A brand strategy extends far beyond logos and visual identity – it’s the core meaning that drives every aspect of business. On “Marketing Demystified,” leadership advisor and brand strategist Matt Davies explains why misaligned leadership teams struggle to deliver unique value, and how a unified brand strategy can transform business performance.
“Brand is the meaning that people attach to you and your offer,” Matt emphasizes. “Branding is the audacious attempt to manage that meaning.”
This perspective shifts brand strategy from a marketing department initiative to a holistic business approach that should align every team and decision.
The brand strategy challenge
As businesses grow beyond their startup phase, maintaining strategic alignment becomes increasingly complex. What starts as a passionate founder’s vision can get diluted as new leaders join with their own priorities and perspectives.
“People get promoted to the C-suite because they’ve got real great skill sets in operations or other areas,” Matt explains. “When they go to board meetings, they’re there to champion their piece of the business and fight for resources.”
This siloed approach often leaves CEOs struggling to unite competing priorities.
The result? Wasted resources, frustrated teams, and missed opportunities as different departments pull in different directions.
“You’ll start to see a lack of clarity, a lot of confusion in the business,” Matt notes. “People start projects which don’t align, then get upset when they’re canceled.”
Four essential questions
To realign leadership teams, Matt recommends focusing on four fundamental brand strategy questions:
- “Why do we exist beyond making money?” Understanding purpose, vision, and mission as a brand.
- “Who do we exist to serve?” Identifying core audience and deeply understanding their challenges.
- “How should we show up for them?” Defining everything from visual identity to customer experiences
- “What is our unique offer?” Determining what value only the brand can provide.
This framework helps shift discussions from internal politics to customer value.
“If we think about the meaning that other people are attaching to us, it makes it about the customer, not ourselves,” Matt explains.
Breaking free from the brand trap
Many organizations fall into what Matt calls “the brand trap” – looking at industry leaders and copying their approach. While this feels safe, it’s actually dangerous.
“From a customer’s perspective, they’re looking at the category and they can’t distinguish anybody providing something really special,” Matt explains. “So they will start to assess on price.”
This leads to commoditization and price wars that hurt everyone. Instead, Matt advocates for breaking out of conventional patterns: “Think about how to carve out unique value in this space. It might not be in what’s produced. It might be in how customers are serviced, in delivery, in a number of things.”
Creating true alignment requires dedicated time and space away from daily operations. Matt recommends regular leadership offsites facilitated by external advisors who can challenge assumptions without internal political baggage.
“Organizations need to create the space to think about the future,” he emphasizes. “Get everybody together. The other thing is leaders need to see their peers as people, not as adversaries.”
Data plays a crucial role in building alignment, bringing objectivity to decisions. But Matt cautions against over-reliance on backwards-looking metrics: “The problem with data is that it’s kind of rear view. What leaders need to do is think long view.”
Customer insights prove particularly valuable. “How many C-suite people actually make an effort every year or quarter to speak to a customer?” Matt asks. These conversations often reveal strategic opportunities that pure data might miss.
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Looking ahead: The courage to be different
As markets become increasingly competitive, playing it safe by copying industry standards is actually the riskiest strategy. After all true brand differentiation requires courage – the willingness to pursue unique value even when it feels uncomfortable.
“Sometimes the most unsafe thing to do is to stay exactly the same,” Matt warns. “If an organization finds itself being commoditized, acknowledge the facts through the data… It’s time to really innovate and try something new.”
Alignment matters. When everyone from product development to customer service understands and supports a unique value proposition, the market impact can be transformative.
“Manage your meaning,” Matt concludes. Without strategic alignment, businesses often fall into short-term thinking and compete solely on price. With it, they can create lasting value that competitors can’t easily replicate.