Peter van der Steege is owner of the Groningen-based communications and strategy agency Fitbrand. Traditionally, Fitbrand has provided brand identity, corporate identities and logos for numerous companies and entrepreneurs in the fitness industry. They still do, but a few years ago Fitbrand also successfully expanded into other industries.

Today, Fitbrand is an all-round brand strategy and marketing agency. Mitchell van der Koelen is the owner of online marketing agency OMP Internetmarketing. Some time ago, Peter and Mitchell came into contact with each other. When you put brand strategists and marketers together, fascinating conversations arise. That's why Mitchell came up with the idea for a Q&A with Peter, about brand identity and brand strategy.

Mitchell: Peter, there are those who believe that brand strategy and brand identity are the same thing and that they don't require a separate approach. What do you think about that?

Peter: Processes for developing a brand strategy, and a brand identity follow two very different routes. In fact, I always say: to arrive at a good brand strategy, you have to know the soul of the customer. In fact, you have to remember that a brand is always started by an individual, or several individuals.

You always see that personality and personalities reflected in brand strategy. Defining brand strategy is really about things like working out your mission: why you do what you do. What do you want to convey?

We want to make sure your mission and your proposition really stand up to scrutiny. These can be tough assignments. Because if you can't get these right, you will miss the connection with your customers. If you have named and developed these well, you have a very good framework. You will have a story that you can sell well. That's where brand identity begins.

When your brand strategy is in place, you start looking at how you can communicate your brand. Often clients arrive with a business plan, but it does not mention the mission at all. That does not work. Here you clearly see that brand identity and brand strategy are not the same thing, but rather an extension of each other. Without a clear brand strategy, you can never build a good brand identity. You need to know what you stand for and who your customers are. So that you can then communicate this in the perfect way.

Of course, you can make strategy and identity part of one overall journey. But, they are really two different parts with their own focus, but also with coherence. What perhaps shows the difference well is the Branding Iceberg. Everything above the water has to do with the brand identity, but everything you don't see (what's under the water) is just as important. That should represent the brand strategy.

Image - The Branding Iceberg

Mitchell: I see, indeed that seems like a good comparison. Can you respond to the following statement, Peter? 'Direct focus on sales brings results.'

Peter: Yes, I often hear that from entrepreneurs. They often dive right into the numbers and strategies. Full of enthusiasm, of course! But, without a clear mission and vision, it's like building a house on quicksand.

And that's where I come in. Recently, I showed a client the right way by helping them clarify their business plan. They had also, up until now, just focused fully on sales numbers, but that didn't seem to be catching on. It wasn't until we sat down together and dived deeper into what made them unique that a mission and proposition emerged that resonated.

And you know what? Their sales numbers skyrocketed! Simply because their customers finally understood why they needed to be with them. That click, those 'aha' moments, that's what I do it for.

And then I also think it is at least as important that not only the customers, but also the employees are informed of all developments.

For example, the other day I had explained to the company Sport Natural that they also needed to work with internal Customer Journey. This journey is now completely worked out and gone through with every employee. Now the whole team understands what the company stands for and the career perspective is implemented much better. The response has been fantastic. The whole team now understands what the company stands for and everyone now works with the same principles.

Image - Logo and brand stratification Sport Natural

Mitchell: I've heard you say, "Ideally, we get in at the very beginning. What exactly do you mean by that. And why do you have that preference?

Peter van der Steege: We prefer not to work with one-day wonders anyway. The companies we work with have a clear plan for the future. Ideally, we step in at the very beginning, so that we can think along about the brand strategy as well as the brand identity.

Our clients, before we schedule a strategic session, are given an interactive workbook that they have to complete first. That workbook causes the clients to already start thinking very much on their own, which is good.

Sometimes this also makes them insecure, which is also a good thing. Because, this is how they come to realize more and more that otherwise they might be too quick to get started writing a business plan that just isn't complete.

