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1. Home Our Services Brand Strategy Planning
BRAND STRATEGY PLANNING
Wouldn’t you like to roll out a brand strategy plan—and
remove the competition—without reading a 200-page
document?
Learn why most brand strategy plans fail—and how to create
a plan that frontline employees feel they own and can carry
out.
Branding confuses many people
Let's be clear:
Your brand is not your logo.
It's not your tag line.
It's not something that lives only in the marketing department.
A brand is your company's overarching image. It's what people think,
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obligation, 30-minute
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Jocelyn Ring
p: 843.737.2928
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jocelyn(at)theringeffect(dot)com
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We'll discover
whether our
approach
resonates with you
and how we can

2. feel and expect whenever they interact with your company.
It's the culture of your company, your message and your operations.
SO WHAT IS BRAND STRATEGY PLANNING?
This is a process where new brands are developed or existing brands
are rejuvenated and relaunched. It brings together all the
components of your brand.
HOW DO TYPICAL BRAND STRATEGY PLANNING APPROACHES WORK?
Upper-level management determines that it is time to "fix" the brand.
Traditional brand strategy approaches begin by examining the
current state of the brand, crafting a desired future state and
creating action steps to get there. This can be done in-house or by
an outside consultant.
After interviewing customers and researching the competitive
landscape, a plan that maps the future brand and how the company
should get there is presented to management.
WHILE THIS APPROACH SOUNDS REASONABLE, IT CAN HAVE PROBLEMS:
1. Consultants have their own ideas of what everybody should do
and what plan will work.
2. Employees executing the brand strategy don't have ownership of
or believe in the new direction.
3. The plan has flaws and is poorly executed (or isn't executed at
all).
So how can these problems be avoided in order to roll out a
successful brand strategy?
Introducing the Ring Effect Brand Strategy
Planning Process
I come in and explain exactly what branding is. I make clear that we
are not just creating a new logo and tagline.
Branding is about changing everything from management-level
operations down to frontline employees. This creates consistency
and ownership.
We meet with everyone—from the CEO down to frontline employees.
I explain what branding is, what this exercise is we'll be doing
move forward.
I look forward to
hearing from you.

3. together, why it's important and how each person will be involved.
We talk about the brand and what we would like it to be. The
company will have done some research, but I also work with you to
conduct more. I talk to your customers and suppliers in order to get
a clear picture of what people think about you. I also look at the
competitive landscape from different angles.
Employees—not consultants—create your brand strategy. I don't tell
a company what to do; we work on this process together.
I bring in visual tools to capture
everyone's ideas. We brainstorm.
Everyone shares what they would like
the company to be. The employees—not
I—determine how to position the
company in the future.
Then we work out how to get there. I
help put this all together, and if needed,
I help communicate and implement the
strategy.
WHY IS THIS APPROACH SO EFFECTIVE?
I rely on the employees' knowledge in order to shape their new
strategic direction. I'm not telling them what to do. The employees
own the plan, the action steps and the new direction, so they have
an emotional investment in seeing their ideas successfully executed.
Key features and benefits

4. VISUAL FACILITATION
Ideas are easily lost if they're not captured in an engaging way, so we
use plenty of visuals. We hang large pieces of paper on the wall in
order to gather information, literally drawing the landscape of the
current company so everyone sees the problems and challenges
they face. This way we're able to create and see new solutions and
new ideas. Visual facilitation increases clarity, engagement of the
group and ownership of the strategy.
VISUAL ONE-PAGE SUMMARY
Most brand strategy plans are large Word documents with graphs
and charts. We use a visual summary—a one-page document that
can easily be shared throughout your organization. It also gives
everyone a clear picture of the road map ahead.
BRAND ROLLOUT FACILITATION
Consultants often come in and present a PowerPoint with a plan
summary. We use big visual charts, simplifying complex words so
everybody understands them and is clear on the brand's new
direction.
WHAT ELSE WILL YOU DISCOVER?

5. How visual brand planning uncovers bold new ideas—and why
working visually helps participants see trends, simplify complex
ideas and make new connections
Why branding is more than just a logo, a tagline and a marketing
function
When it's time to spruce up your brand—and how your
customers, suppliers and the public will let you know what your
brand image is and when to change it
Why branding is everyone's job—and how employees represent
and defend the brand
Why being distinct and different is important—and how
examining successful branding case studies teaches you to stand
out from the competition
How to eliminate all your competitors by developing a truly
differentiated brand so you occupy a niche in the marketplace
BUT ISN'T OVERHAULING A BRAND EXPENSIVE?
Let's look at your brand as an asset: You're either investing in it and
getting a return or you're not investing in it—and losing value.
If you're not constantly monitoring your brand and well positioned in
the market, you risk becoming a commodity in a "sea of sameness."
And mistakes with your brand are not easily forgiven. The investment
in creating and protecting your brand is clearly worth the cost.
What's unique about my brand strategy
planning
I'm there to help your team co-create their brand vision.
Typically, a company hires an outside consultant who
walks management through his or her own branding
process, drafts a plan, presents it and leaves. Because
employee engagement is near zero, this creates a poor
(and often failed) strategy.
I rely on the knowledge and expertise of the employees in
order to create the future they envision. I help them clarify
that vision and create a plan to get there. Since the
employees own the vision, they have a greater investment
in its success.

6. IS YOUR ORGANIZATION A GOOD FIT FOR MY APPROACH?
Successful brands are all about being bold and different; they can't
be afraid.
Small to midsized businesses, entrepreneurs, visionaries—people
who are not afraid to take risks—are great candidates for this type of
brand strategy planning.
Call or email me to discover how you can successfully implement a
brand strategy created by your whole team, from the CEO to
frontline employees.
We'll talk about:
What you find intriguing about this process
Where your organization is today
Why you think you need a brand strategy plan
We'll also talk about how the process works, and we'll see whether
this resonates with you and your organization's goals.
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