Strategic branding is the development and execution of a holistic brand strategy, the definition and positioning of a brand within every relevant context, and the effective marketing of that brand. While it might seem self-evident, I often find that prospective clients ask why strategic branding is important.

The issue of strategic as opposed to tactical marketing, particularly with regard to building the awareness and impact of brands and sub-brands, is one of planning and awareness.  As we all know, strategy concerns itself with the big picture and the long-term goal; it is the overarching plan.  Tactics are the short-term actions which move one towards the strategic goal.  Tactics and strategy are closely related and, ideally, integrated but too often companies do not have a good strategic plan in place, and they are tactically reactive.  This at best maintains status quo since absent a strategy, it is extremely difficult to capitalize on tactical success; without a strategy, it is difficult to know what success means.

Strategic branding is the most complex aspect of marketing and involves taking the long view.  Knowledge must be gained and assimilated through research, awareness, and relevant dialogue.  Next, it means intelligent, open-minded analysis and an ability to formulate solutions that will provide direction for the long term, and also the flexibility to change with a changing market landscape.  Strategic branding takes into account the brand itself, the sub-brands or related brands, competitors, global and regional economic trends in the relevant industry and sectors, and broad psychology as it relates to prospects, target consumers of the brand, whether B2C or B2B, and those who manage and represent the brand itself.

It is vital to take a brand's temperature at regular intervals, therefore strategic branding will include processes by which brand equity can be frequently assessed, and adjustments can be made.  Strategic branding helps a company take necessary changes in stride while maintaining focus on and measurement against the long-term goals.

Good strategic marketing offers a key benefit to product development because products can be measured against the brand strategy, and either the product branding or the product itself can be efficiently and inexpensively revised to maintain and improve overall brand integrity.

If these are the benefits of strategic branding, what are its effects?  The greatest effect is strong direction and a thorough understanding of a brand's ethos.  Without this, a brand may have great sales success in a boom economy, but stops dead in a recession.  While a firm brand strategy might seem to promote inflexibility, it is in fact the very thing that allows quick and successful reactions to change because a company is always rooted in its long-term goals and philosophies.  The greatest effects of good strategic branding are high morale and higher profits, the first because teams know what they are trying to accomplish and often how to accomplish it, and the second because a strong brand strategy maintains focus and efficiency.  As well, a strong brand is able to increase its margins because part of its sales are a result of its branding, all those positive perceptions that strategic branding helps to realize.

Do you know what your brand's strategy is?

Pretty much all companies in the premium consumer market recognize the importance of a strong brand image; after all, to a large extent that's what people are buying into. And for a brand image to work and remain strong, all of a company's marketing and advertising - anything the consumer comes into contact with, in fact - has to live up to, and reinforce, that image.

Having said that, Abercrombie & Fitch seem intent on demonstrating that slavish adherence to the brand image can be damaging. Last year the iconic firm was ordered to pay thousands of pounds in compensation after requesting a worker with a prosthetic arm confine herself to the storeroom - rather than the sales floor of its London store - until winter uniforms, covering up more of her arm, were introduced. Not the kind of publicity they would want, but possibly something which could be dismissed as a one-off.

Abercrombie & Fitch are set to open a new store in Aberdeen, Scotland - only its second store in the UK. Last month, reported Personnel Today, outside the Aberdeen store, posters recruiting new staff appeared - posters which asked for "cool and good-looking people". Now, this isn't directly outlawed by the UK's anti-discrimination legislation, but an older person, or someone with a facial disfigurement, who were turned down for jobs or consigned to the storeroom could claim the posters were evidence of a predisposition to discriminate against them. Even if no action is ever taken, the bad publicity such an ill-advised campaign can generate, in combination with the earlier incident, is hardly good news. It makes Abercrombie & Fitch look like the kind of company which is solely interested in the cool and good-looking, something which may stop the rest of us from even crossing the threshold of their stores.

It is important to recognize that a strong brand image is an essential part of the portfolio of companies striving to attract high-end consumers; but that has to come with an appreciation that slavish adherence to an image which is designed to appeal to a specific niche can alienate potential customers who don't quite fit the profile. And that can impact a company where it hurts most: on the bottom line.