The Ultimate List of Best Brand Strategy Resources in 2021
A huge library of paid and free brand strategy resources to help you become a strategic designer.
*Updated in May 2021
If you’re asking yourself:
“Where can I learn how to do brand strategy?”
You’re definitely in the right place, because with my top picks, the world is your oyster.
A several years ago I set out to learn brand strategy, so I’ve checked out every book, course, workshop, framework and worksheet available out there — everything I could find on the internet.
You will learn about different elements of brand strategy (brand purpose, mission vision, values etc.) as well as how to actually run brand strategy workshops, how to sell brand strategy, how to draw insights, how to present it to your clients and get approval, how to translate strategy into design etc.
In this article, I put together all of the best resources to learn brand strategy in one place, in order to help you find something for yourself.
There are so many designers that don’t do brand strategy simply because they find it daunting.
Hopefully, my list will make it easy for you, save a tone of time on doing research and ultimately supercharge your career.
Just bookmark this page for future reference and come back whenever you’re hungry for more knowledge.
Use the list below to skip to the most relevant category of brand strategy resources for you.
Please note: as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases, at no extra cost to you.
101+ Best Brand Strategy Resources:
- Brand Strategy Courses
- Brand Strategy Certificates
- Brand Strategy Books
- Brand Strategy Podcasts
- Brand Strategy Communities
- Brand Strategy Blogs
- Brand Strategy Frameworks
Below, you fill find my top resources for each category starting with online courses.
1. Brand Strategy Courses
There are many places where you can find courses on the subject of brand strategy development.
There are plenty of brand strategy courses available exclusively on their author’s websites (just like my own).
When you search for “brand strategy” on Skillshare it shows over 400 courses!
You can also check out other places to look for courses, like: Udemy or Coursera.
Here’s my selection of the best courses straight from top brand strategy experts.
12 Best Brand Strategy Courses Online:
- Strategy Sprint by Scott Galloway — $750
- Brand Strategy Guide by Arek Dvornechuck — $495
- CORE by TheFutur — $489
- BrandFluency by Kaye Putnam — $297
- StoryBrand Framework by Donald Miller — $275
- WHY Discovery by Simon Sinek — $150
- Archetypal Branding on Udemy — $95
- Brand Strategy Class by Mark Pollard — $19
- Strategic Brand Management by CurtinX — FREE (certification $199)
- Give All by Matthew Manos — FREE
- Brand Strategy Bootcamp by Sophia Chang — FREE
- The Most Practical Guide To Brand Strategy — FREE
I’ve sorted them by the price — from the most expensive to the cheapest ones, to totally free courses.
I think that online courses are the best way to level up your skillset — they give you the freedom to learn anytime, anywhere.
Also check out my other article where I describe some of them in more detail.
2. Brand Strategy Certificates
If you prefer taking a course that comes with a certificates — here’s my selection of “best of”.
While the above list was about self-paced video courses, this list is mostly about that you attend live and get certified.
Here’s my list of top 10 brand strategy courses that come with certificates.
11 Top Brand Strategy Certificates:
- StoryBrand Certified Guide with Donald Miller — $10,000
- Level C with Marty Neumeier — $1,950
- Planning Dirty Academy — $1,297
- The Brand Advantage by Kaye Putnam — $997
- Designing Strategy by IDEO U — $799
- Brand and Marketing Research Strategy by IIMBx — $447
- Strategic Brand Management by CurtinX — $199
- Strategic Brand Management by Eric Yeboah — $95
- Brand Identity and Strategy by María Diéguez — $49
- Strategic Brand Management by Advertising Week — $39
- Create A Brand Strategy by Lindsay Pedersen — $35
Why would you need a certificate? — Show it off on your website or put it up on your LinkedIn profile to get more credibility and attract better clients.
Becoming a certified brand strategist will definitely make a difference if you’re looking for a job.
Most of these trainings are available online, but some of them you can also attend in-person.
Either way, participating in a live class can really make a difference and speed-up on your learning curve.
3. Brand Strategy Books
If you’re more into reading and figuring out things for yourself, then grabbing one of the best books on brand strategy will do you good. (Also check out my list of Top 10 Branding Books)
Reading books was indeed my favorite way of learning brand strategy — this is because book authors are usually written by some of the best experts on the subject.
After all, any fool can create an online course, but not everyone can write a good book.
This makes books a great source of knowledge that you can access fast and easy, either in physical or digital form.
24 Best Books to Learn Brand Strategy
- Brand Strategy Canvas by Patric Woods — $10
- Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind by Al Ries — $13
- Good Strategy, Bad Strategy by Richard Rumelt — $13
- Building a StoryBrand by Donald Miller — $15
- What Great Brands Do by Denise Lee Yohn — $17
- BrandFix by Kady Sandel — $15
- Storategy by Matt Davies — $15
- Building Strong Brands by David A. Aaker — $16
- The Brand Mapping Strategy by Karen Leland — $18
- The Invincible Company by Alexander Osterwalder — $19
- Fusion by Denise Lee Yohn — $19
- Dim Sum Strategy by Peter Wilken — $20
- Creative Strategy by Douglas Davis — $20
- Managing Brand Equity by David A. Aaker — $21
- The Brand Gap by Marty Neumeier — $24
- Activate Brand Purpose by Scott Goodson — $25
- Value Proposition Design by Alexander Osterwalder — $28
- Cultural Strategy by Douglas Holt — $30
- The Hero And The Outlaw by Margaret Mark — $30
- How to Launch A Brand by Fabian Geyrhalter — $35
- Building Distinctive Brand Assets by Jenni Romaniuk — $35
- Branding: In Five and a Half Steps by Michael Johnson — $42
- Strategy Is Your Words by Mark Pollard — $45
- Beloved Brands by Graham Robertson — $50
Typing “brand strategy books” on Amazon will result in over 5,000 results!
That can be quite overwhelming, especially when you just look for a few good recommendations.
Besides, reading books can be beneficial to your health, especially considering the fact how much time designers spend in front of the computer.
Taking a break from looking at your monitor can be very beneficial to your health — just grab a coffee and dive into my list of top brand strategy books.
Most of the books above are also available in digital form — as ebooks on Kindle or Apple Books.
Some of them are also available as audiobooks, so if you don’t enjoy reading, you can buy an audio version.
4. Brand Strategy Podcasts
If audiobooks seem to be too boring for you to listen to, then podcasts definitely won’t.
By subscribing to some of the best podcasts about brand strategy, you can learn from top expert — firsthand and for free!
I like to listen to my favorite podcasts on the train or in the gym, it’s my secret way to learn in what I call “NET” — no extra time.
Top 7 Best Podcasts About Brand Strategy
- On Branding Podcast by Arek Dvornechuck
- Let’s Talk Branding by Stef Hamerlinck
- Just Branding by Jacob Cass
- How Brands Are Built by Rob Meyerson
- The Brand Strategy Podcast by Bonnie Joy Marie
- Solving for B° by BrandExtract
- The Extraordinary Podcast by Tobias Tahlberg
Not all podcast are going to be full with practical knowledge, some of them are focused while others may be in the form of more loose conversations.
When I interview branding experts on my podcast, I always try to get them to reveal some of key tips and secrets about brand strategy.
Continue reading this article on my blog at: https://www.ebaqdesign.com/blog/brand-strategy-resources#5
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