Let’s explain the “brand strategy framework and strategy planning procedure” here.

It is a procedure to consider “what kind of concept (= way of being) should be raised to build originality and create empathy?”

Procedure-1: PEST & 3C Analysis

No matter how big the budget is, it is difficult for a single company to resist significant trends worldwide.

If that is the case, it is critically important to determine “what kind of ‘global trend’ should be on your side” when formulating a brand strategy.

If you make a mistake, you will fall into a “brand strategy that does not pay off even if you work hard”.

As mentioned above, the brand strategy tends to fall into the “fluffy sense theory”, but as long as it is a business investment, it is a clear point of view that “Which market opportunity is this brand strategy going to capture?” necessary. For that purpose, “PEST analysis” and “3C analysis” are required.

PEST Analysis Framework And Procedure

PEST analysis is the macro environment surrounding a brand, and “PEST” is a framework that takes the initials of “Politics,” “Economy,” “Society,” and “Technology.”

• Politics (Politics)
• Economy
• Society
• Technology

And each element of the PEST analysis has the following essential properties:

• P (political factors):

Change the “rules of market competition” itself, which is the premise of market competition.

• E (Economic Factor):

The “value chain” is directly linked to profit, such as sales and costs.

• S (social factors):

It affects the consumer demand structure that is the source of sales

• T (technical aspect):

It changes the KSF of market competition.

3C Analysis Framework And Procedure

Next, let’s move on to the explanation of the 3C analysis. “3C” is a framework that takes the initials of “Customer,” “Competitor,” and “Company,” which are the microenvironments surrounding the brand.

• Customer (market/customer)
• Competitor
• Company

And each element of the 3C analysis has the following essential properties:

• Customer (market/customer):

By satisfying the market’s and consumers’ needs, the brand becomes easier to sell.

• Competitor:

Brands are easier to sell when there is no competition in the first place or when there is an attractiveness that exceeds the competition.

• Company:

Using the company’s unique strengths makes selling the brand more accessible.

 PEST and 3C must always be considered “in a series of flows”.

It is because PEST derives “new market opportunities”, and if we try to capture “new market opportunities”, one of the 3Cs, “definition of markets and customers”, will change.

If the “definition of the market and customers” changes, the “definition of competition” will change, and if the definition of competition changes, the purpose of “our company’s strengths against competition” will also change.

In this way, “PEST” and “3C” should not be considered separately but must be regarded as in a continuous flow of “PEST → 3C”.

Procedure -2: Target Persona

After completing the 3C analysis, the next thing you need is target setting and persona design.

Set The Target

If you discover “new market opportunities” through PEST analysis, the “definition of the market” will change. And if the “definition of the market” changes, the targets and personas will also change.

There is a framework called “6R” for target setting.

• Realistic Scale: Is the target large enough?
• Competitive landscape (Rival): Is the target without strong competing brands?
• Rate of Growth: Is it a target whose needs will likely increase in the future?
• Ripple Effect: Is the target a source of word-of-mouth ripple?
• Reachability: Is the target reachable through channels or media?
• Measurability (Response): Is the effect on the action a measurable target?

Once you’ve decided on your target based on this framework, you want to focus on “persona design.”

Design A Persona

Persona design refers to drawing a “symbolic customer image” that encourages empathy with the brand and can expect to become a long-term fan.

There are three primary purposes for designing personas.

Purpose 1-From A Company’s Perspective To A Consumer’s Perspective

Quite often, when working on a project with a client

• “You may think so, but I don’t think it that way…”
• “You’re certainly knowledgeable, but they aren’t that knowledgeable…”

As your colleagues, including you, gain experience in the industry, they gain expertise as producers and sellers and become “professionals” in that industry. It means we gradually move away from the “amateur sense” and become an “unworldly presence”.

However, if you make good use of persona design, you can temporarily move away from the company’s “professional” perspective and stand on the “countermeasures from the consumer’s point of view” that asks, “What kind of emotions should I be involved in with this persona?” be able to

Also, who participate as an outsider and have an “amateur sense,” it is a big task to “how bring the client back to an amateur sense.”

ALSO READ: Points To Note When Joining A Franchise Centred On A Dominant Strategy

Purpose 2-From Logic To Emotion/Story

In the business world, “being logical is a good thing”.

However, being “logical” is not necessarily the right thing to do when it comes to brand strategy because customers who buy your brand don’t always buy on logic alone.

In general, there are four criteria for judging things.

As you can see from the chart above, rationality isn’t the only criterion for personas to choose your brand. Instead, it is only part of it.

And since a brand strategy is “a guideline for creating empathy for a brand”, what many marketers are required to do is “the ability to empathize” with the target’s emotions and sense of values.

And “persona design” is a great help for the “empathy ability” many marketers should have.

However, for clients who are usually used to “data” and “logic”, even if they suddenly say, “Please try to draw the values ​​and emotions of the persona,” most of them stop writing.

Purpose 3 – From Individual Optimization To Overall Optimization

When the brand strategy moves to the execution phase, it is often the case that in addition to the marketing department, the product development department, sales/sales department, digital department, and many other departments are involved in the process.

However, if each team member imagines a different persona image, the brand’s value proposition becomes ambiguous, and the personality loses a sense of unity.

The strategy will no longer have a story, and actions will end up sporadic. As a result, the brand strategy will fail.

On the other hand, if excellent personas can be set and shared, each department will be able to accept them as if they were real people and see the world from the persona’s point of view.

For example, gender and age, life stage, values, past life experiences and worries, what are you particular about, what do you feel is most important, and what do you want to achieve? etc., is typical.

It also clarifies the “standpoint” each department should return to when unsure about brand strategy decision-making.

As a result, it should be possible to maintain the consistency of various branding measures and identify what is unnecessary.