Brand strategy template with a worked example

Brand strategy template

A brand strategy sets out what a brand stands for, who it is for, and how it should look, sound and behave so that people choose it over the alternatives. It is owned by the brand director and agreed with the chief executive, the board and the leaders of every team that deals with customers.

Horizon: 2 years4 priorities · 10 outcomes

Use this template

What this brand strategy template includes

ContextThe situation, the challenges to solve, and what is deliberately left out.
Brand coreThe foundations everything else is built on.
PositioningThe place the brand wants to hold in the customer's mind.
Personality and voiceHow the brand comes across.
Messaging by audienceWhat each audience needs to hear and why they should believe it.
Identity principlesThe rules that keep the brand recognizable.
Priorities and measuresThree to five priorities, each with an owner, outcomes with a baseline and target, and the initiatives behind them.

Brand strategy example

A complete brand strategy for a fictional organization: community credit union with 16 branches across six counties.

Worked exampleBrand strategy

Organization	Community credit union with 16 branches across six counties (350 staff)
Ambition	Be known across the six counties as the place where anyone local can bank with people who decide here, and become the main financial institution for the next generation of households.
Horizon	2 years

Context

Where we are and what we are choosing

The credit union has 128,000 members, $2.1 billion in assets and 16 branches across six counties. It was chartered in 1954 for utility workers and opened to the whole community in 2009, but the name and look still suggest a closed employee group. Unaided awareness among local adults is 9%, against 34% for the largest regional bank, and 41% of people who have heard of us believe they cannot join. Members who do join stay: the net promoter score is 61. But the average member is 51, only 38% use us as their main financial institution, and three different logos are in use.

Challenges

Most local adults either do not know the credit union or assume it is closed to them, so rate advertising reaches people who think they are not eligible.
Membership is aging. Adults under 35 are 31% of the local population but 17% of members, and 26% of members arrived through a car dealer loan and hold nothing else.
The service members praise is not what the brand shows. Advertising leads with rates that national online banks beat, and each branch and department produces its own materials.

We will focus on

Households aged 25 to 40 in the six counties who are deciding where to keep a paycheck, a first car loan and a first mortgage.
One idea, local decisions by people you can reach, proven by service standards we publish and meet.
Consistency before reach: fix the identity and the employee experience in year one, then raise paid media in year two.

We will not

Changing the name. Research showed a new name would fix the eligibility problem faster, but signage, cards and legal work would cost about $1.8 million and put 70 years of local recognition at risk. We keep the name and add a line saying who can join.
Rate-led advertising. We will not chase the savings promotions of online banks, even though rate offers bring deposits quickly.
Renewing the regional sports arena sponsorship. The $400,000 a year moves to 40 smaller local sponsorships where staff turn up in person.

Brand core

Purpose	To keep local money working for local people. Deposits from members in the six counties fund loans to their neighbors, and what we earn goes back to members.
Vision	By 2030, be the first institution a household in the six counties thinks of when it gets its first paycheck, car or home.
Values	Answer in person. Decide here. Say it plainly. Stay when it is hard. Each value has a behavior attached: for example, every loan denial comes with a call from the person who made the decision.

Positioning

Target audience	Working households aged 25 to 40 in the six counties, earning $45,000 to $110,000, who bank with a national bank out of habit and feel like an account number.
Category	A member-owned, local alternative to a bank for everyday banking and borrowing. We compete to be the main financial institution, not a second account that holds a car loan.
Key benefit	Money decisions made nearby, by people you can reach, at an institution you own a share of.
Reason to believe	Loans are decided by underwriters who live in the region, most within one business day. Calls are answered by local staff. There are no outside shareholders, and last year $4.1 million went back to members as dividends and loan interest rebates.

Personality and voice

Personality traits	Neighborly, straightforward, capable and steady. Closer to an experienced branch manager who knows your name than to a finance app.
Tone of voice	Short sentences, everyday words and real numbers. We explain fees and rates before being asked, write as 'we' to 'you', and sign messages with the name of a staff member.
We never sound	Corporate or legal when we do not have to. Jokey about money. So folksy that we seem small or behind on technology. Superior about banks.

