Brand Strategy

Made Simple
A step-by-step guide to help you develop a successful
brand strategy from the ground up.

ArtfulRuckus.com @ArtfulRuckus © Artful Ruckus 2019

Are you losing business because your brand
visuals, messaging, and voice are out of sync?

Are you unsure of where to start when it comes to

creating a successful brand strategy?

How do you create a strong brand that exudes your

business’ personality and attracts a passionate
following?

Simple.

ArtfulRuckus.com @ArtfulRuckus © Artful Ruckus 2019

I’ve been researching, advising, and designing brands for over a decade,
using that experience to launch an agency called Artful Ruckus where our sole
purpose is to help our clients achieve brand clarity.

During that time, I’ve discovered that many companies, from mom-and-pop shops
to some of the largest corporations in the world, struggle with formulating and
implementing brand strategies that work. Why is that?

• ‘Branding’ is a vague, almost abstract, term to many.

• Brand strategy is usually found in a 200+ page tome full of corporate jargon.
• Complex strategies are difficult to share.

Because of this, I wanted to simplify the brand strategy process by creating an

actionable guide that would walk you through the basics, step-by-step.

My hope is that you come away with a better understanding of your brand, and
a strategy that will help you convert customers into passionate advocates. If you
find yourself wanting to go more in-depth, you know where to find us.

- Tom Munz
Principal Brand Designer, Artful Ruckus

ArtfulRuckus.com @ArtfulRuckus © Artful Ruckus 2019

What We’ll Cover in This Guide

1. The ‘What, Why, and How’

2. The ‘Who’
3. Brand Positioning
4. Brand Voice
5. Brand Identity
6. Action Plan

ArtfulRuckus.com @ArtfulRuckus © Artful Ruckus 2019

Section 1: The ‘What, Why, and How’
Having a deep understanding of the ‘what, why, and how’ of your business, and having the language to quickly share that with
employees, vendors, and customers, is an essential starting point for a successful brand strategy. Fill out each question below to
get a foundational understanding of your brand as it currently stands.

1. What do you do? 4. What is your brand’s culture?

What is your product/service? What industry are you in? List 5 words customers would use to describe your company.
Example: We provide brand design services using a unique combination of business insights Example: Empathetic, knowledgeable, skilled, valuable, and helpful.
and innovative design solutions.

2. Why does your company exist? 5. How would you describe your brand’s voice?
What is your ‘why’ (besides making money)? List 5 words that describe how your brand sounds to others.
Example: We help small to medium-sized businesses achieve brand clarity through brand Example: Knowledgeable, straightforward, witty, honest, and relatable.
strategy and design.

3. What sets you apart? 6. What are your company’s greatest strengths?
‘_____ is the only _____ that _____.’ List the top 5 things your business excels at.
Example: Artful Ruckus is the only brand design agency that designs like an artist and thinks Example: Problem-solving, facilitating strategic thinking, innovative design, user-centered
like an MBA. approach, emphasis on empathy leads to end-products that resonate with customers.

ArtfulRuckus.com @ArtfulRuckus © Artful Ruckus 2019

Section 2: The ‘Who’
No, not that ‘The Who’, I’m talking about ‘the who’ as in your users. Successful brands have a clear picture of who their users are,
what their users’ goals are, and how they can help their users achieve those goals. In this section, we’ll define a basic persona for
your ideal customer. When you have time, try creating multiple personas while digging deeper on their motivations, fears, and goals.

7. Who is your ideal customer?
Age, location, job, income level, interests, etc.
Example: 40 year old entrepreneur/business owner living in Orlando, FL. Married with two
kids, making $150,000/yr. Interested in emerging technologies, growing business, life-learner.
Hangs out at local coffee shops, craft beer bars, business meet-ups.
10. What are their goals as it relates to your business?
List 5 things your ideal customer is trying to accomplish.
Example: Strategic insights, business guidance, high quality design, brand clarity, to discover
their voice, and a better understanding of their users. They want to turn their customers into
passionate advocates for their brand.

8. What brands do they love?
Favorite clothing, restaurants, online shops, coffee, cars, etc.
Example: Apple, Everlane, Tom's, Frank & Oak, Aurate, Whole Foods, Patagonia, Lineage
Coffee, Krungthep Tea, Domu, GB's Bottle Shop, Coppertail Brewing
11. How can you exceed their expectations?
List ways that you can go the extra mile to delight them.
Example: Uncovering insights about their brand that they did not know themselves, providing
a clear plan to share their story and the tools to do so, providing high end design that's
aesthetically pleasing while conveying a deeper meaning, creating guidelines / examples /
templates to ensure all touch points stay on-brand. Helping them achieve brand clarity.

9. What are they like?
List 5 adjectives that describe their personality, mindset, etc.
Example: Forward-thinking, decisive, business-minded, results-oriented, and curious.
12. Who does your customer want to become?
List identities they’re striving towards. How can you help?
Example: A household name with a passionate following. A company that makes a real
impact on the lives of its users. A business that creates change for good. A leader in their
industry.

