Brand Strategy: What It Is and Why Your Business Needs One

“My business doesn’t need complicated strategies”. We hear that a lot. For many small and medium-sized business owners, the word “strategy” sounds intimidating. It can feel distant, complex, full of technical jargon, and disconnected from day-to-day reality. But the truth is, a well-crafted brand strategy can completely transform the way your business communicates, positions itself, and is perceived by people. It doesn’t need to be a massive document or a convoluted plan. What really matters is that it brings clarity and that changes everything.

Businesses with a defined brand strategy make decisions more confidently, align their visual and verbal choices, and connect more genuinely with the people who matter most: their customers. In this article, we want to show you how brand strategy can be a powerful tool for your business, and how it can (yes!) be simple and effective.

1 – What is brand strategy

When you think about creating or redesigning your brand, you might already have a bunch of information about your business. Maybe it’s all written down in a business plan, scribbled in a notebook, or just stored in your head, and that’s totally fine. This information usually talks about your business structure: what you sell, how it works, what your goals are, how much it costs, who’s on your team, what market you operate in, and so on. All of this matters and has value. But often, this language is more technical and focused on day-to-day operations.

Brand strategy is the moment to translate business data into something clearer, more emotional, and easier to absorb, without losing depth. It’s where we start organizing, together with you, what your business really wants to communicate. How does it want to be perceived? What makes it special? What will make people remember it fondly? That’s where emotional connection comes in. Brand strategy translates what your business is into a language that touches people’s hearts. It guides the creation of the name, visual identity, brand voice, and everything that follows. It’s the link between the business plan and communication that truly enchants. Best of all, it’s built from your story, your dream, and everything that makes your business unique.

2 – What is brand strategy for

Brand strategy acts like a compass. When all your business information is organized in one place, in accessible and clear language, it becomes much easier to make confident decisions. Instead of getting lost in endless possibilities, you have a point of reference: something that helps you decide what makes sense for your business, what fits, and what brings you closer (or further) from the path you want to follow. Brand strategy brings alignment. Between the person who dreams up the business and the one who runs it day to day. Between what you offer and what people actually need. Between what happens behind the scenes and what shows up for the world to see. With this foundation well built, everything begins to flow more consistently: the name, visuals, tone of voice, content, campaigns. Even new products or services find their rightful place in the brand. That’s what strategy is for: to be the strong foundation that holds your ideas and helps you build a beloved brand with fewer doubts.

A great example of this is the Opulim project. They create beautiful, delicate decor materials for children’s parties, and they deliver a complete visual project so the family can see exactly how the table and party environment will look. In their beloved brand project, we dive deep into Opulim’s strategy. The defined purpose was: “Celebrating childhood with ‘wow’ parties.” One of their biggest differentiators is the ease of receiving everything ready-to-go, with a visual project that guides every setup detail. This clarity made it possible to create a brand and visual identity that reflected exactly who they are. And that makes all the difference when it comes to connecting with the right people.

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3 – What should a brand strategy include

There’s no one-size-fits-all brand strategy. Every business is unique and deserves a tailored approach. That’s why the content of a strategy can vary a lot from one business to another. The important thing is that it truthfully reflects who that brand is and, above all, helps communicate it in a clear and charming way.

In our Beloved Brand projects, we organize the strategy in three major blocks. The first is the heart of the brand. Here we map the purpose, benefits, attributes, differentiators, everything that makes your brand unique. The second is the brand world, including market positioning, dream client profile, flagship product, and more. Finally, the third block is the brand manifesto: a soul-filled text expressing what your brand believes, feels, and brings to the world. With these three blocks in place, your business gains a complete brand platform: a solid base for making decisions about communication, visual identity, campaigns, and even future launches.

Bangalô Ilhabela is a nature retreat with only six bungalows surrounded by native forest. Each unit is fully equipped: living room, kitchen, bathroom, and lots of comfort. In their brand strategy, one of the emotional benefits we identified was: “To have a complete house in nature, reconnect with your essence, and feel at home.” From there, we defined their purpose: “To offer the dream of a full-body-and-soul immersion in nature.” Bangalô Ilhabela’s visual identity was born from this very essence.