Messaging by audience

Audience	Message	Proof
Households aged 25 to 40, not yet members	If you live or work here you can join, and your loan is decided here	One-day loan decisions; online joining; 16 branches
Members with only a dealer car loan	You already own a share. Move your paycheck and it starts paying you back	Loan rate discount with direct deposit; $4.1 million returned last year
Long-standing members	The same people you know, with the digital tools you asked for	Average staff tenure of 9 years; mobile deposit and card controls
Small business owners	A lender who has driven past your shop	Local business lending team; decisions in 5 business days
Employees	The promise is only true if you keep it	Published service standards; authority to refund a fee on the spot

Identity principles

One logo. On all acquisition materials it carries the line 'Open to everyone who lives or works in the six counties' locked beneath it.
Photography shows real members and staff in recognizable local places. No stock images.
A rate is never the headline. Rates appear as proof, with the date and terms beside them.
Two brand colors and one typeface across signage, cards, the app and statements. Products do not get their own look.
Every branch follows the same exterior and welcome-area standard, with one wall given to local community content.
Sponsorships carry the full name and the eligibility line, never the initials alone.

Priorities and measures

Priority 1Owner: VP of Marketing

Make it obvious that anyone here can join

Awareness is a quarter of the leading bank's, and four in ten people who know us think they are not eligible. No other message works until that belief changes.

Outcome	Baseline	Target	Due
Unaided awareness among adults in the six countiesMilestones: 11% by Q4 2027	9%	15%	Q4 2028
Aware non-members who believe they cannot joinMilestones: 30% by Q4 2027	41%	18%	Q4 2028

Initiatives

Add the eligibility line to the logo lockup, signage and every acquisition channel
Move the media mix from 60% rate promotion to 70% brand and eligibility messaging
Run a brand tracking survey of 1,200 local adults every six months
Replace the arena sponsorship with 40 local sponsorships staffed by employees

Targets are illustrative. Adapt them to your baseline before you start.

Priority 2Owner: Director of Member Growth

Become the main institution for households under 40

Under-35s are underrepresented by almost half, and a quarter of members hold only a dealer loan. Growth in primary relationships has to come from younger households.

Outcome	Baseline	Target	Due
New members under 35 per yearMilestones: 3,900 members by FY27	2,900 members	5,200 members	FY28
New members with direct deposit within six monthsMilestones: 28% by Q4 2027	22%	36%	Q4 2028
Dealer-loan members who hold a second productMilestones: 17% by Q4 2027	11%	24%	Q4 2028

Initiatives

Launch a first-paycheck checking and first-car loan package under the main brand, not a sub-brand
Have a named local staff member welcome every dealer-loan member within 10 days of funding
Send staff to new-hire days at 12 large local employers and 3 community colleges
Rebuild online joining so it can be finished on a phone without a branch visit

Targets are illustrative. Adapt them to your baseline before you start.

Priority 3Owner: Chief Member Experience Officer

Keep the promise the advertising makes

The positioning rests on fast local decisions and reachable people. Today 64% of consumer loans are decided in a day and 71% of calls are answered within a minute, which is not yet a promise we can publish.

Outcome	Baseline	Target	Due
Consumer loan decisions within one business dayMilestones: 80% by Q4 2027	64%	90%	Q2 2028
Calls answered by a person within 60 secondsMilestones: 82% by Q4 2027	71%	90%	Q2 2028
Employees who can state the brand promise and their part in itMilestones: 65% by Q4 2027	28%	85%	Q4 2028

Initiatives

Publish service standards on the website and report results to members every quarter
Run a half-day brand session for all 350 employees, led by branch managers
Give frontline staff authority to refund a fee up to $50 without approval
Add the service standards to branch and contact center scorecards

Targets are illustrative. Adapt them to your baseline before you start.

