Children often take pride in their ability to skip steps, whether it be literal steps or steps they need to follow when completing a task. They may do it because it’s faster, maybe it was a challenge, and maybe they wanted to show off a little.

Later in school they may take pride in being able to skip steps in class activities or assessments. They may be impatient and want to get things done quickly, we would all rather skip the tough, uncomfortable parts. However, those steps are in place for good reasons. They might form part of a process that is beneficial to the final outcome.

There is a widespread desire for shortcuts. Despite our desire for a successful business, many of us avoid hard work and try dodge dealing with failures.

In order to start implementing something more interesting we’re willing to jump ahead of the foundations. For example, we’d rather use an existing colour palette from Pinterest instead of thinking about colour psychology and choosing the colours wisely.

We’ll use the latest trendy font, forgetting about the personality of the brand. It is so easy to focus on the visuals of the brand without paying attention to what the brand actually stands for. It takes time and effort to lay the foundations, which is why many people skip the business and brand strategy, they’d rather dive straight into marketing.

The word “strategy” is often used these days. In the end, strategies are simply plans of action- how you’re going to accomplish something.

If you’re wondering what the difference is between business, brand, and marketing strategy, you’re not alone.

There are some overlaps between these strategies, but they are all stand-alone. Let’s break it down.

Step One: Business Strategy

A business model, revenue sources, cost structure, and strategic partnerships are all covered here.

Analysing the marketplace and our peers in our space can help us find the overlap between business strategy and brand strategy.

Step Two: Brand Strategy

A company’s essence, characteristics, values, attributes, and positioning are all included here. In a nutshell, brand strategy is a “pull tactic,” which means what makes your brand magnetic? What makes people come to you?

Considering things like our unique positioning, what our audience needs, and who we are and who our audience is, we can then find the overlap between the brand and marketing strategy.

Step Three: Marketing Strategy

An advertising plan is used to promote and sell a product or service. Marketing is more of a “push tactic”, or how do we reach people and get them to buy our product?

It is important to follow these three steps in the right order.

Business Strategy ➡️ Brand Strategy ➡️ Marketing Strategy

If you skip a step, you’ll have to go back to the foundation and start over. The shortcut we think we are taking to save time, will actually take more time.

The first strategy must be established before moving on to the second.