From a recent presentation, a quick look through the essentials that underpin brand strategy, a simple way of evaluating them and a few points to consider when evaluating your own brand strategy.

1. A Strategic Brand Consultancy
Calculated:
Evaluating your brand strategy
Jay Nicholl
Managing Director

2. makeitclear.co.uk Evaluating your brand strategy
Contents
Some observations Calculating success Do it yourself
=+/-x

3. makeitclear.co.uk Evaluating your brand strategy
Observation 1:
Business is all about relationships. If you aren’t
interested, and interesting, they won’t hang around.
Brands depend on good
communication.

4. makeitclear.co.uk Evaluating your brand strategy
Good Communication
(is)
Effective, Repeatable
and Consistent

5. makeitclear.co.uk Evaluating your brand strategy
Observation 2:
The competition for attention is intense,the easiest
response is passive i.e.ignore it,bin it,don’t think about it.
Actions and reactions
are created by effective
communication.

6. makeitclear.co.uk Evaluating your brand strategy
Effective communication
(depends on)
Actionable strategy

7. makeitclear.co.uk Evaluating your brand strategy
Observation 3:
People make split second decisions about brands all
the time.They are very good bullshit detectors. Lack of
consistency is a key bullshit indicator.
Given a choice, people
reject inauthenticity.

8. makeitclear.co.uk Evaluating your brand strategy
Brand authenticity
(creates)
Repeatable & Consistent
Communication

9. makeitclear.co.uk Evaluating your brand strategy
Calculating success
Evaluating your brand strategymakeitclear.co.uk

10. makeitclear.co.uk Evaluating your brand strategy
No ambiguity
Calculations are true or false
Being honest is job one
Why calculation?

11. makeitclear.co.uk Evaluating your brand strategy
Objective
x
Commitment
An actionable strategy
(derives from)

12. makeitclear.co.uk Evaluating your brand strategy
(vision x opportunity)
x
(investment + resources)
The calculation is therefore:

13. makeitclear.co.uk Evaluating your brand strategy
The calculation tells us:
Zeros are bad.
If you don’t have a vision, you don’t have an
actionable strategy
If you don’t have a defined opportunity, you don’t
have an actionable strategy
And while you can get away with either investment
(i.e. money) or resources (i.e. people) if you have neither,
you don’t have a strategy that is actionable

14. makeitclear.co.uk Evaluating your brand strategy
Proof
Promise
Brand authenticity
(determined by)

15. makeitclear.co.uk Evaluating your brand strategy
What they expect + What they experience
What you say + What you do
The calculation is therefore:

16. makeitclear.co.uk Evaluating your brand strategy
Proof needs to meet or exceed the
promise for a company to be judged
as having an authentic brand.
The calculation tells us:
Anything less than parity is bad for business.

17. makeitclear.co.uk Evaluating your brand strategy
Doing the calculations yourself
Evaluating your brand strategymakeitclear.co.uk

18. makeitclear.co.uk Evaluating your brand strategy
1. What is your purpose?
2. What is your history?
3. What does success look like?
1. Vision
Where do you want to be?
=+/-x

19. makeitclear.co.uk Evaluating your brand strategy
1. Who is the target?
2. How big is the market?
3. What are the barriers to entry?
2. Opportunity
Where is the market?
=+/-x

20. makeitclear.co.uk Evaluating your brand strategy
1. RD budget
2. Promotional budget
3. Time commitment
3. Investment
Are you backing the vision?
=+/-x

21. makeitclear.co.uk Evaluating your brand strategy
1. Roles
2. Responsibilities
3. Experience
4. Resources
Do you have the right team?
+/-x

22. makeitclear.co.uk Evaluating your brand strategy
1. Marketing matrix analysis
2. Product services assessment
3. Internal communications review
5. Promise
Does what you say align with what you do?
x

23. makeitclear.co.uk Evaluating your brand strategy
1. Voice of the consumer
2. Ask for feedback
3. Expectation market research
6. Proof
Does what they expect,align with what they experience?

24. makeitclear.co.uk Evaluating your brand strategy
There is
Zero ambiguity+=/-x

25. makeitclear.co.uk Evaluating your brand strategy
Brand Strategy
(makes)
Good Business

26. makeitclear.co.uk Evaluating your brand strategy
Established 1991 • Based in Old Street, London • 17 Employees
About the presenter
Jay Nicholl is the Managing Director of
Make it Clear, the strategic brand consultancy.
info@makeitclear.co.uk
www.makeitclear.co.uk
@jaynicholl
@make_it_clear
A Strategic Brand Consultancy