A solid Brand Strategy Framework is the foundation of every successful brand. After working with dozens of multi-passionate entrepreneurs, I’ve noticed a common pattern: business owners invest thousands in brand visuals and marketing tactics, only to feel frustrated when their efforts don’t convert. The missing piece? A comprehensive Brand Strategy Framework that ties everything together.

Why Your Brand Needs a Strategic Framework

Think of your brand strategy like building a house. Each phase needs to happen in a specific order – you need solid foundations before you can build the walls, add the windows, or even think about decorating. The same applies to your brand. A well-structured Brand Strategy Framework doesn’t just save you time and money; it fundamentally changes how you approach your business growth.

The challenge is that many entrepreneurs jump straight into:

• Investing in visual design without strategic foundations
• Launching marketing campaigns without clear positioning
• Creating content without a cohesive message strategy
• Making branding decisions based on trends rather than strategy

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Brand Strategy Framework Table of Contents

• Understanding the Brand Strategy Framework
• The Process of Building a Brand Strategically
• Phase 1: Rooting Your Brand In Your Vision
• Phase 2: Research – Getting To Know Your Audience
  • Data Collection
  • Demographics & Psychographics
  • The Segmentation Phase
• Phase 3: Brand Foundations
  • Mission, Vision & Values
  • Brand Storytelling
  • Founder & Brand Profile
  • Brand Persona Development
  • Brand Archetype
• Phase 4: Brand Positioning
  • Key Differentiators
  • Creating Your Unique Value Proposition
  • Brand Positioning Statement
• Phase 5: Messaging Strategy Development
  • The Role of Brand Voice & Tone
  • How Your Brand Strategy Informs Content & Design
• Conclusion: Building A Brand That Lasts

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Understanding Your Brand Strategy Framework

In this guide, you’ll learn:

• A comprehensive understanding of each phase in the Brand Strategy Framework
• How to develop strong brand foundations, including mission, vision, and values
• Methods for conducting thorough audience research and data analysis
• Techniques for crafting compelling brand stories that connect with your audience
• Strategies for developing clear brand positioning that sets you apart
• Ways to translate your brand strategy into cohesive messaging and visuals

✌🏼 My goal isn’t just to give you a checklist of brand elements. Instead, I want to help you understand the strategic framework behind building a brand so that you can fill the gaps in your brand’s strategy or know where to start if you’re ready to go back to the drawing board.

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The Process of Building a Brand Strategically

When it comes to building or rebuilding your brand it’s tempting to jump straight into the visual elements – picking colors, designing logos, or getting new brand photos taken. You end up with a brand that looks beautiful on the surface but lacks the strategic foundation to actually drive business growth. This often manifests as:

• A half baked visual identity that doesn’t reflect your positioning
• Marketing messages that fail to resonate with your ideal clients because they weren’t built on clear positioning
• Brand elements that look polished individually but don’t create a cohesive brand experience
• Feeling like your brand needs another update a year later

Understanding the difference between Rebranding, Redesigning, and Repositioning

When discussing brand evolution, it’s crucial to understand the distinct differences between three commonly confused terms. While they may seem similar on the surface, each serves a unique strategic purpose and addresses different aspects of brand development:

Rebranding:

The most comprehensive change, involving a complete overhaul of your brand strategy. This includes updating your mission, values, messaging, visual identity, and market position. Consider rebranding when:

• Your business direction has fundamentally shifted
• Your current brand no longer aligns with your vision
• You’re targeting a completely different market

Repositioning:

A strategic shift in how your brand is perceived in the market. This maintains your visual identity but changes how you communicate your value and to whom. Consider repositioning when:

• Market conditions have significantly changed
• You’ve identified a more valuable market segment
• Your competitive landscape has shifted

Redesigning:

A visual refresh that maintains your core brand strategy. This focuses on updating your visual elements while keeping your fundamental positioning and messaging intact. Choose redesigning when:

• Your visuals feel outdated but your strategy is solid
• You need to modernize your appearance
• You want to improve user experience

Following a Brand Strategy Framework Helps You To:

• Invest your resources (both time and money) in the right elements and service providers based on where you are in the brand building process
• Grow your brand sustainably because you are starting with solid foundations and don’t need to constantly be going back to the drawing board.
• Build a brand identity that can evolve naturally with your business
• Market your brand more effectively because you have clear positioning to sell from.

