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Public Relations Vs. Brand Strategy Developing Effective Marketing Communication Mix Brand Strategy & Integrated Marketing Communication
 
Your brand strategy is how you choose to identify your company through its marketing. For example, if you want to appeal to wealthy women in their 30s, your brand strategy would be to create an image and make a promise that is important to that audience. Your marketing communications would reflect that same image through your promotions, slogan, colors and other creative elements. Integrating your brand strategy and marketing communications unifies your messages so that they are memorable and identifiable.


Your brand is your promise to your customer. If you sell custom-made jewelry for women, your promise might be to make them feel glamorous. To succeed at this, you need to determine what marketing elements make your customers feel glamorous, such as what color to use in your logo and advertising; what type of people – youthful, successful – you use in your marketing materials; and what slogan or copywriting will resonate with them. You are successful when one glance at your logo both identifies you and creates a positive feeling in your customers.


Marketing communications includes all of the promotional tools you use: advertising; public relations; personal interactions, such as selling; and promotions, such as direct mail or point-of-sale mechanisms. They are integrated when you plan them to complement each other. For example, your advertising reflects a common theme and incorporates your business slogan or tag line. Or you might time your advertising to coincide with a news release announcing a new product or sales team. Each piece of communication supports the other, and the consistency reinforces the messages in your customers so they remember you.

Building the Brand

When starting your business, your business mission will define and build your brand. If your mission is to design and sell one-of-a-kind jewelry, that defines you and your brand. If you do this at a lower price than other custom designers, that further defines you. However, if you want to appeal to elite customers with higher price points, you have a different audience and need different marketing communications channels. For example, your budget-minded audience would be more likely to read a magazine directed to families than a high-end fashion magazine.

Maintaining the Brand

Once you have identified yourself through branding, you need to reinforce it continuously. Maintaining consistency throughout all of your communications is key. For example, include your logo on every piece of material, from your business cards to your sales receipts. Add channels, such as social media sites, or sponsor a charitable event that appeals to your audience. Make seasonal changes, such as adding a holiday figure to your logo. This redirects attention to your brand without changing the basic structure that is now reinforced in your customers’ minds.





