I think about this often. In fact, this may be the marketer’s dilemma. A true chicken or the egg. Brand or business, which one takes the lead? The reality is…it depends. What’s the project and how are you defining success. Those questions are a good guide, but overall they’re inextricable and it’s more about working to unlock their synergy.
Point blank, you can’t run a business without business strategy. Whether that lives elegantly in a proposal or loosely on the back of a napkin is up to you - both work. We probably over-engineer most businesses and I’d wager that interesting innovations happen more serendipitously than we’re led to believe (the more strategy, the smarter we appear!). But business strategy is often tactical, executionary, and can only get you to a certain point. The outlandish-for-no-reason value, that’s all brand.
A strong brand is a superpower. Just look at the prices at any mass-market luxury retailer or the cult obsession with Glossier and tell me it’s not. Because brand is all about tapping into people’s emotions and getting them to climb further up Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs to achieve self-actualization (I’m obsessed with Maslow’s), the wins are infinite. A strong brand allows for higher prices, but also gives license to make amazing creative, expand into new product categories, and helps companies weather a storm - whether PR crisis or worldwide pandemic.
Business strategy sets it up, brand strategy knocks it out. Assuming your core business functions are in place (i.e. your products are independently defensible, your logistics are sound, you deliver on your promises), if you layer on brand strategy, that’s the way to people’s hearts - and wallets.