Priority 4Owner: Brand Director

Show one recognizable brand in every branch and channel

Three logos and department-made materials make a 70-year-old institution look like several small ones. Consistency is the cheapest way to make existing spend work harder.

Outcome	Baseline	Target	Due
Branches meeting the identity standardMilestones: 9 branches by Q4 2027	3 branches	16 branches	Q3 2028
Member communications that pass the brand auditMilestones: 70% by Q4 2027	35%	95%	Q4 2028

Initiatives

Retire the two legacy logos from cards, statements, forms and the app
Re-sign 13 branches in order of foot traffic
Build a template library for letters, emails, posters and social posts
Audit 50 randomly sampled member communications each quarter

Targets are illustrative. Adapt them to your baseline before you start.

Blank brand strategy template

The same structure with a prompt in every field. Copy it, or download it as a Word or Excel file.

Your planBrand strategy

Organization	[Describe your organization in a few words, with its size]
Ambition	[One sentence on where you want to be at the end of the plan]
Horizon	[How long the plan runs, for example 12 months]

Context

Where we are and what we are choosing

[Where things stand today: the facts that make this strategy necessary]

Challenges

[A problem the strategy has to solve]
[A problem the strategy has to solve]

We will focus on

[Something you are choosing to concentrate on]
[Something you are choosing to concentrate on]

We will not

[Something you are deliberately leaving out]
[Something you are deliberately leaving out]

Brand core

Purpose	[Your purpose]
Vision	[Your vision]
Values	[Your values]

Positioning

Target audience	[Your target audience]
Category	[Your category]
Key benefit	[Your key benefit]
Reason to believe	[Your reason to believe]

Personality and voice

Personality traits	[Your personality traits]
Tone of voice	[Your tone of voice]
We never sound	[Your we never sound]

Messaging by audience

Audience	Message	Proof
[Audience]	[Message]	[Proof]
[Audience]	[Message]	[Proof]
[Audience]	[Message]	[Proof]

Identity principles

[A rule for how the brand looks or is applied]
[A rule for how the brand looks or is applied]
[A rule for how the brand looks or is applied]

Priorities and measures

Priority 1Owner: [Role accountable for this priority]

[Name the priority in a few words]

[Why this priority matters now, in one or two sentences]

Outcome	Baseline	Target	Due
[Metric you will track]	[Where it is today]	[Where it should be]	[When]
[Metric you will track]	[Where it is today]	[Where it should be]	[When]

Initiatives

[A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
[A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
[A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
[A project or action that moves the outcomes above]

Priority 2Owner: [Role accountable for this priority]

[Name the priority in a few words]

[Why this priority matters now, in one or two sentences]

Outcome	Baseline	Target	Due
[Metric you will track]	[Where it is today]	[Where it should be]	[When]
[Metric you will track]	[Where it is today]	[Where it should be]	[When]
[Metric you will track]	[Where it is today]	[Where it should be]	[When]

Initiatives

[A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
[A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
[A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
[A project or action that moves the outcomes above]

Priority 3Owner: [Role accountable for this priority]

[Name the priority in a few words]

[Why this priority matters now, in one or two sentences]

Outcome	Baseline	Target	Due
[Metric you will track]	[Where it is today]	[Where it should be]	[When]
[Metric you will track]	[Where it is today]	[Where it should be]	[When]
[Metric you will track]	[Where it is today]	[Where it should be]	[When]

Initiatives

[A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
[A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
[A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
[A project or action that moves the outcomes above]

Priority 4Owner: [Role accountable for this priority]

[Name the priority in a few words]

[Why this priority matters now, in one or two sentences]

Outcome	Baseline	Target	Due
[Metric you will track]	[Where it is today]	[Where it should be]	[When]
[Metric you will track]	[Where it is today]	[Where it should be]	[When]

Initiatives

[A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
[A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
[A project or action that moves the outcomes above]
[A project or action that moves the outcomes above]