💭 Think of brand building as constructing layers of a foundation. If you skip a layer or stack them incorrectly, the entire structure weakens. However, when you build methodically, each phase reinforces the next—creating a brand that’s both authentic and strategically sound.

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Phase 1: Rooting Your Brand Strategy In Your Vision

Every brand starts with a clear vision—not just for your brand itself, but for the life and business you want it to support.

Whether you’re building a new brand or considering a rebrand, you need to look both backward and forward. What’s working? What isn’t? Where do you want your brand to take you? Your vision extends beyond business goals—it’s about designing a brand that supports the lifestyle you want to create.

Starting your brand journey by documenting your vision creates the foundation for a business that aligns with the life you want to lead outside of work.

When I start working with a new client, one of the first things I ask them to do is write their:

• 3-6 month
• 12 month
• 3-5 year vision

For their brand. You can click here to download my free resource The Rearview Mirror which can help you to audit & reflect on your current brand and gives you prompts to help you design the vision for your brand, business, and life off the clock.

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Phase 2: Research – Getting To Know Your Audience

Once you’ve designed your vision – the next step in the brand building process is to research & gather data. This is one of my favorite parts in the process because it is where collect the data and audience feedback, that combined with your vision – give us the “ingrediants” for your brand’s strategy.

Data Collection

Here is my exact Data Collection checklist. Some of these may not apply to your brand depending on if your are building from scratch and/or what existing marketing channels you are using to promote your brand.

Website Analytics Review

• Track user behavior metrics
• Analyze traffic sources
• Review most popular content
• Monitor mobile vs. desktop usage
• Examine conversion rates

Social Media Analytics

• Engagement rates
• Follower demographics
• Post performance metrics
• Story/Reel engagement
• Best performing content types

Email Marketing Metrics

• Open rates
• Click-through rates
• Subscription growth
• Most engaging subject lines
• Best performing content types

Social Media Listening

• Comments and discussions
• Direct messages
• Frequently asked questions
• Common concerns
• Positive feedback

Client & Customer Feedback

• Feedback forms
• Testimonials
• Research Questionnaires or polls
• Past or Ideal Client interviews

AI Powered Analysis

I typically create a master research doc in Notion where i copy & paste all of the data from my research, and analysis. I like using a combination of Claude and Perplexity to anayze all the raw data for me for this phase in the process.

Demographics & Psychographics

To learn about demographics and Psychographics I like using perplexity, an AI chat bot that cross references with the internet and pulls references to analyze demographic data beyond surface-level statistics to create some documentation of your audeinces

→ Demographics are the measurable characteristics of your audience that help identify who they are on a statistical level, including:

→ Psychographics dive deeper into the psychological and behavioral aspects of your audience, revealing:

Understanding both demographics and psychographics gives you a complete picture of not just who your audience is, but also how they think and make decisions, allowing for more targeted and effective brand messaging.

Here are some of the prompts that I use and then paste the responses into my research doc:

• Based on everything you know about my brand from the research and data provided – what can you tell me about my target audiences demographics – please let me know if you have any questions or need more information before we get started.
• *Once i feel good about the demographic info, next I say “*Okay great, now help me understand my audiences Psychographics starting with their values & beliefs
• Then I move on to asking about the remaining bullet points listed below – all the while copy & pasting the analysis responses.

Demographic Analysis

• Age distribution
• Gender breakdown
• Geographic location
• Income levels
• Education levels
• Occupation/Industry
• Family status

Psychographic Analysis

• Values and beliefs
• Lifestyle choices
• Interests and hobbies
• Goals and aspirations
• Challenges and pain points
• Decision-making factors
• Brand preferences

Behavioral Analysis

• Content consumption habits
• Platform preferences
• Purchase patterns
• Communication preferences

The Audience Segmentation Phase

Once i’ve analyzed all the data now we can segment the audience. I find this step to be helpful when you are trying to understand the different stages of awareness in your audience.