By completing this workbook, we thereby get the chance to really look into the customer's head and heart, and then interesting things often quickly emerge that we can then highlight. We live in a world with far too many brands and products that are almost identical, so important details like these can start to make a difference.

Mitchell: Okay, clear! So what do you think of the statement, "Many brands are too focused on just the appearance aspect.

Peter: We live in a society where in one day you come into contact with a visual expression of a brand literally thousands of times. So, of course you have to stand out. At the same time, sometimes people get totally paralyzed by this and drop out. Most entrepreneurs do not realize well enough in the beginning that just a cool logo with cool colors and sleek typography is not enough to ensure that you can stand out in the market right now.

If you look at the marketing pyramid, these things are at the very top. They are important, but so they come last. At the bottom, so at the very beginning, are essential things like your brand strategy. Everything you do after that has to be in line with your identity and strategy.

Of the 30,000 companies started in the Netherlands each year, only 5% are left a year later. That says a lot. Why is that? Generally it is because they take the wrong route and want to go too fast. They do not realize enough that there is more to building a brand than writing down your KPIs, working out your sales plan and wrapping it in a nice little logo.

So by thinking about both brand strategy and brand identity, you can make your company stand out from the crowd. Take for example our client Shortlease Netherlands. This company started as any other leasing company. But, because of the integral brand approach, Shortlease Netherlands now stands and goes for something and is a company with a face and a mission and vision.

Image - Brand manual Shortlease Netherlands

Mitchell: I'm sure there will also be opposition to your approach. Have you ever dealt with an entrepreneur who felt he didn't need a specialist for his strategy because he felt he already knew his company and product well enough?

Peter: Many entrepreneurs think this way. It makes sense, because they generally know very well what they want and where they want to go. Only, they often choose the straight road. The straight road, while having the fewest bumps, is generally not the best or most complete route.

What you should always remember as a business is that the customer doesn't really care about your brand at all, with few exceptions. Until a story comes along that touches your customer. So, you can know your company or product so well: the important thing is to think from your customer's point of view. That is our added value in a strategic session. We look for your voice, to make it heard in such a way that it touches customers.

You often see that if this is not done by a specialist, companies lapse into safe expressions. Just look around you: at many companies, marketing is done by the book. It's all neatly done, but it's also boring. We really provide a style and tone of voice that expresses who you are, in such a way that your customer wants to experience it.

In a brand strategy we try to give maximum attention to all your pillars, style, tone of voice and everything else your brand conveys. We simply know that as a specialist and critical outside party we can ensure that your customers will start to care about your brand.

Sometimes you just have to be really direct too, that helps. Entrepreneurs each have their core qualities. A personal trainer knows all about workouts and training techniques, but generally doesn't know the first thing about sales and marketing.

We see it as our role to wake up customers and convince them that they can achieve more when everyone works together and does what they are good at. We really dare to say: what you have come up with now is nothing at all, but we also explain why and come up with a better solution.

"We then really dare to say: this what you have come up with now is nothing at all, but also explain why and come up with a better solution."

- Peter van der Steege

Mitchell: And what happens after the brand strategy is defined and everything is running smoothly? Doesn't attention then fade again after a while?

Peter van der Steege: It would be good for a lot of customers to say after a year or two years: let's sit down again to see if everything is still running and if everyone still understands what it's all about. Only, what you have to remember is that we don't want to be a passerby who implements something and leaves again. So on the one hand, we try to keep a finger on the pulse with our clients and we meet again after a year, for example; on the other hand, clients always have the brand manual that they can fall back on and in which the complete brand strategy is described. In this way we also ensure that clients keep the brand strategy alive within the organization.

Mitchell: What kind of clients do you guys actually have? Because then isn't brand strategy just for big companies?

Peter van der Steege: Definitely not. Especially for smaller entrepreneurs and even ZZP'ers, a brand strategy session is incredibly useful. Small entrepreneurs and ZZP'ers often do not have the opportunity for external reflection. That's why it can be especially valuable for them to spar with a good brand strategist. During conversations with smaller parties, I often hear where the real pains are and then we can help. To prevent them from shooting with hail, for example.

