions of your brand/s may currently exist.

This survey tests only ‘top-of-mind’ answers ie; the actual responses that a person will have about the brand and business, rather than a scripted or over-considered version.

These insights provide BrandQuest with key understandings of what the brand currently means to your organisation’s most valuable resource ie; your people, and where gaps in alignment exist.

Indicative answer above from actual survey – showing both:

1. a lack of understanding by senior management and survey participants of whether current customers understand the organisation’s positioning, and

2. a lack of alignment across the participants

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Stage 2: Brand strategy development

The key to the Brand Quest process consists of:

• an intensive, full-day BrandQuest brand strategy process workshop for the key stakeholders of your business who are charged with taking the company into the future.
• 2nd half-day BrandQuest brand strategy presentation, including a Brand Audit and Brand Plan based on the agreed Brand Canvas™
• Iteration of the Brand Strategy - allowing all stakeholders to provide further considered feedback, with capability to challenge, openly discuss and amend where required until finalised.

The BrandQuest Brand Strategy development relies on a proven and inclusive full-day workshop with key stakeholders. This workshop is based on BrandQuest's 5 BrandQuestions IP, refined since 2007 below:

The BrandQuest brand strategy process relies upon illuminating your brand from within your business - through extracting and refining the inner knowledge, history and experience of the key personnel charged with taking your business into the future – and to differentiated success.

Think of this team as your own highly experienced Internal Focus Group who will drive the vision and provide required valuable insights into the current brand as well as the ongoing development of the future brand/s.

In the intensive full-day ‘deep dive’ interrogation of your business, BrandQuest place laser-like focus on your leadership team - using the proven BrandQuest methodology - to explore, extract and interrogate all aspects of your business, your product/s and/or your service/s, defining your market and then analysing the competitive set within that market.

This exploratory internal group research provides the necessary data points that will lead to the revealing of your greatest competitive brand asset, ie; Your Brand CanvasTM

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The answers to the 5 Brand Questions – Our Process

At the conclusion of the BrandQuest Strategic Process you will have a clearly developed, fully understood and agreed brand strategy – aligned across the organisation - ready for implementation that will clarify:

1. What’s your story?

Develop a shared Brand Story. Using the workshop participants to develop a shared narrative that helps define where the organisation has come from. Try to focus on the ‘key wins’ and defining moments that have made the organisation successful. Ensure that all participants contribute to the story.

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2. Where are you headed?

Develop a 5-year Brand Vision that articulates - in metrics, what future success ‘looks like’, what change will be required and how it can be best achieved.

Your Business Vision has been set far enough out to provide a quantum leap for your business and is a “vivid description” of what your business might look like in 5 years time.

Having established your future Vision, you can then ‘break it down’ into annualised growth in order to provide realistic goals year-on-year.

By setting your Vision 5 years ‘out’ you will discover that your annual growth rates are more readily and easily identified.

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3. Why you?

Develop the ‘WHY’ of the Brand (the ‘MIND’) – with clearly articulated points of difference ie. WHY should a customer buy from you. This question examines the defined market as a whole, in order to create a motivational driven segmentation analysis to reveal a defined number of rich and valuable segments within the specific market that your business needs to focus on in order to develop your market position.

This question can be divided into the following sub-questions:

3.1 What market are you in?

Understand and define what market(s) you compete in. Defining the market you compete in is crucial to your overall positioning and defining who your competitors are. The broader your market the more competition you’re likely to have, conversely the narrower your market the less competition you’re like to have.

‍Importantly, you are in control of deciding exactly how broad or narrow your market will be.

3.2 Who you need to say it to?

Target market/s Provide a robust understanding of ‘WHO’ you should specifically be targeting in those markets and how you should best communicate to them. When you better understand what motivates various target segments to purchase your product or service, you’ll be more able to create meaningful and relevant marketing communications that directly address and meet their needs.

The more meaningful and appealing you are to a select group (or groups) of people, the more opportunity your brand and marketing messages have of generating the action you seek. There are many ways to segment the total market including demographics, psychographics, and behavioural segmentation.

Our preference is to use motivational segmentation because when you better understand what motivates various market segments for your product or service, the better you’ll be able to create meaningful and relevant marketing communications that appeal and deliver to their needs.

3.3 What makes you different?

Core points of difference. Once you have identified which segments you will target within your defined market, you can develop your 3 points of difference.  

These are highly relevant to your newly defined target segments. All and any further customer benefits should then fall within these these key points of difference, so the output is a consistent communication that will be unique to your brand and resonate with your target customers.

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4. Who are you?

Develop the ‘WHO’ of the Brand (the ‘HEART’) – the unique ‘Brand Essence’ or SOUL of the brand that will guide future behaviour, culture, actions and company values

Your Brand Essence establishes a positive, powerful connection with everyone it touches and also creates a sustainable corporate culture for all to deliver to.

Your unique Brand Essence represents the relationship and intrinsic value the brand delivers to the customer, how it is communicated and marketed, the type of care and concern customers receive, and the way all stakeholders support the brand.

For those who serve the brand, the essence is a beacon that drives, motivates and inspires continued commitment and cultural direction.

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5. How you get there?

The answer to BrandQuestion 3; Why you (the ‘MIND’ of the brand) and BrandQuestion 4; Who are you? (the ‘HEART’ of the brand) frames guidance in order to objectively audit the brand (are the current brand assets capable of delivering to the agreed future Vision?”) as well as provide guidance and recommendations for future growth.

The Brand Canvas can be applied to assist or make judgment calls on issues as wide ranging as marketing communications and messaging, research and development, potential acquisition ‘fit’, partnering ‘fit’ etc.

As importantly, it also frames the consistency for internal and external messaging – from sales pitches and tender documents – to ‘elevator pitches and their tone of delivery.

Think of your Brand Canvas as the over-riding ‘Heart and Mind’ that drives the culture of management, staff and your business.

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Stage 3: Brand Implementation Planning

We will work with management to assist implementation of the Brand Strategy into the market for positive change. At BrandQuest, we understand that no one is better positioned to implement your brand strategy than the team that helped shape it. Our comprehensive understanding of your brand essence and Brand Canvas allows us to execute marketing and brand deliverables with precision, ensuring alignment with your strategic vision.

Our Approach to Brand Implementation:

1. Seamless Integration: Having crafted the strategy, we can ensure that your brand is integrated across all channels with consistency and authenticity. From digital platforms to physical assets, we meticulously align every touchpoint to reflect your brand essence.
2. Tailored Marketing Activation: With a deep understanding of your brand’s objectives and target audience, we create marketing campaigns that are not only strategically sound but also highly effective in achieving your goals. Our approach is grounded in strategy, allowing us to connect with your audience in meaningful ways.
3. Efficient Project Management: We manage the implementation process with the utmost care and attention to detail. Whether it involves content creation, website development, or comprehensive marketing campaigns, we oversee every aspect to ensure timely and cost-effective delivery.
4. Creating Consistent Brand Experiences: We strive to deliver brand experiences that resonate and foster long-term engagement. By leveraging our strategic understanding, we can develop activations and campaigns that authentically reflect your brand, enhancing its presence in the market.
5. Ongoing Support and Optimisation: As your partners in brand building, we remain committed to your success beyond initial implementation. We monitor performance, gather feedback, and make necessary adjustments to keep your brand relevant and effective in a dynamic environment.

Our aim is to help you transition smoothly from strategy to execution, supporting your brand’s growth and ensuring it makes a positive impact in the marketplace.

Contact us today for your 'no-cost, no-obligation' consultation. Learn how our brand strategy process helped 200+ organisations.

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