How to adapt it

01
Start with research, not a workshop. Measure awareness, what people believe about you and why customers chose you before writing a word of positioning.
02
Name one target audience narrowly enough that some existing customers fall outside it. A brand for everyone gives nobody a reason to choose it.
03
Write the reason to believe as facts you can publish today. If the proof is not yet true, make fixing it a priority in the plan.
04
Fill in 'we never sound' with real temptations. It guides writers better than a list of positive traits.
05
Set interim milestones for awareness and perception, which move slowly, and pair them with behavioral outcomes such as new customers in the target group.
06
Decide which sub-brands, logos and taglines will be retired, and put a date on each.

How to run it

A plan only works if it is reviewed on a rhythm. This is the cadence the example assumes.

Check-in	Outcome owners update progress and confidence weekly.
Review	Priority owners review outcomes and unblock initiatives monthly.
Reset	Leadership revisits priorities and targets quarterly.

Tability keeps this cadence for you. Each priority becomes an objective, each outcome a key result with its baseline and target, and each initiative a tracked task. Owners get a check-in reminder and the plan shows what is on track.

Track this plan in Tability

Still comparing tools? See the 10 best strategy software tools.

Common mistakes

Treating a new logo as the strategy. Identity work without a positioning decision changes how the brand looks and nothing about why people choose it.
Promising something operations cannot deliver, so that the advertising sets up a disappointment at the first branch visit or phone call.
Writing values so general that any competitor could claim them, with no behavior attached to make them testable.
Measuring only awareness. People can know a brand well and still believe it is not for them.

Questions, answered.

What should a brand strategy template include?

It should include the brand core (purpose, vision and values), positioning with a target audience, category, key benefit and reason to believe, personality and tone of voice, messaging for each audience, and the principles that govern the visual identity. Add measurable outcomes such as awareness, perception and customer growth in the target group.

What is the difference between brand strategy and brand identity?

Brand strategy is the set of decisions about who the brand is for and what it should mean to them. Brand identity is how those decisions are expressed: the name, logo, colors, typography and voice. Strategy comes first, because identity choices cannot be judged without knowing what they are meant to communicate.

How long does a brand strategy take to show results?

Expect 12 to 24 months before awareness and perception move in tracking surveys, because people update beliefs slowly. Internal measures move sooner. Consistency of materials and employee understanding can improve within two quarters, and those early gains are what make the later shift in public perception possible.

How do you measure brand strategy?

Measure it at three levels. Use a tracking survey for unaided awareness and the specific beliefs you want to change. Track behavior such as new customers in the target audience and share of main relationships. Audit delivery: whether materials are on brand and whether the service proof points are being met.

Does a brand strategy require a rebrand?

No. Many brand strategies keep the existing name and logo and change what the brand says, to whom, and how consistently. A rebrand is justified when the name or identity actively blocks the positioning and the cost of changing it is lower than the cost of working around it.

Brand strategy template

Get the Word file

What this brand strategy template includes

Brand strategy example

Context

Brand core

Positioning

Personality and voice

Messaging by audience

Identity principles

Make it obvious that anyone here can join

Become the main institution for households under 40

Keep the promise the advertising makes

Show one recognizable brand in every branch and channel

Blank brand strategy template

Context

Brand core

Positioning

Personality and voice

Messaging by audience

Identity principles

[Name the priority in a few words]

[Name the priority in a few words]

[Name the priority in a few words]

[Name the priority in a few words]

Get the Word file

How to adapt it

How to run it

Common mistakes

Questions, answered.

What this brand strategy template includes

Brand strategy example

Make it obvious that anyone here can join

Become the main institution for households under 40

Keep the promise the advertising makes

Show one recognizable brand in every branch and channel

Blank brand strategy template

[Name the priority in a few words]

[Name the priority in a few words]

[Name the priority in a few words]

[Name the priority in a few words]

How to adapt it

How to run it

Common mistakes

Questions, answered.

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