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4 – Traits of a strong brand strategy

You might be wondering: how do I know if my brand strategy is on the right track? There are three key aspects we like to observe carefully. The first is truth. Strategy must come from a real business plan that has been lived, tested, refined. You can’t communicate something your company doesn’t deliver in practice. So it’s worth asking: does what’s written here reflect our actual daily reality? The second is specificity. A good brand strategy should feel tailor-made, as if it only makes sense for your business. If it sounds generic or could apply to any company, it’s time to revise it. Finally, we look for exclusivity. The phrases in the strategy should carry so much of your brand’s essence that they would be unthinkable in any other context. When that happens, the brand gains strength and authenticity, all at once.

That was the case for Mapa, a study-abroad consultancy founded by two experts in the field. From the start, they decided to focus on a few key destinations: Canada, Australia, Ireland, and Malta. Each country has its own particularities, and Mapa created tailored services for people dreaming of studying or working there. When we started their Beloved Brand project, we dove into those choices and created a brand strategy that was true, specific, and exclusive, just the way a good strategy should be.

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5 – How to build your company’s brand strategy

Building a strong brand strategy isn’t a solo mission. Nor should it be. This work requires listening, sensitivity, and experience to translate your business plans into a solid communication foundation. That’s why branding professionals like us are the ideal partners in this process. It all starts with a welcoming interview where you, along with your co-founders or team, share the most important information about your business. It doesn’t matter whether that info is neatly laid out in a formal plan or still just floating in the idea phase. What matters is attentive listening and genuine exchange.

With this material in hand, we begin outlining the elements of the strategy. Keep in mind that every company is unique, so the methodology used by the team guiding you should align with your reality, and each part of the strategy should be validated and adjusted accordingly. When everything aligns, what emerges is a tailor-made brand platform to guide every communication decision you make.

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6 – When strategy changes the business plan

Usually, brand strategy comes in to translate and communicate what’s already defined in the business plan. But sometimes, it goes further and ends up transforming the plan itself. That’s because when we dive into the strategy-building process, we carefully examine the company’s essence: its strengths, its history, its values, and how it truly works in practice.

This deep analysis can reveal inconsistencies or uncover opportunities that weren’t previously clear, making space for important adjustments in the business direction. When the brand strategy identifies what’s most authentic and relevant, it helps align the entire company so the business plan better reflects this truth. In other words, strategy isn’t just a communication tool, it’s also a compass that can guide essential decisions, helping the business grow in a more grounded and purposeful way.

That’s exactly what happened with Le Petit Chéri. The brand was already considering focusing on their artisanal breads, which had always been highly praised. When we analyzed sales data together with the co-founder, we saw that the breads were not only beloved but also the most profitable. On the other hand, there were items on the menu that clashed with the brand’s concept, like meals and processed products. These didn’t align with the idea of an artisanal bakery and they weren’t selling well either. This strategic perspective helped make an important decision: remove those products from the business plan and make room for new breads that reinforce the brand’s artisanal proposal. From that point on, Le Petit Chéri’s communication became clearer, more cohesive, and more enchanting, just like the business already was, but now in an organized and clear way.

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Conclusion

Brand strategy isn’t a tool reserved only for big companies. If you run a small or medium-sized business, it can also be your ally, helping you grow with more clarity, consistency, and genuine connection with the people who matter most: your customers. Maybe you’ve already felt that your business has so much to offer, but you’re missing a clearer way to organize everything, something that helps you communicate your value better. That’s exactly where strategy comes in. It brings together elements like your brand’s purpose, the benefits you deliver, your differentiators, attributes, and customer profiles. All of this helps make your communication not only stronger, but more captivating too. After all, your name, visual identity, and tone of voice become much more powerful when they’re built on a solid, thoughtful strategy.

And it goes beyond communication. A good strategy can guide new offerings, shape experiences, and strengthen your internal culture. It can even shed light on bigger decisions, influencing the direction of your business plan. But there’s one important thing to keep in mind: your strategy needs to reflect who your company truly is, not who you wish it were. It’s not about pretending. And it’s not set in stone either. As your business evolves, it’s only natural that your strategy evolves too. What matters most is that it continues to represent your business truthfully. If you feel like it’s time to organize your brand’s strategy or revisit what you already have, talk to us. We’d love to hear your story and imagine, together, a path that feels possible, sensitive, and truly beloved.

So, does your business already have a clear strategy to call its own? Tell us in the comments. Need help creating a Beloved Brand? Count on us, request a proposal and let’s build it together.