Brand Strategy 101: 7 Important Elements of a Company Branding

We’re bombarded with tens of thousands of messages everyday — and most of them are extensions of brand strategies.

Instagram influencers tell us how to book a free first-class flight, the city bus is wrapped with an Apple ad, your favorite TV show has been interrupted by commercials ever since the streaming service raised prices.

Free Kit: How to Build a Brand [Download Now]

Vying for a place among these thousands and thousands of messages is a daunting task, but spending some time on strategic branding will help set you apart from the competition and build customer loyalty.

In this article, you’ll learn all about the branding methods and essential elements of a branding strategy you need to grow a brand that’ll stand the test of time. And then one day your brand will be wrapped on a city bus.

Table of Contents:

• What is Brand Strategy?
• Elements of a Brand Strategy.
• Branding Methods
• The Importance of Strategic Branding 

A well-defined and -executed brand strategy affects all aspects of a business and is directly connected to consumer needs, emotions, and competitive environments.

First, let's clear up one of the biggest misconceptions about brand strategy: Your brand is not solely your product, your logo, your website, or your name.

Elements of a Brand Strategy

1. Purpose
2. Consistency
3. Emotion
4. Flexibility
5. Employee Involvement
6. Loyalty
7. Competitive Awareness

1. Purpose

Although your brand promise is necessary to your brand positioning, knowing why you wake up every day and go to work is also essential.

In other words, your purpose is more specific in that it serves as a differentiator between you and your competitors.

How can you define your business' purpose? According to Business Strategy Insider, purpose can be viewed in two ways:

• Functional: This concept focuses on the evaluations of success in terms of immediate and commercial reasons — i.e., the purpose of the business is to make money.
• Intentional: This concept focuses on success as it relates to the ability to make money and do good in the world. 

While making money is part of almost every business, we admire brands that emphasize their willingness to achieve more than just profitability, like Patagonia:

Patagonia's brand strategy isn't just about profit, it's about sustainability and responsibility.

This approach appeals to potential customers who share these values.

2. Consistency

The key to consistency is to avoid talking about things that don't relate to or enhance your brand.

For instance, if you add a photo to your business' Facebook page, make sure it aligns with your message. If you're just sharing the latest meme that made you laugh, you risk confusing or alienating your audience.

To give your brand a platform to stand on, you need to ensure your messaging is cohesive. Ultimately, consistency contributes to brand recognition, which fuels customer loyalty. (No pressure, right?)

To see a great example of consistency, let's look at Apple, the most recognizable brand in the world in 2024. As a result of its commitment to consistency, every element of the brand's marketing works harmoniously together.

Even though Apple's Instagram account has nary a product photo in sight, the iPhone-shot photography tells the brand story. Compare that to product photos of the Apple Watch and AirPods on its website, which both feature the same bold, mysterious, colorful photography.

3. Emotion

Emotion is a powerful branding tool.

Brand consultant Cornelis Jacobs tells me, "A brand is really a person's gut feeling about a product or service or organization. It's really emotional - it's what someone feels."

Harley-Davidson, for example, uses emotional branding by creating a community around the H-D brand. It founded HOG — Harley Owners Group — to connect its customers with the brand and with each other.

By providing customers with an opportunity to feel like they're part of a larger group that's more tight-knit than just a bunch of motorcycle riders, Harley-Davidson positions itself as an obvious choice for someone looking to purchase a bike.

If you buy a Harley, you're also buying into a community.

Research from psychologists Roy Baumeister and Mark Leary describes this need in their belongingness hypothesis, which states: "People have a basic psychological need to feel closely connected to others, and that caring, affectionate bonds from close relationships are a major part of human behavior."

Not to mention that belongingness - the need for love, affection, and being part of groups - falls directly in the middle of Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

4. Flexibility

In this fast-changing world, marketers must remain flexible to stay relevant. On the plus side, this frees you to be creative with your campaigns.

You may be thinking, "Wait a minute, how am I supposed to remain consistent while also being flexible?"

Good question. While consistency aims to set the standard for your brand, flexibility enables you to make adjustments that build interest and distinguish your approach from your competition.

A great example of this type of strategic balance comes from Old Spice. These days, Old Spice is one of the best examples of successful marketing across the board.

Up until recently, wearing Old Spice was pretty much an unspoken requirement for dads everywhere. Today, however, it's one of the most popular brands for men of all ages.

The secret? Flexibility.

Aware that it needed to do something to secure its place in the market, Old Spice teamed up with Wieden+Kennedy to position its brand for a new customer base.

Between new commercials, a new website, new packaging, and new product names, Old Spice attracted the attention of a younger generation by making strategic enhancements to its already strong brand.

5. Employee Involvement

As we mentioned before, consistency is vital to brand recognition. And while a style guide can help you achieve a cohesive digital experience, it's equally essential for your employees to be well-versed in communicating with customers and representing the brand.

As Jacobs puts it, "Everyone should be a brand champion."

If your brand is playful and bubbly on social media, you'll send mixed messages if a customer calls in and is connected with a grumpy, monotone representative, right?

To avoid this type of mismatched experience, take note of Zappos' approach.

If you've ever been on the line with a customer service representative from Zappos, you know what I'm talking about. If you haven't, check out this SlideShare, which details some of its most inspiring customer support stories.

6. Loyalty

If you already have customers who are deeply loyal to your brand, don't sit back and take it for granted — reward them.

These customers have gone out of their way to write about you, tell their friends about you, and act as your brand ambassadors.

Cultivating loyalty from these people early on will yield more returning customers — and more profit for your business.

Sometimes, just a thank you is all that's needed. Other times, it's better to go above and beyond. Write them a personalized letter. Send them some special swag. Ask them to write a review and feature them prominently on your website. (Or all of the above!)

When we reached 15,000 customers here at Hubspot, we wanted to say thank you in a big way while remaining true to our brand... so we dropped 15,000 orange ping pong balls from our fourth-floor balcony and spelled out thank you in big metallic balloons.

And while it may have seemed a little out of the ordinary to some, the gesture made perfect sense for those who know our brand.

7. Competitive Awareness

Take the competition as a challenge to improve your own strategy and create greater value in your overall brand. You are in the same business and going after the same customers, right? So watch what they do.

Do some of their tactics succeed? Do some fail? Tailor your brand positioning based on their experience to better your company.

Keeping tabs on your competitor's social mentions is easy with HubSpot's social media management software. Check out this article to learn more about setting up custom social streams.