At this point I take my big ol’ data doc and paste it into Claude and then tell the bot that I want help analyzing the data and segmenting my audience.

• Create distinct audience segments based on research
• Define key characteristics of each segment
• Identify unique needs and preferences
• Evaluate segment size and potential
• Assess alignment with business goals
• Consider resource requirements
• Determine growth opportunities

📈 Again – i’m saving all the bot responses into my big ol’ research & data doc. Now I have allll the materials I need for the build.

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Phase 3: The Brand Strategy Foundations

With your vision clarified and audience research in hand, we can now build the strategic framework that will guide all your brand growth, positing and more moving forward. This is where we start connecting the dots between who you are, who you serve, and how you show up in the market and organizing all your research into strategic sessions including:

Mission, Vision & Values

First, we translate your personal vision into clear brand elements:

• Your mission articulates how you currently serve your audience
• Your vision statement captures future impact and transformation
• Your values become guiding principles for every brand decision

Brand Storytelling Framework

Your brand should tell three core stories that build trust and connection with your audience:

• Founding Story: Share your journey of starting the business, including your motivation, challenges faced, and key milestones that shaped your path
• Value Story: Demonstrate how you solve specific problems for your clients by sharing concrete examples of transformation and results
• Purpose Story: Communicate your deeper “why” – what drives you beyond profit, your core values, and the impact you aim to make in the world

📖 For help crafting these core brand stories, I highly recommend reading “Stories That Stick” by Kindra Hall. Her framework for strategic storytelling provides excellent guidance on how to structure and share these foundational brand narratives effectively.

Founder & Brand Profile

This section serves as a comprehensive founder profile for personal brands. It’s structured into several key sections that detail both personal and professional aspects of your brand and business approach including.

• Who you are
• What you do
• Your expertise
• What makes you/your pov different
• Who you work with
• Your core offers
• What you want to be known for
• Why you do what you do
• Professional & Educational Credentials

The profile combines personal branding elements with professional credentials, creating a comprehensive picture of your expertise and business approach. It’s written in a way that demonstrates both authority and authenticity, reflecting her brand’s values and creating the foundation for your brand’s positioning (which is coming up soon)

Brand Persona Development

This next step in your Brand Strategy Framework is where we develop the personality and characteristics your brand needs to embody to connect with your audience effectively. Think of your brand persona as the strategic framework for how your brand shows up in the world.

BRAND PERSONA FRAMEWORK

• Core Characteristics: The fundamental traits that define your brand’s presence
• Shows Up As: The specific ways these traits manifest in your communications
• Never Shows Up As: The characteristics that would misalign with your strategy
• Natural Habitat: Where and how your brand authentically operates
• Who Your Audience Needs You to Be: The strategic role you fill for your clients

STRATEGIC APPLICATIONS OF BRAND PERSONA

• Content Creation: Influences your voice, tone, and storytelling approach
• Visual Decisions: Guides design choices that reflect your personality
• Marketing Approach: Shapes how you show up on different platforms
• Customer Experience: Defines interaction style at every touchpoint
• Team Training: Helps others understand how to represent your brand
• Business Decisions: Informs partnerships, offers, and growth choices

Your brand persona emerges from the intersection of:

• Who you authentically are
• What your audience needs
• How you serve uniquely
• Where you create value

Brand Archetype

Finally, we choose the brand archetype that will help your audience instantly understand and connect with your brand. This isn’t about putting your brand in a box – it’s about strategically choosing how you want to be perceived and the relationship you want to have with your audience.

PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS OF BRAND ARCHETYPE

• Content Creation:
• Visual Elements & themes
• Service Delivery:
• How you package offerings
• Client communication style
• Teaching or delivery methods
• Support and follow-up approach
• Community building tactics

FINDING YOUR BRAND ARCHETYPE

Here’s how to use AI to identify your Brand Archetype, using your:

• Founder profile
• Brand persona
• Mission and vision
• Core values
• Target audience needs

Copy & Paste into Perplexity AI: Ask: “Based on this information, which brand archetype would best align with this brand’s values, approach, and audience needs?”

