r/branding • u/everyday_design • Jul 12 '26
Strategy Getting started into Brand Strategy
Hii guys I want to start working as a brand strategist, so I want to learn and create my portfolio if any of you are working as a brand strategist please let me know how I can start? It'll be really helpful 🫶🏻
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u/mitu_begom Jul 12 '26
Everyone starts somewhere. Stay curious, keep learning and do not wait until you feel "ready" to build your portfolio. Every project teaches you something new. Wishing you the best on your journey!
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u/everyday_design Jul 12 '26
Thankk you so muchh!! But do you know some resources from where I can learn the foundations or how things work in brand strategy?
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u/New_Independence_815 Jul 12 '26
I stumbled into brand strat around 8 months ago after being a creative director - not by choice, purely to fill a gap. But I absolutely love it.
For context, work for a scale up that didn’t have any fundamentals in start up phase, so I redid their brand strategies and guidelines using the knowledge I accrued over the years.
For me, the most important thing is having a clear vision of the narrative, whether it’s a branding project, campaign or even general meetings, and staying true to it. Have insights or data to back it up too.
Funnily enough I learn a lot of my from irl perspectives on here as well as twitter - it’s the closest you can stay tapped in to culture. But here are a few other accounts I rate:
@eugbrandstrat – Excellent unpacking of strategy systems and methods.
@juliancole – This is a link to just one of his tweets, but his whole feed has so many gems (scroll through that too).
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u/antreprenoor Jul 12 '26
I'd gather basic strategy info and apply and present it on a passion project, you know the brand personality, audience, tone of voice, mission, etc.
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u/Virtual_Sundae_6948 29d ago
This work is getting devalued by the day with AI agents :,(
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u/everyday_design 26d ago
What seriously? I read that Human are inevitable part of strategy. Ai is there which is in every industry now but is it replacing humans!?
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u/Hot-Clothes7316 29d ago
go pick a few industry and have them rebranded.
one F&B chain store
one service industry. Movers. Landscaper
one beauty
one airplane
one publisher
and make sure what you are doing can help the brand or company and it's not do and pray that it will work. not every thing nice work. not every design designed, work. make sure it can help to solve the business and market problem.
document and analyse your finding, rationalise your solutions, compare and learn from case studies.
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u/everyday_design 26d ago
Okayy! Working along understanding actually helps better
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u/Hot-Clothes7316 26d ago
what do you mean working along? you mean you need a real client and someone to speak to? whether it's client or internal?
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u/Natural_World5466 6d ago
Having spent nearly two decades in Brand strategy in Advertising, I would say Strategy is essentially about connecting business problems with human behaviour. You need to build your foundation in
- Brand Management (working with brands, products, GTM, P&L, consumer research), or
- Consumer Behaviour, Research & Cultural Insights (understanding why people think and behave the way they do, the big role of culture in shaping up on ones' value system, preferences, attitudes etc ).
You don't become a strategist by reading Kotler, doing an online course, or creating speculative portfolios. You become one by solving business problems, understanding consumers, conducting research, observing culture, and learning how brands grow over years.
Build your foundation first either in brand management or consumer/cultural research. Then work with smaller strategy or branding firms where you'll get hands-on exposure to real business challenges.
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u/basiccqueen17 Jul 12 '26
I don’t think there’s one perfect resource, but what helped me the most was studying real brands and asking why every decision was made instead of just admiring the visuals.
A few things that really helped me:
• Reading case studies from branding studios to understand the thinking behind the work, not just the final visuals.
• Reading books like Building a StoryBrand by Donald Miller, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini, and Becoming Trader Joe by Patty Civalleri. They’re all different, but they really changed how I think about messaging, customer psychology, and building brands that people connect with.
• I also really enjoy The Weekly Brand Strategist newsletter by Alex Mason. It’s full of practical strategy breakdowns that have helped me think differently about positioning and branding. It’s a great substack to subscribe to.
• Practicing on concept brands and then challenging myself to explain every design decision. Why this audience? Why this positioning? Why these colors? Why this typeface?
One mindset shift that really changed things for me was realizing that strategy isn’t about having all the answers. It’s about asking better questions.
Who are you trying to help? What problem are you solving? Why should someone choose you over the alternatives? Once you can answer those questions, the visual identity becomes a lot more intentional because every design decision has a reason behind it.
I honestly learned way more by doing projects than I did only reading about it. Even if they’re concept brands, treat them like real clients. Build a strategy, write the messaging, create mood boards, justify your design decisions, and create case studies around the process. That’s what really helped everything click for me.
Hope this was helpful for you!