It’s tempting to dive straight into crafting your brand strategy but before you do, take a pause. Great brand strategies aren’t plucked from thin air. They’re built on clarity, self-awareness, and a deep understanding of your audience and your purpose.

Here are 15 essential questions that form a brand strategy checklist to ask yourself before you start writing yours.

Brand strategy checklist

1. What is the purpose of your brand in today’s society?

Beyond products and services, what role does your brand play in the world? Why should anyone care that you exist? All brand strategies should start with what you do, who for and why - what problem do you solve for the customer?

2. Why does your brand exist beyond making a profit?

What impact do you hope to make? What change are you trying to create in people’s lives, communities, or industries? The values and purpose that underpin the problem you solve will help to retain customers and create a community around your brand.

3. What makes your brand different from competitors?

What truly sets you apart - and is it meaningful to your audience, or just noise? I always say that USPs should be USEFUL selling points not UNIQUE selling points. Make sure that point of difference serves a purpose and does solve a problem. I see too many start ups with a point of different that is certainly unique, but equally pointless.

4. What does that USP actually mean, and how do you stand out and communicate that in your market?

Drill down further: can you articulate those USPs and why they matter simply? Could a five year old understand it? Could a customer easily share that and spread word of mouth?

5. What is your brand promise and how will you deliver it?

What do you consistently guarantee to your customers - and how will you ensure that promise is kept at every touchpoint? Customer service is a huge part of your brand proposition and your business can live or die by it. Exceptional customer service and communication leads to positive reviews, social engagement, loyalty, repeat business, community and word of mouth recommendations.

6. Who is your target audience or best customer?

Be specific. Who are you here to serve, what do they care about, and what keeps them up at night? Don't segment them by age, gender, geography - create personas based on the problem you solve for each audience.

7. What do your customers value most?

Is it price, quality, convenience, status, experience, ethical practices - or something else? Have you asked them? Don't make assumptions about what is important to your customer.

8. What are your brand values and personality?

What do you stand for? What are the non-negotiables? And how do you want people to describe your personality - friendly, authoritative, rebellious? Does this come across consistently in everything you do? Do you make decisions that align just with your KPIs and goals, or with your values to? Your brand personality should be authentic and lived by everyone in the business.

9. How do you want your brand to be perceived by customers?

If your brand were a person walking into a room, how would you want others to feel about them? Remember The Understory - the emotional behaviour your customer displays within the customer journey.

10. What feelings or associations should customers have when they think of your brand?

Is it trust? Excitement? Nostalgia? Confidence? Define the emotional space you want to occupy and make sure that this comes across at every single touch point in the customer journey.

11. What is your unique value proposition?

What do you deliver that no one else does, and how can you express that clearly in a way that matters to your audience? Much like USPs, make it useful and focus on the problem you solve - you can also check out the Ikigai model which is great if you're an early stage or start up business.

12. How do you measure the success of your brand strategy?

Is it more bookings? More engagement? Greater loyalty? Better reviews? Pick measurable outcomes and attribute success to the source wherever possible. That's harder with brand marketing than it is with performance marketing, however your brand strategy should still align with your commercial goals.

13. How do you ensure brand consistency across channels?

What systems, guidelines, or habits keep your tone, visuals, and messaging aligned everywhere you show up? I love Publr for social media management and making sure I'm optimising my content across different channels. Alongside this, a set of defined key messages and a messaging hierarchy are essential parts of your brand strategy.

14. What role does storytelling play in your brand strategy?

How do you use stories? From your customers, your team, or your history to create emotional connection and bring your brand to life? I love the hero, villain, guide story telling method for brand strategy - you are always the guide. Your customer is the hero, battling the villain to continue a quest and solve a problem. It's your job to get them to the end safely, avoiding baddies - competitors, distractions and the like. I have so many great storytelling techniques so I've added them in a deck here.

15. Are you ready to sort your messy middle?

Have you mapped the gaps between what you say you do and what your customer really wants? Are you willing to address inconsistencies and misalignment? The messy middle is where things typically get lost in your brand strategy - the bit between what you do and what your customer actually wants. This happens when there are inconsistencies in your brand strategy, out of date information, confusing customer journeys, poor quality or stock images, or unfriendly customer service for example.

Asking these questions forces you out of autopilot and into intentionality. If you want your strategy to resonate, stand out, and actually work these are the answers you need for your brand strategy first.

More about Catherine Warrilow

Hi, I'm Catherine and I write the brand propositions and strategies for visitor attractions and experiences. That spans the whole customer journey and integrates brilliant messaging, storytelling and customer service.