WHAT BRAND ARCHETYPES ARE (AND AREN’T)

Are:

• A strategic tool for differentiation
• A way to guide brand decisions
• A framework for consistent communication
• A tool for building audience connection

Aren’t:

• Rigid rules that box in your brand
• A way to stereotype your business
• A fixed set of limitations
• A one-size-fits-all solution

🎭 Think of your brand archetype as the strategic role you play in your audience’s story – one that should feel natural to you while meeting your audience’s needs in a way that’s uniquely yours.

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Phase 4: Brand Positioning Framework

Your brand positioning is one of the most important parts of the Brand Strategy Framework that emerges naturally from your foundational work – it’s where your vision, audience understanding, and brand elements converge to create your unique market and brand presence.

Brand positioning is especially important for multifaceted brands and multipassionte founders because it is what helps you find the common thread between your offers.

True positioning isn’t about surface-level differentiation – it’s about articulating your distinct approach and solution. When crafted thoughtfully, your brands positioning serves as the foundation for an effective messaging strategy, website experience, and content that converts. The Brand Positioning section of your strategy is made up of the following:

Key Differentiators

• Your key differentiators are the common threads, unique perspectives, POV, process or “special sauce” that sets you apart.
• I don’t recommend using just AI for this piece, but again you can input your research, all of your research & Brand Foundations (Phase 1&2) into Claude to ask what some of the core differentiators in your brand are.

For example my Key Differentiators at Cedar June go as follows:

1. “Slow Branding” Philosophy
   • Focus on intentional, sustainable brand development rather than quick fixes
   • Emphasis on building strategic foundations before visuals
   • Long-term partnership approach versus project-based work
2. Strategic Artistry
   • Integration of strategy with creative design
   • Custom visual storytelling that serves business goals
   • Balance of creativity with commercial objectives
3. Multi-Passionate Expertise
   • Specialization in working with entrepreneurs who have diverse expertise
   • Ability to unify multiple passions into cohesive brands
   • Experience with complex personal brands
4. Education-Empowerment Approach
   • Teaching alongside doing
   • Client empowerment through knowledge transfer
   • Practical implementation guidance

Creating Your Unique Value Proposition

A Unique Value Proposition (UVP) is a clear statement that describes the specific value your brand promises to deliver, who you deliver it to, and how you do it uniquely well. It’s the intersection of your key differentiators and your audience’s needs, communicated in a way that resonates with your target market.

UVP FORMULA: I help [target audience] who [specific problem/challenge] to [desired outcome] through [your unique approach/methodology], so they can [key benefit/transformation].

Your UVP should be:

• Clear and concise
• Focused on customer benefits
• Different from competitors
• Specific and memorable
• Authentic to your brand

To develop your UVP, review your key differentiators and ask:

• Which ones matter most to your target audience?
• How do they solve specific customer problems?
• What makes your approach uniquely valuable?
• How can you communicate this value clearly and memorably?

Remember: Your UVP isn’t just a catchphrase – it’s the strategic articulation of your brand’s core value that guides all your messaging and positioning decisions.

Next, you’ll create your Target Market Specification including:

• Clear definition of who you’re specifically designed to serve
• Deep understanding of their unique challenges
• Strategic alignment with your expertise
• Value-based connection points

Finally you will define your Market Position aka. the whole you fill in the market including:

• Strategic placement based on unique value
• Clear articulation of why your difference matters
• Authentic competitive stance

Brand Positioning Statement Framework

A Brand Positioning Statement is the culmination of all your strategic work – it’s a clear, concise declaration of where your brand stands in the market and why it matters to your audience. This statement serves as your north star for all brand decisions and communications.

WHAT A BRAND POSITIONING STATEMENT DOES:

• Articulates your unique place in the market
• Defines who you serve and how
• Clarifies your competitive advantage
• Guides all marketing and business decisions

POSITIONING STATEMENT FRAMEWORK: For [target audience] who [specific need/problem], [your brand name] is the [category] that [key benefit] because [reason to believe]. Unlike [competitors], [your brand] [key differentiator].

