Your business strategy is the roadmap that details your business goals and the actions you will—and will not—take to reach those goals. It sets your priorities and guides all decision-making across the business.
For example, at global employment platform Indeed, one of their values is “Job seeker first.” This means that every job matters, even if they don’t make money from it. It also means that they’ll seek out and post every job they can find because that’s what is best for the job seeker.
Indeed’s values drive the business, not the other way around. If it were, they would only seek out the most lucrative positions for the highest commission.
Sticking to their values has helped them attract over 250 million job seekers every month. Employers recognize this too, so many of them make sure to post their jobs with Indeed.
A clearly defined business strategy allows you to set your brand strategy. Your marketing strategy is what amplifies that brand.
Brand strategy: Defining why you exist in the world
Your brand is how the world sees your business. It’s your reputation and ultimate differentiating factor. Getting your brand strategy right is critical to gaining and keeping customer attention.
The most important part of brand strategy is to define what your brand stands for: your purpose, core values, and brand positioning. Defining this helps people understand what you do and creates those shortcuts when it comes time to make a decision.
Brand also helps customers understand themselves and gives them a way to self-identify. Customers like to buy from brands that represent their ideal selves. This is called self-congruity, and it helps customers build strong emotional connections to brands that help them reflect the person they wish to be.
You can encourage these connections by shaping your brand purpose and values around your customers’ desired personality and lifestyle.
If you have a global brand, this might mean different things in different markets. Your brand might need to shape its strategy to be relevant depending on where you’re marketing.
Indeed’s German branch was struggling to close sales because they had no awareness in that market. After running a culturally relevant marketing campaign, Indeed rose to number one in traffic and sales in Germany.
Indeed’s CMO Paul D’Arcy says their priority is brand awareness and reducing friction:
