The role of branding in your strategic planning

Strategic plans often live and die in corporate boardrooms, despite the organizational levers they attempt to pull. As planning meetings are consumed by SMART goals, actions plans and KPIs, leaders can miss a valuable opportunity to assess whether their brand will support their objectives. The organization’s brand is not limited to the design of the logo, color palette and your marketing department’s approach to communications. Rather, the brand is shaped by the vision, culture and image of the organization. Performance and perception, two metrics that may be included within your strategic plan, are outcomes of your brand integrity—the degree to which people trust you—their perception—based on your organization's words and actions—your performance. So, you may be talking about your brand without even realizing it.

Branding is also a process of positioning your organization to achieve your desired vision, mission, purpose and reputation. During each strategic planning cycle, co-creating the vision with your leadership team requires collaboration and stakeholder input to ensure it aligns with the organization’s identity and strategic priorities. Your identity provides a stabilizing force to more efficiently align your vision and goals through a clear decisionmaking framework using an identity map and narrative. 

To provide insights into the often confusing concept of organizational identity, we will explore the critical relationship between leadership, branding and strategic planning. We'll delve into the concept of an identity map and identity narrative, and examine how these tools can empower your organization to align its actions with its core values and aspirations. Furthermore, we'll discuss why a clear vision is crucial for effective branding and provide actionable insights on integrating your brand identity into your strategic plan. Finally, we'll explore the valuable role a branding agency can play in helping you navigate these complexities and chart a course for a successful and impactful future.

Let’s explore what each of these powerful tools can do for your strategic plan. 

What is an identity map?

An identity map is an internal framework to define an organization’s brand strategy by answering following questions:

• Who are we?

• What do we do?

• What makes us different?

• Why do we matter?

The map is a reflection of how an organization views itself, specifically, what makes the organization distinctive, desirable, trustworthy and respected. When used as a system, identity maps can pull the same levers as strategic plans often do—influencing the organization’s vision, culture and image—making them a powerful vantage point from which to shape your planning discussions.

Using idgroup’s Branding From The Core^® organizational development framework, an identity map includes the following:

FIGURE 1

Why organizations need an identity map

The information provided by an identity map provides a cohesive and collective foundation of all communications and strategic planning. It’s helpful to think of the identity map as storylines—expressions of how the organization wants to be perceived. These storylines can be expressed through an identity narrative, which we’ll cover next, and can provide clear direction as you develop your strategic priorities that will lean into the strengths you use to support your identity.

What is an identity narrative?

An identity narrative weaves the components of an organization’s identity map into the organization’s story. The narrative captures the accomplishments of the past and the greatest hopes for the future of the organization. As such, it is part celebration and part aspiration—-a story that is in the process of “becoming” reality. It is used to inspire communications and internal performance. 

Identity narrative vs. brand story  

The difference between an identity narrative and a brand story is that an identity narrative captures key internal storylines that define how the organization wants to be perceived. A brand story, on the other hand, is a co-constructed story that incorporates perspectives and views from outside the organization. Thus, an identity narrative represents the intentions of the organization, while the brand story is the result of branding efforts. 

For example, a well known brand story is Apple’s Think Different campaign, which captured both the company’s culture, unique value proposition and role in society while also capturing the aspirations of Apple Customers.

See how they have modernized this story to reflect their internal narrative.

Why organizations need an identity narrative

Organizations don’t just tell stories—they are stories. And stories have power. Everything we do involves story, yet in business, the concept of story isn’t viewed as a powerful tool from which to make decisions and connect stakeholders and audiences. Identity Narratives empower leaders to sing from the same song book. Stories are memorable when they are told consistently and concisely, use recognizable patterns to form their structure, 

and create heroes out of ordinary people. Identity narratives also pull mission statements and values out of your employee handbook and breathe life into them, placing them within a context that matters. 

When faced with change, often a component of strategic planning, identity narratives help leaders communicate how the organization’s identity will influence the change process. It provides the increasingly important why behind the change and who the organization will become as a result.

Defining vision within your strategic plan

Defining the vision is the first step in strategic planning. It serves as an anchor around which goals and actions are organized, and gives the plan a direction in which to move. In branding however, vision is not the starting point. Referring back to the Identity Map in FIGURE 1, vision is actually not the anchor for defining your identity. The core of your identity is grounded in why you exist—your purpose—and what you believe—your values. The vision is considered an organizational driver because it can change—while your purpose and values tend to remain stable, unless you’re undergoing significant transformation.

If your organization has a clearly stated purpose and values that are reinforced by your actions, then you are well equipped to build your vision on a strong foundation. If there are differing opinions on why you exist and what you believe, then your strategic planning process is the perfect opportunity to engage a brand strategist who can facilitate dialogue that clarifies your intentions—before your plan takes shape.

How to apply identity to your strategic plan

Each component of your identity map presents an opportunity to craft a strategic plan that builds on your strengths, aspirations and competitive positioning. Leaders should explore the following questions with their teams:

• Purpose: Why do we exist?

• Values: What guides our behaviors?

• Vision: What are our aspirations for the future?

• Mission: What do you do to support your vision and purpose?

• Aspirational Reputation: For what do we wish to be known?

• Unique Value Proposition: What do we offer that is unique and valuable? To Whom?

• Personality: How will we present ourselves? How do we want people to perceive us?

• Positioning: What value will we communicate versus other options available?

• Promise: What can consumers expect from us across all touchpoints?

When evaluating your identity from this perspective, your strategic priorities begin to rise to the top. For example, you realize that the word “innovative” appears in multiple places on your map. In what ways are you enabling innovation? Or, perhaps you position yourself strongly for one particular group of customers—how could you evolve your customer experience to cater more directly to their needs? Identity maps provide your team with a foundation for evaluating your priorities and determining whether any gaps exist between your vision, culture, and image.

How a branding agency helps you plan for the future

A branding agency can help you plan for the future by facilitating dialogue to clarify your organization's purpose, values, and intentions, ensuring that your vision and goals are aligned with your brand identity. They can also assist in creating an identity map and narrative, which can help define your brand strategy and provide a strong foundation for your strategic plan. Additionally, a branding agency can help you evaluate your strategic priorities and identify any gaps between your vision, culture, and image. Lastly, a branding agency is well equipped to support you in creating communication strategies and assets that advance the objectives of your strategic plan. 

At idgroup, we provide a comprehensive stakeholder engagement framework that provides clarity, energizes teams and activates success through integral strategic plans and comprehensive brand strategies.

Learn more about Branding From The Core^®.