Essential Elements to Include:

• Target Audience: Who you specifically serve
• Frame of Reference: Your market category
• Point of Difference: What sets you apart
• Key Benefits: The value you deliver
• Reason to Believe: Proof points that support your claims

Your positioning statement should be:

• Specific and focused
• Credible and defendable
• Unique to your brand
• Relevant to your audience
• Simple, straightforward and clear (there’s no room for fluff, or wishy washy words here)

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Phase 5: Messaging Strategy Development

Before moving into implementation, it’s crucial to develop a comprehensive messaging strategy that bridges your brand positioning with your content creation. This is where working with a professional copywriter becomes invaluable.

The Role of Brand Voice & Tone

Your brand voice and tone guidelines serve as the practical translation of your brand personality into actual communication. A skilled copywriter helps develop:

• Voice characteristics that reflect your brand persona
• Tone variations for different situations and platforms
• Writing style guidelines that maintain consistency
• Key phrases and language choices that reinforce your positioning

Professional copywriters bring expertise in:

• Translating brand strategy into compelling messaging
• Creating message hierarchies that guide communication
• Developing brand story frameworks
• Writing website copy that converts
• Creating templates for consistent communication

Your messaging strategy should include:

1. Core Messages
   • Primary brand statements
   • Key value propositions
   • Supporting proof points
2. Communication Guidelines
   • Voice characteristics
   • Tone variations
   • Writing dos and don’ts
3. Message Architecture
   • Primary messages by audience
   • Secondary supporting points
   • Call-to-action frameworks

📝 Working with a copywriter ensures your brand strategy translates into clear, consistent, and compelling communication that resonates with your target audience and drives desired actions.

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How Your Brand Strategy Framework Informs Content & Design

When your brand strategy is thoroughly developed, it creates a natural blueprint for both your content strategy and visual identity. This alignment ensures all touchpoints of your brand work together cohesively:

Content Strategy Integration

• Your positioning statement guides content themes and topics
• Brand voice and tone inform writing style across all platforms
• Core messages become content pillars for ongoing creation
• Target audience research shapes content formats and distribution channels

Visual Identity Alignment

• Brand personality influences design choices and aesthetic direction
• Core values guide visual elements and brand symbolism
• Target audience preferences inform design decisions
• Brand positioning shapes the level of design sophistication

Website & Marketing Cohesion

Your website becomes the central hub where strategy, content, and design converge:

1. Website Structure & Navigation
   • Information architecture reflects your audience’s journey
   • Navigation prioritizes key messaging and conversion paths
   • Content organization aligns with brand positioning
2. Content Creation & Distribution
   • Blog posts and resources align with positioning
   • Social media content reflects brand voice and values
   • Email marketing maintains consistent messaging
3. Visual Presentation
   • Design elements reinforce brand personality
   • Image selection supports brand storytelling
   • Layout choices enhance user experience

When all these elements work together, they create a powerful brand presence that:

• Builds trust through consistency
• Enhances recognition across platforms
• Strengthens audience connections
• Improves marketing effectiveness
• Drives meaningful engagement

👩🏼‍💻 Remember: Every piece of content and design element should be a deliberate expression of your brand strategy, working together to create a cohesive and impactful brand experience.

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Conclusion: Building A Brand That Lasts

A well-crafted brand strategy is not just a theoretical exercise – it’s the foundation for sustainable business growth and meaningful audience connections. By following this comprehensive framework, you’re setting your brand up for intentional, long-term success.

Remember these key takeaways:

• Strategy must precede visuals and tactical decisions
• Your brand’s unique positioning should guide all business choices
• Consistent messaging and visual alignment are crucial for brand recognition
• Every brand touchpoint should reflect your strategic foundations

Most importantly, brand building is an ongoing journey, not a destination. As your business evolves, return to these strategic foundations to ensure your brand continues to grow intentionally and authentically.

Start Building Your Brand Strategy Framework

I’ve created these resources to help you get started:

1. Download my free “Rearview Mirror” guide for brand vision development
2. Get the Brand Audit Framework to analyze your current brand
3. Book a discovery call to work with me 1:1 on your brand strategy