Brand Strategy vs Business Strategy. And why you need both…

I was recently having a conversation with my wife who is doing some business consulting for a friend, and I was once again reminded of how important both of these plans are to building a thriving company. First, let’s define them:

Business Strategy - everything a business does to build a healthy, profitable oriented system.

Brand Strategy -  everything a business does to build customers’ perception of the business.

So much of the long-term and day-to-day success of a business is rooted in having clarity on both of these things. The why, the how, and the what of your company relies on these two plans to fill in gaps and help you make better decisions, spend money in the right spaces, and scale at the right speed.

Your Brand Strategy helps define the why and the how. What’s your mission? Why do you exist and who do you exist for? Your Business Strategy defines the what. What are you bringing to the world? What problem are you solving? What is the next hire you need to make? What do your goals need to be for the next month, quarter, year, etc.

To use a golf analogy - clarity on these things helps you decide if you need to lay up or go for it. This is a classic decision that inevitably every golfer faces at some point in every round. 

If you pick the wrong club it could cost you a lot. Is the penalty worth it? Is the risk worth the reward? Do you understand the distance needed to carry the water and how much the wind factors into your club choice? The way your ball is lying matters. Where the pin is placed matters. How many good or bad shots you’ve hit before the next one matters.

Understanding all of the variables, and having a strategy built with those things in mind, helps you make a better decision with a more calculated risk. You understand what it might cost you if you miss, and the reward for what will happen if you execute a great shot.

So how does this apply to your business?

Are you in a season of going for it where you want to take a risk and grow? Great - where do you need to spend money and time in order to attract clients that help you do that? What does the marketing plan need to look like? What type of content creation do you need to be focusing on? What type of customer service system do you need in order to make sure customers have such a good experience that they tell their friends about you?

Or maybe you are in a season of saving for something and you need to lay up/play it safe. You’re in discovery for the next service/product you should offer. What kind of space do you need to be creating for your team in order to discover and launch that thing? Can you do it internally or do you need to hire someone to do it for you? What’s the opportunity cost for that discovery and what will it cost you to do it? Maybe you need to pull back on spending in certain areas so you don’t find yourself in a tricky situation for your “next shot”.

These are just two examples of how having a defined business and brand strategy can help you ask the right questions (internally) and find the right customers and team members (externally) in order to move forward in a healthy (and oftentimes faster) way.

If you are running into problems setting priorities, goals, timelines, etc - then revisit these two things to help make those decisions. And if you are missing one of them, reach out to Walton. We can provide you with everything you need to make the right choice on your next shot 😉