In the end, it's also an investment that pays for itself. I have seen enough small business owners who spend a lot of money on marketing while their proposition is not correct. For example, I really have enough real-life examples of clients who actually had no idea who their target audience was, or made unjustified assumptions about this themselves.

The company Bamboovement is a good example of this. They themselves thought their target audience was millennials and focused all their marketing on that. During the interviews we did with the personas, we discovered that a large part of their fan base was actually young mothers trying to raise their families and children in a plastic-free world. This also revealed that some of their fans were reached through magazines such as the Linda, which Banboovement itself did not realize at all.

So, they adjusted their marketing strategy after this discovery and focused more on young mothers. This approach really improved results.

So with a good brand strategy, small businesses can save on marketing costs and benefit from a much better return on investment.

Image - Branding Roadmap Bamboovement

Mitchell: To what extent, then, should your target audience be able to identify with your marketing?

Peter: I talked a little bit earlier about how many companies often approach their marketing: all by the book and very slick. So you often see that in visuals. Wherever you look, you see the same aesthetic everywhere.

Take the automobile industry. Apart from the fact that models often look alike, you also see all the same visuals in marketing communications: a beautiful car in an expensive residential area, young handsome people in designer clothes ... almost out of this world. You saw the same thing in the fitness industry for a long time, but there is really a tilt there now.

Just look at the displays of gyms a few years ago: you only saw handsome, trained people. Everyone there made the same choices. Apart from the fact that you have no distinguishing capacity, you are ignoring a large part of your target group.

Don't underestimate how much clients want to be able to identify with your marketing. For example, you must photograph for the target audience and not just for the pretty picture.

We also definitely do validation. We set up the brand strategy in the past for a high-end personal training studio in the south country itself. When we had done a first draft, the clients did not recognize themselves at all in the texts.

One of his clients gave as feedback, "I'm not that slick tough urban Amsterdam CEO at all, but come to train with you precisely because it means I get to eat a sausage roll once in a while."

Here you see the value of a good brand identity and brand strategy before you go public with your marketing. That way, you still have a chance to get that mismatch out, because very often the image that companies paint of their customers and how the customer sees themselves do not match.

Another good example is Voys. This company had never worked with personas during their rebranding until we came up with them. In the end, we developed 5 personas for the company and they still use them today in their marketing and website appearance. They have become much more efficient in approaching their target audience as a result.

Image - Brand manual Voys

Mitchell: In your opinion, then, should companies be coachable?

Peter: Brand strategy sessions can be confrontational. We prefer to get in as early as possible. But, if we drop in in the middle of a process or when a company is already in the midst of implementing, my first question is always: is this party coachable?

Then it's mainly about the people behind the buttons. We can help everyone, but on one condition: you must be able to open up and dare to be coached. If you can't do that, the question is whether we can really bring about change and improve what needs to be improved. This is also a real threat within many companies.

I remember a brand strategy session at a company where the director wanted to interfere with everything. Ideally, he would still check every truck that left the building. During the session this came up and we found that this was holding other people in the company back and hindering change. We really communicated openly and honestly one on one: "Do you realize that you yourself are a limiting factor within the company that stands in the way of change?"

Fortunately, he recognized that and was able to laugh about it as well. But, not everyone has that capacity for self-reflection and that can complicate a brand strategy session. So yes, sporadically we sense that with a company we are not going to get where we need to get and then we don't take an assignment.

Mitchell: Thank you Peter. In conclusion, what advice can you give to the entrepreneurs reading this Q&A right now who are still hesitating to approach you to scrutinize their brand strategy.

Peter van der Steege: I would say, schedule an appointment with us! It never hurts, because that part is totally free. Then we can sit down or video call together sometime to talk about your business. In my experience, only great things can come out of this. So, schedule an appointment here and hopefully see you soon!