Brand Management: Creating What Sets You Apart | SkillShare Course

Branding is everything. It’s the company, the culture, your impression on customers, and your guide in decision making. I took the SkillShare Brand Management course with Chris Bolman to get a picture of the complex world of brand strategy. Here are my take-aways.

Brands are not just the aesthetics of marketing materials. Branding is an idea system and a network of association of meanings. Brands reinforce memories for our customers. Every interaction bolsters a positive familiarity with our audience.

Chris Bolman lays out the six pillars of brand strategy: Vision, Mission, Values, Voice and Tone, and Look and Feel (aesthetics).

Vision

Your brand’s vision is its stance on the future. It is your opinion of what the future will be and how your solution will impact it. To create your brand Vision, you need to determine your end objective. Think. What will the world look like in 3 to 5 years if you accomplish your goal?

Mission

Your brand’s mission is the guiding principles of your company. Your mission should be succinct, actionable, and aspirational. The mission should be bold and inspiring. What problem does your vision try to accomplish? Why do you want to solve it? What’s best way to solve the problem?

Values

Your brand’s Values are the timeless principles which your company lives by. Ideally, they inform all your brand’s decision making. You could see them as the adjectives you would want customers to describe your brand by. These are the principles you want to cement into customer’s minds.

Voice and Tone

Your Voice and Tone is your brand’s personality. Is it playful? Funny? Helpful? Remain consistent with the Voice and Tone you use in your advertising content and marketing materials.

Look and Feel

Look and Feel is the aesthetics of your company. It is your brand’s visual identity that sets it apart from others. Look and Feel can include your color palette, logo, and consistent design language. As your company grows, be sure to include internal guidelines for marketers to reference when creating branded content and communications material.

Conclusion

There is a direct relationship between a strong brand identity and commercial success. A strong brand not only sets you apart from competitors, but it guides your company internally. A strong brand will draw in passionate like-minded talent and guide leadership in difficult decisions.

Build a brand. Your success depends on it.