Brand strategy is not a transcription service. Yet, too many agencies and product marketers treat it like one. They show up, ask stakeholders to regurgitate everything they already know, nod along, and then – like some kind of overpriced parrot – play it all back in a fancy deck as if they’ve cracked the code. This isn’t strategy. It’s laziness disguised as process.
Brand strategy can’t be done in an echo chamber
A real brand strategy isn’t just a reflection of what’s inside the company. It’s an outside-in perspective – rooted in actual market insights, competitive intelligence and customer realities that push beyond what’s already been said a hundred times in internal meetings.
But too many agencies and product marketers skip this step. Instead, they make the client do all the work, then act like they’ve delivered something new. It’s a waste of time, a waste of budget, and – worst of all – a wasted opportunity.
A real strategic partner doesn’t just hold up a mirror. They bring a fresh perspective. Ask yourself:
- Is your agency asking hard questions? Or just validating what you already believe?
- Are they challenging assumptions? Or just tidying them up in a PowerPoint?
- Are they bringing outside insights? Or just making you do all the thinking?
If your brand strategy feels safe, obvious or eerily familiar, it’s probably not very good.
Differentiated brand strategy starts with due diligence
A real brand strategy process doesn’t end with asking you what you think. That’s just the beginning. What’s required is real outside-in research that enables your brand to go beyond navel gazing and see the opportunities before you:
- Market Landscape Analysis – What’s actually happening in your industry? What shifts, trends and forces are shaping customer expectations?
- Competitive Positioning Review – Not just “who are your competitors,” but how they’re showing up, what they’re claiming and where they’re vulnerable.
- Audience Insights – What do customers actually care about? What do they say when you’re not in the room?
- Cultural Context – What’s the broader conversation that your brand is stepping into?
Only after doing this homework should a strategist sit down with you – armed with insights, new thinking and a perspective that challenges assumptions rather than just documenting them.
Your brand strategy should feel right – and a little uncomfortable, too
If your brand strategy feels safe, obvious or eerily familiar, it’s probably not very good.
Great strategy should surface new truths, not just confirm existing ones. It should make you rethink your own positioning and not just reinforce what’s already there. And it should challenge or additively confirm internal bias, not just package it up neatly.
Brand strategy isn’t an exercise in rearranging what’s already inside the building. It’s not hours of time with executives sitting around writing and rewriting messaging that should have been done for them.
It’s about bringing something new into the conversation – insights, perspectives and strategic thinking that push beyond the obvious and set your brand up to win.
Anything less is a one-way ticket to the echo chamber; noisy, confusing and lacking the clarity to unify your business or connect with buyers.
And you deserve better. Much, much better.
