What is strategy?
It is finding the means to achieve your goals (think big goals) with the least possible expenditure of effort. All strategy is fundamentally a matter of informed choices. A strategy must choose among possible options prioritizing those that are likely to yield the most advantageous outcomes with the least expenditure of effort. In a strategy project our task is to inform and make recommendations for these choices by drawing on a combination of organizational insight, existing research, original research, and the strategic framework and tools that we bring to bear in service of achieving the goal.
In our process we break this out into brand strategy, marketing strategy, and organizational alignment. Read our post on strategy primer for a brief overview of each.
What is brand strategy?
Brand strategy is having everyone in your organization and all your offers that touch the world effectively express your ideal truth. (Go here for an article on general brand strategy and here as it relates to college brands. The main tools we use to structure and maintain a brand strategy are Brand Pyramids and Brand Value Maps.)
If you need help with your brand strategy, we offer strategy workshops as well as a guided video tutorial series for those on a limited budget.