What the role involves
A brand strategist answers one question before anyone designs, writes or advertises anything: how should this business be perceived, and by whom? The answer comes from research into three things. The business itself, including what it does best and where it is heading. The clients it most wants to win, and how they choose. The competitors and other options those clients consider.
From that research, the strategist recommends a position: a clear statement of who the business is for, what it does better than the alternatives and the proof that makes it believable. The position then shapes the key messages, the voice and the brief for the identity, website and marketing.
The principle behind it is old and well tested. Michael Porter put it plainly in What Is Strategy?, writing that competitive strategy is about being different. A brand strategist applies that idea to how a business presents itself.
How it differs from design and marketing
The three roles are often confused because they work closely together. The difference is in the question each one answers. A strategist decides what the business should be known for. A designer decides how that looks. A marketer decides who sees it, where and how often.
The order matters. Design and marketing built without an agreed position tend to look polished and say very little, because there is no decision underneath them. Research on advertising effectiveness supports the long view: the IPA’s analysis in The Long and The Short of It found an optimum split of about 60:40 between brand building and short-term activation. Brand building needs something clear to build.
| Question | Brand strategist | Designer | Marketer |
|---|---|---|---|
| The question they answer | How should the business be perceived, and by whom? | How should it look? | Who should see it, where and how often? |
| What they start with | The business, its clients and its competitors | A brief or a position | A position and a budget |
| What they deliver | A position, key messages and voice | An identity and design system | Campaigns, content and channel plans |
| How long it lasts | Years, until the business changes direction | Years, applied across every channel | Weeks to months, reviewed often |
When an established business needs one
It is common for an established business to reach a point where its reputation is stronger than its presentation. Clients who know it value it highly. New buyers, judging it from a website or a proposal, see something smaller or less specialised. That gap is normal, and it usually appears when a business has grown faster than the way it describes itself.
A strategist is worth paying for when that gap is affecting the work the business wins: when larger clients misread it, when it competes mostly on price, or when it is about to invest in a new identity or website and needs a clear brief.
What to expect from the work
Most strategy work for an established business takes a few weeks. Expect conversations with the owners and, ideally, with clients, a review of competitors, and one or two workshops to test and agree the position. The result should be specific enough that the team can use it the next day, in proposals, emails and conversations, without waiting for a redesign.
At Zelexis, strategy is the first stage of most projects, because every later decision depends on it.
A useful next step
Something to try this week.
Ask three of your best clients to describe your business in one sentence, then ask three people who have never worked with you to do the same after looking at your website. If the two sets of answers differ, the gap is a strategy question, and it should be answered before anything is redesigned.