As a brand designer, I could not do my job without brand strategy. Actually, that's a lie... I could do my job without strategy, but what I produced wouldn't be useful to your business in any way. It would likely take me twice as long to design too because I would be plucking ideas from my 🍑 if we are being honest... and crude!
I think the word strategy throws a lot of people off guard when they are starting their business; we need a brand strategy, a content strategy, a marketing strategy, a productivity strategy… you get the idea. But what does strategy even mean? It just means having a plan. Yes, it is that simple.
When most people think about 'branding,' their minds jump straight to logos, colours, and fonts. But strong branding isn’t just about looking good, it’s about being strategic (let me rephrase that - it’s about having a PLAN!) and that’s where your brand strategy comes in. It’s the foundation that ensures your brand isn’t just another pretty face but a powerful tool that attracts the right customers and helps your business grow. This, in turn, will feed into your content and marketing strategies, but that’s all in this post:
So, what is actually included in brand strategy? And why is it so important, not just for me as a designer but for you as a business owner? Let’s break down my process.
Firstly, A Deep-Dive Clarity Session
Before any design work happens, we start with a two-hour clarity session where we get to the heart of your business. This is where we uncover the ‘why’ behind your brand and I gather all the information needed to create a strategic brand identity that truly works for you.
Some key questions we cover include:
✅ Why did you start your business?
✅ What do you offer, and what makes it different?
✅ Who is your ideal customer, and what do they care about?
✅ Who are your competitors, and who do you admire?
✅ Where do you market yourself?
✅ What brand personality, voice, and vibes feel right for your business?
✅ What is your brand’s mission and vision?
This session is all about clarity, for you and for me. By the end of it, I have a solid understanding of your brand’s essence, goals, and target audience. THIS is the essential information I need in order to not have to pull ideas out of my derriere....errr I mean make my life easier and my work more effective 😅.
Next, Competitor and Industry Research
Once I have the foundational information, I go away and research your competitors and admired brands. The goal isn’t to copy but to understand what’s working in your industry, what gaps exist, and where your brand can stand out.
This research helps ensure your brand identity is strategic and unique, rather than just following trends that might not serve your business goals. Again, the strategy here is that we examine what is already being done, and then we make a plan of action to do things differently.
Side Quest: The Ideal Client Breakdown
One of the most crucial (and often overlooked) aspects of brand strategy is understanding your ideal client. This isn’t just about basic demographics like age, location, or gender, it goes much deeper. I actually often find that demographics play very little into my clients’ ideal client profiles; it mostly comes down to psychographics. Again, we have to start brainstorming and forming a plan around how that person thinks and feels and why they might need your services/products.
A well-defined ideal client profile includes:
👉🏻 Pain Points: What struggles or challenges do they have that your business solves?
👉🏻 Buying Motivations: What makes them say, “Yes! This is exactly what I need”?
👉🏻 Brand Preferences: What other brands do they already trust and engage with?
👉🏻 Aesthetic & Messaging Preferences: What kind of design and tone of voice will appeal to them?
👉🏻 How They Learn: Where and how are they consuming information.
When you truly understand your ideal client, everything else - your visuals, messaging, and marketing - falls into place more naturally. You can go deeper here and create a full client persona, which means assigning them demographics, but really, the focus should be on understanding them, not just giving them a face or name in my opinion.
My Main Goal: Defining Your Brand’s Personality, Voice & Vibe
Your brand isn’t just what you sell, it’s how you make people feel. Read that again.
This is where I really do my job - defining your brand’s personality, vibe, and voice and creating the visuals that will effectively communicate them to your ideal audience. Easy peasy 🤗.
Now that I have all the strategic pieces in place, I put together a moodboard, a visual representation of the creative direction for your brand. I create a moodboard alongside a fully written-out creative direction so you can see how those words, that plan, that STRATEGY we created from the previous research will look. Exactly in the same way your finished brand identity will visually communicate to your audience -clever, right?
The proposal helps us align on aesthetics before jumping into fleshing out the full brand design, ensuring the final brand identity reflects your business’s strategy and goals rather than just looking nice.
Only once all the strategy, research, and planning is done do we move into building your brand identity.
This means designing a brand that is:
🧡 Purposeful: Every element serves a strategic goal.
🧡 Tailored to your ideal audience: Using colour psychology, typography, and design choices that resonate.
🧡 Aligned with your business goals: Helping you stand out in your industry and attract the right customers.
This step is where everything comes together, and your brand truly takes shape in a meaningful, planned, purposeful, STRATEGIC way. I also include a full write up of your brands purpose, positioning, and competitors and our plan to make you stand out with something different. The proposal is not only to show you the design direction but to help you understand the choices that go into it all and what we are trying to say through your visuals... the strategy.
You’re getting it now, right? 😉
Final Thoughts: Brand Strategy First, Design Second
Know this as you should now have a better understanding of what's included in brand strategy; A strong brand strategy benefits both you as a business owner and me as a designer.
🤗 For you: It helps you make informed, consistent decisions about your branding and marketing instead of guessing. It also ensures your brand attracts and connects with the right people. It turns what you do into a real business, now with the tools needed to effectively survive and thrive.
🤗 For me: Hopefully, now you understand how it gives me the insight needed to create an identity that isn’t just visually appealing but also effective and aligned with your business’s needs. Not just pretty designs plucked from thin air, but purposeful and unique design solutions tailored just to you.
Truth bomb: (in case you still need it!) Branding without strategy is just decoration.
If you’re ready to create a brand that truly reflects your business and attracts the right audience, let’s chat about how we can build a strategy that works for you.
At Magic Feather Designs, I am all about solving problems through cute design solutions. I create branding that’s unique, personality-packed, and built to help your business thrive - not just look pretty. A cohesive and strategic brand design is the biggest key to boosting the good stuff right from the start.
How to Book Your Future Brand Project!
If you feel ready to take that next step, then firstly - yey! How exciting!
Next, you can head to my contact page or email me directly at jen@magicfeatherdesigns.com or look me up on socials and pop me a DM - Instagram is best www.instagram.com/magicfeatherdesigns . There are no silly or small questions with me, I am here to help!
Check out my portfolio page to see what I created with previous clients, and what they had to say about working with me 🥰
Curious about more of my process, check out my client experience guide!
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