DIY Brand Strategy: A Self-Directed Approach for Local Small Businesses

From Day-to-Day Demands to Brand Strategy Clarity

At Rinehart Marketing, we understand the challenge of running an independent small business here in the Pacific Northwest, serving your community with passion and excellence while staying true to your mission. With all of the day-to-day demands, it can be hard to keep your brand strategy – the essence of who you are and why you do what you do – clearly in view. And even if you want a clear brand, you also may value autonomy, efficiency and a more budget-friendly approach. Our self-paced brand strategy is designed with that in mind.

We believe that in order to maximize the results from any marketing strategies & tactics, you need to ensure your brand strategy is clear and cohesive. Developing your brand strategy involves a thorough process of crystallizing your purpose, mission, vision, values, target audience, competition, personality, and your unique contribution to the world. We offer comprehensive coaching and consulting services to walk you through formulating this strategy thoroughly. The output from this process? A solid blueprint that spells out the who, what, where, when, why, and how of your company’s brand, ensuring every message connects with your ideal customer.

For many mission-driven small business owners, our coaching and consulting services are a great fit. But we also recognize that some of you are much more self-sufficient, eager to get going, and comfortable setting your own pace. For those of you in that camp, we offer a Self-Directed Brand Strategy option. It provides access to our tools, templates and exercises, with just two check-in meetings and one final consulting session to complete the process.

Is our self-directed brand strategy right for your local business?

This path is perfect for the independent small business owner or solo professional who:

• Is extremely comfortable with technology & self-sufficient: You know your way around Google Apps: docs, sheets, slides, meet) and prefer working at your own pace.

• Has done foundational work on mission & values: You have already thought about the core purposes of your business or are familiar with the concepts.

• Is familiar with core marketing principles: Concepts like customer personas & understanding your target audience aren’t new and you are ready to go deeper.

• Can dedicate focused time: You are willing to devote the time needed (10-15 hours spanning 4 weeks) for the self-paced homework, research, exercises & check-in meetings.

• Understands the importance of their brand: You realize that branding is more than just a nice logo, and you want to ensure you communicate your company values & connect authentically with your ideal customers.

Your self-directed brand strategy process: what to expect

This self-paced journey follows the same process we use with all of our clients, but you get to set the pace:

1. Crystalize your brand essence: your purpose, mission, vision and values 

You will hone in on what your new business brings to the market and what the unique value is to your clients. We provide resources to help you with this process.

2. Decide on your brand personality and voice

We have a brief online form that will help you figure out and capture your unique brand personality & voice.

3. Decide on a business name (this step may be skipped if you already have one)

Using what you’ve articulated in your brand essence, you will come up with a unique and memorable business name, and perform the necessary due diligence around it regarding availability, trademarking, etc. We have some resources that can help with this process.

4. Flesh out your brand strategy

The culmination of the three previous steps plus your audience personas, positioning, & key messaging becomes your brand strategy, providing a blueprint for the communication of your brand. 

5. Create a business summary document

Once the brand strategy is complete, we will create a business summary document that captures all of your business details to ensure alignment and consistency across all marketing platforms.

Why choose a self-directed brand strategy approach?

There are some key benefits associated with choosing this self-paced format:

• Flexibility: You get to work at a pace that suits you, with few meeting commitments. We provide the structure, and you own the schedule.

• Cost-savings: With fewer meetings and you conducting all of the research, the price tag is lower than our full-service option.

• Internalized learning: With you doing the deeper learning yourself, you’ll internalize your understanding of the marketplace and your brand, resulting in a more authentic expression of your mission and values in your final strategy.

What our DIY branding program includes

Total time estimate for completion: 10 - 15 hours ideally spanning about 4 weeks

Onboarding

Time estimate: 15-30 min

We provide a couple of web forms to complete prior to our kickoff meeting, helping orient us to your business.

Kickoff meeting

Time estimate: 30-45 min

We cover the following items in this meeting:

• Set up Google Drive for sharing resources

• Go over the Brand Strategy process so you know what to expect

• Set meeting dates/times for the check-ins and final consult

• Answer questions

Brand Strategy tools

Brand Essence exercise: purpose, mission, vision & values

Time estimate: 1-2 hours

This foundational exercise helps you get at the driving forces behind your work.

Know your Audience - Audience Persona exercise & templates

Time estimate: 1-2 hours

Building out various audience personas will help you visualize your ideal customer as you craft any marketing content. We recommend you think about previous clients as possible examples of these personas, or customers you see your competitors attracting. It is helpful to name each one – make them fun & memorable – so you can easily refer to them later.

Brand Personality/Archetype/Voice survey & quiz

Time estimate: 30 min - 1 hour

You’ll answer a few brief questions and take a quiz to get at your unique personality and voice.

Business Name Due Diligence

Time estimate: 30 min - 1 hour

You will spend time generating unique business name ideas, and then conduct research around your top choices, including investigation of available domain names.

>> First check-in meeting: 45 min - 1 hr

We will meet to review your progress thus far and discuss any open items or questions that came up. 

Distinguishing Your Brand exercise & templates

Time estimate: 2-4 hours (we recommend breaking this assignment into stages so it doesn’t feel overwhelming)

This part of the process is the most comprehensive and time-consuming. It is critical that you conduct market research to ensure you know how to stand out from your competitors. Take inspiration from your competitors while ensuring that you bring something fresh and original to the marketplace. The better you understand your market niche and the competitive landscape, and the clearer you are on how you stand out from your competitors, the easier time you will have crafting your marketing messaging & strategy.

>> 2nd check-in meeting: 45 min - 1 hr

This is my favorite meeting. I love hearing what you learned from your market research, and how it will shape your brand strategy.

Brand Strategy Summary template - pulling it all together

Time estimate: 1-2 hours

Here is where you pull all of your work together. We synthesize the input from your brand personality & archetype info and incorporate it into the summary template. There are a few extra pieces added at this stage, including refining your messaging and concluding with summarizing your 12-month business goals.

>> Final consult meeting to review completed strategy: 1 hr

At this meeting, you take the driver’s seat and present your completed brand strategy to Rinehart Marketing, with opportunity for dialogue and refinement as issues arise.

Business Summary document

After you have completed the brand strategy, the final deliverable from Rinehart Marketing is the Business Summary document based on all of the information in the brand strategy.

If you are a local business owner in the Pacific Northwest ready to dial in your branding essentials, contact us, and let’s see if this DIY approach might be a fit for you!