are there two more misunderstood terms in any given industry than ‘brand’ and ‘strategy’? put the two words back to back and and the broadness of what can be labeled as ‘brand strategy’ is overwhelming. to help clear the air of this unnecessary fog, each term can be simply defined as follows:

brand – a person’s instantaneous gut response to the name or mark of a company. ultimately, a brand is intangible.

strategy – consistently making decisions that lead to a predetermined goal or set of goals.

brand strategy – making decisions that encourage favorable gut responses from people that interact with your company.

there are numerous components that have to be considered when creating a brand strategy, but none is more important than the foundational understanding that in the end, the consumer decides what your brand is, not you (example: wal-mart’s perception here in nyc that they’re a big, bad, small business killer won’t change simply because they release a statement with a big yellow smiley face that says “we love small businesses”).

the goal of any company is to create a well-groomed path that leads consumers to the place where they have no choice but to love who you are and what you’re doing. among other things, a path is groomed well with thoughtfully designed brand identity, intentional brand messaging, and a well maintained online brand presence all working together to bring positive tangibleness to your brand.

it’s true that you don’t want to be consumer led as this article states, but your brand must and will be consumer centered, for better or worse.