ArtfulRuckus.com @ArtfulRuckus © Artful Ruckus 2019

Section 3: Brand Positioning
You’ve defined the who, what, why, and how, now it’s time to put it all together into an easy to understand brand positioning
statement (this statement is a great way to get a quick view of who you are and where you fit in the market). For this exercise, you’ll
be taking your answers from previous questions and plugging them into a pre-made statement mad libs style (mad libs are still
cool... right?). If you gave multiple answers for a question, prioritize your top answer when filling in the blank.

Example
Answer 3 ,
providing Answer 1 Artful Ruckus is the only brand
design agency that designs like
to Answer 9 + Answer 7 in order to exceed their an artist and thinks like an MBA,
expectations by Answer 11 , providing a unique combination of
business insights and innovative
helping them Answer 10 design solutions to forward-thinking
decision makers in order to exceed
and become Answer 12 . their expectations by enabling them
to achieve brand clarity, helping them
turn customers into brand advocates
Make it Your Own and become leaders in their industry.
Use this space to wordsmith the brand positioning statement you just created above to
make it your own.

ArtfulRuckus.com @ArtfulRuckus © Artful Ruckus 2019

Section 4: Brand Voice
In Section 2 you defined who you’re speaking to, now let’s refine your brand’s voice by creating some guidelines. A great way to do
this is by contrasting similar words: one that describes your voice, and then one that does not (see examples below). Once you’ve
completed this exercise, it can be used as a reference to keep your messaging consistent (be sure to share this with anyone writing
copy for your brand!).

Example
, but not
, but not Witty, but not silly
Confident, but not cocky
, but not Smart, but not condescending
Positive, but realistic
, but Empathetic, but straight-forward
Relatable, but professional
, but Our voice is genuine
Our voice is human
, but Our voice isn’t jargon-y
Our voice isn’t needlessly verbose
Our voice is
Our voice is
Our voice isn’t
Our voice isn’t

ArtfulRuckus.com @ArtfulRuckus © Artful Ruckus 2019

Section 5: Brand Identity
Another important part of brand strategy is ensuring that your brand identity (the physical representation of your brand such as your
logo, marketing materials, website, etc.) accurately portrays who you are to your customers. Does your logo convey your brand’s
personality? Do you have a style guide that outlines your brand’s typography, colors, photography, etc.?

Use the checklist below to determine what assets you already have, what you need to have designed, and what’s on/off brand. Any
items with checks in the ‘Need it’ or ‘Off-brand’ columns should be (re-)designed when time and budget allow.

Item Have it Need it On-brand Off-brand

Logo design
Business cards
Website
Brand style guide
Slide deck
Swag (shirts, stickers, tote bags, etc.)
Print materials (brochures, flyers, etc.)
Social media post templates
Email campaigns

ArtfulRuckus.com @ArtfulRuckus © Artful Ruckus 2019

Section 6: Action Plan
Now you have a solid foundational understanding of your brand and brand strategy, but how do you put that understanding to
work in the real world? Below you’ll find some steps you can take to put your findings into action and start building a strong,
consistent brand.

How to Apply Your Findings

Dive deeper on your brand
Keep asking yourself questions about the who, what, why, where, and how to develop a deeper understanding of your brand.

Perform a full brand audit

Take the Brand Identity section one step further and review all business and marketing materials.

Perform a competitive audit

Analyze and document competitor brands to find what’s working and what’s not.

Develop additional personas

Create more in-depth user personas that explore customer motivations, desires, and pain points.

Write sample messaging

Document how common customer interactions should sound using the guidelines you created for your brand voice.

Design a cohesive visual language

Create, or re-design, anything that you identified as ‘Need it’ or ‘Off-brand’ in the Brand Identity section.

Share this guide with your team

Get buy-in and create brand consistency among both employees and vendors.

ArtfulRuckus.com @ArtfulRuckus © Artful Ruckus 2019

Nicely done! You’ve completed Brand Strategy Made Simple, now it’s time
for the most important part: implementation. Use this info to create systems,
templates, and goals for the future of your business, and then follow through.

Be sure to refer back to this guide often to keep your marketing efforts and design
decisions on-brand, and feel free to update/expand upon it as time goes on and
your brand evolves. It’s also important to share this info with employees and
vendors to get everyone on the same page and keep things consistent.

While you’ve now taken the first step towards a successful brand strategy, we’ve
only scratched the surface. Remember that branding isn’t a one time effort. It’s
something you do every time you write an email, hand out a business card, or
deliver a product.

Here’s to standing out, being consistent, and making a ruckus.

- Tom Munz
Principal Brand Designer, Artful Ruckus

ArtfulRuckus.com @ArtfulRuckus © Artful Ruckus 2019

Want to take your
brand to the next
level?
Artful Ruckus specializes in helping our clients achieve brand clarity. By combining
valuable business insights with innovative design solutions, we work alongside our
clients to build brands that convert customers into passionate advocates.

Learn more and get in touch with us at ArtfulRuckus.com.

ArtfulRuckus.com @ArtfulRuckus © Artful Ruckus 2019