Developing a Brand Strategy That Resonates with Your Audience

Your audience decides if your brand sinks or swims. Full stop. You don’t get to tell people what your brand is – they tell you. But don’t start sweating just yet. That’s exactly what a mega brand strategy is for: shaping perception before someone else does it for you.

In a world overflowing with brands, the ones that win are the ones that actually give a sh*t about who they're talking to. A solid brand strategy requires you to know what you are, own your sh*t and lean into it. It’s about getting under the skin of your customers, figuring out what matters to them, and building something real. Forget trends. Focus on truth. Let’s break it down.

Identifying and Understanding Your Target Audience

Know who you’re talking to

You can't build a brand for "everyone." That’s not how it works. You can’t be everyone’s cup of tea and that’s okay. Understanding your target audience is non-negotiable. Get it right, and you’ll have people lining up. Get it wrong, and no one's going to show up for you.

How to actually figure this sh*t out

Demographic Analysis
Look at age, gender, income, education, and location. Yeah, it’s not the sexiest part of brand strategy, but it’s absolutely essential. This data gives you the hard facts about who your audience actually is – not who you wish they were. It stops you wasting time and dollar marketing luxury skincare to 17-year-old blokes or trying to sell skateboards to pensioners. When you know the basics, you can segment properly and build messaging that hits the right people in the right place, at the right time.

Psychographic Profiling
Dig deeper. What do they care about? What pisses them off? What values do they live by? This is where you move beyond the surface-level stuff and actually get to know your audience like humans. Psychographics help you understand motivations, beliefs, lifestyle choices – all the juicy stuff that drives decisions. It's how you create messaging that feels right, because it’s aligned with what matters to them. If demographics tell you who they are, psychographics tell you why they give a sh*t. And that’s where the real magic happens.

Behavioural Data
What are they buying? How often? When do they ghost you and why? This is about tracking what your audience does, not just what they say. Because actions speak louder than words. Behavioural data shows you patterns – what they click, what they ditch, when they buy, and when they bail. It helps you spot what’s working, what’s tanking, and where the drop-off points are. Want to know why people add to cart and then f*ck off without buying? This is how you find out. It’s real-time, real-world feedback and it’s priceless.

Customer Feedback
Surveys, interviews, focus groups – just ask them. Radical idea, we know. But if you want to understand your audience, maybe try talking to them. Makes a lot of sense, right? No guessing, no assumptions – just straight from the source. What they like, what they hate, what they wish you'd stop doing. It’s raw, honest, and can be uncomfortable – but you’ll find the answers. If you’re not listening to your customers, you’re just marketing to yourself.

Social Media Listening
People tell you exactly what they want (and what they f*cking hate) – online. You just have to shut up and listen. Social media is a 24/7 focus group where your audience vents, praises, complains, and shares what actually matters to them. It's unfiltered, it's real-time, and it's full of insights you won't get from any survey. Use it to spot emerging trends, understand public sentiment, and catch issues before they blow up in your DMs. If you’re not paying attention, someone else is – and they’ll steal your audience while you’re busy posting bland content no one asked for.

User-generated content is where it’s at. Think about all those unboxing videos, hot takes, and brutally honest reviews. Your customers are literally creating content for you, showing how your product lives (or dies) in the real world. If you’re smart, you’ll not only listen – you’ll use it to adapt the stuff that’s working. If you’re not, you’ll just keep missing the mark while your competitors cash in on the review.

Tools to help you

Google Analytics: Tracks who’s snooping around your site.
Facebook Insights: Lets you peek behind the curtain on audience behaviour.
SurveyMonkey: Builds surveys so you don’t have to.
Hootsuite: Keeps an eye on your social mentions so you know when you’re smashing it – or messing up.

Crafting a Brand Message That Connects

Say something that matters. If your brand messaging is just "we’re passionate about quality," congrats, so is every other brand in your space. If you want people to care, your message needs to hit where it matters – in the values, needs, and problems of your audience.

Here's how to make it work for you

1. Define Your Brand DNA
   What’s driving your brand beyond just making money? What’s your vision? What values do you live by? What do you want to be famous for? What’s your mission, your tone of voice, your real proposition? And here’s a big one: what’s broken in your industry that you’re here to fix? Your brand DNA should be sharp and clear because if you don’t know who you are, no one else will either.
   
   

2. Understand Your Audience
   Already covered, but seriously, don’t skip this. Start with demographics (age, gender, income, location) to know who you’re talking to. Then dig into psychographics – what they care about, what they believe, what gets them fired up. Add behavioural data (what they buy, when they bounce) and mix in customer feedback and social listening. That’s how you build a full picture of your audience – so you can talk to them in a way that actually lands.
   
   

3. Do Your Competitor Research
   Who else is out there, and what are they doing better (or worse) than you? This isn’t about copying – it’s about spotting gaps, weaknesses, and opportunities. What’s everyone else shouting about, and what’s being ignored? That’s where you make your move.
   
   

4. Develop a Unique Value Proposition (UVP)
   What do you offer that no one else does – or at least not as well? Own it. This is your brand’s reason to exist. Say it loud, say it proud, and say it in a way your audience actually gives a sh*t about.
   
   

5. Craft a Consistent Brand Voice
   Your tone matters. Whether you’re cheeky, serious, swear a lot (like us), or zen as fu*k – own it. Know what you are, own your sh*t and lean into it. And stick to it. A strong voice builds trust, recognition, and connection. A weak one will not stand the test of time.
   
   

Test and Refine
Your strategy’s not a one-and-done job. Launch, learn, tweak. Then do it again. Your brand should grow with your audience … all the time. Keep listening, keep adjusting, and don’t be afraid to axe what’s not working.

Where to Shout your Message

Aligning Brand Strategy with Customer Expectations

If you promise the world and deliver a soggy sandwich, you're done. Make sure you meet expectations – then smash them. Today’s customers expect more, faster, better. They want brands that walk the talk. That means not just saying the right things, but doing them.

Don’t just nod. Act.

🖤 Gather Customer Feedback Regularly
Not once a year. Not when sh*t hits the fan. Always. Keep asking, keep learning.

🖤 Ensure Consistency Across Touchpoints
Every click, every call, every post – same brand, same vibe.

🖤 Train Employees on Brand Values
Your brand should run through the whole business. Everyone, from sales to customer service, needs to live it. And your marketing team? They need to be locked in. If they’re not fully aligned with your brand values and voice, you’ll end up sending mixed messages and confusing the hell out of your audience. Consistency starts inside.

🖤 Adapt to Changing Needs
Your audience changes. Keep up or get left behind.

🖤 Deliver on Brand Promises
Do what you said you would. It’s wild how rare this is.

A sh*thot brand strategy is the guts of your business. If you want to resonate with your audience and we mean, –really resonate – you need to understand them better than they understand themselves. Talk to them like a human and show up consistently every time. That’s how loyalty happens. That’s how growth happens.

Need help building your brand strategy? We’re co&co. We specialise in both marketing strategy, branding, activations and social media marketing that actually hits. But here’s the difference – we don’t just make sh*t that looks good. We measure it, track it, and make sure it works. Get in touch, and let’s f*cking go.

Let’s make something mega, together.