How to get better at brand strategy: best books, podcasts, newsletters

brand strategy brand strategy books

If you only read and listen to five things to get better at brand strategy, make them these: Kantar's Blueprint for Brand Growth, for the data behind how brand-building actually works, You Are a Fish by Nick Liddell for the best explanation of what brand strategy is and why it's valuable, Rebrand Right for a practical, step-by-step guide on how to make positive changes to brands, listen to the Just Branding podcast, and subscribe to my newsletter, Brand Strategy Smarter.

Below is the full list I keep going back to: books, podcasts and newsletters, organized so you can jump straight to whatever gap you're trying to close. If you want this as an easier-to-read pdf - just click here. Last updated July 2026.

Enjoy! And please don’t get overwhelmed by this list - just cherry pick what's best for you and let the rest flow on by.

Books to help you get better at brand strategy

In ‘The Art of Impossible’, Steven Kotler makes the case for reading books over any other form of content. He highlights the time taken to research and write one vs. the time it takes you to read it. "Five hours gets you fifteen years of someone's expertise."

So I had to start with brand strategy book recommendations. After writing Rebrand Right I know firsthand the depth and rigour you put into writing a book and the other resources you pull in to enhance your thinking and experience (hence the 234 references at the back!)

So what sort of books should you read to get better at brand strategy?

You need to read books around the edges. Not basic ones on what brands are, what brand strategy is. You know all this by now. The recommendations that follow help you go deeper, so dive right in. And if you're really starting from scratch, scroll down to the end for the best starter books.

Here's what I'd recommend you read in order to get better at brand strategy.

1. Books on Brand Strategy Case Studies

Be aware that they are rarely called this! What you're looking for are stories, ideally from the perspective of CEOs, that show how changes in a brand strategy improved a brand and business. Here are five of the best.

1. Hit Refresh - Satya Nadella

2. Shoe Dog - Phil Knight

3. Let my people go surfing: the education of a reluctant businessman – Yvon Chouinard

4. Behind the Cloud - Marc Benioff

5. Grow - Jim Stengel

Note that Grow has received criticism for the way the research was conducted - ignore those parts - and what they say the brands stand for. Focus on the case studies - they are illuminating.

If you're working with a lot of startups I'd also recommend you look at:

6. Obsessed: Building a Brand People Love From Day One - Emily Heyward

It includes case studies from brands like Casper, Sweetgreen, Allbirds, Warby Parker and Glossier.

Also consider books that help to guide CEO success. You want brand strategy to be a conversation in the boardroom, so learn to talk their language. Try CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That Distinguish The Best Leaders from The Rest; Dewar, Keller, Malhorta - McKinsey Partners.

2. Books on embedding brand strategy internally

When you really understand brand strategy, you understand that it's not just about guiding marketing and branding. it's just as much about engaging the whole organisation to deliver experiences that build the associations you want to stand for in people's minds (that's all a brand is after all, associations and assets! (More on that here)).

Read these books to understand this better.

1. Rebrand Right -how to refresh your brand and marketing to grow your business, Fairley & Robb

Rebrand Right is a practical guide to help you diagnose, then define and deliver changes to your brand, marketing and experience to grow your business.

It starts by helping you understand the four brand factors that drive growth and diagnose where your problem really lies. Then works through brand strategy, identity, marketing, implementation and experience, step-by-step. The implementation chapter is all about how to truly embed the strategy in the business based on our experience on close to 100 B2B and B2C brands. Yes - I co-wrote it but it's there to fill a critical gap in the market. It will help you fill any gaps you might have in understanding the journey from brand diagnosis, to definition, to delivery. Get the first chapter for free here.

2. Fusion - How Integrating Brand And Culture Powers The World's Greatest Companies - Denise Lee Yohn

One of the best books I've seen on the practical steps you need to take to ensure that brand and culture are truly embedded within an organisation.

3. Reculturing - Design Your Company Culture To Connect With Strategy and Purpose For Lasting Success - Melissa Daimler

This one is really practical; from her experiences at Adobe,Twitter, WeWork, Udemy.

4. Win From Within - Build Organisational Change For Competitive Advantage - James Heskett

More academic, but full of data to prove out how culture impacts business success.

5. The Power of Moments, Chip and Dan Heath

Particularly pertinent if you're working on a service brand but full of insight for any business wanting to truly have an impact on the customer experience.

3. Measuring, understanding and quantifying brand success

Perhaps what you're missing as a brand strategist is a bit of data around why it's important and why companies should invest in brand-building. Here's a summary that will immediately help you, and to go deeper consider reading these four.

1. Kantar's Blueprint for Brand Growth

2. Better Brand Health - Jenni Romaniuk

3. Managing Brand Equity - David Aaker

4. How Brands Grow - Jenni Romaniuk, Byron Sharp

5. The Science Of Brand Associations, Win Minds, Win Markets - Ulli Appelbaum

How Brands Grow should be on your list if you haven’t read it yet. It's the book you need to read if you want to work more long-term with clients helping them grow brands through marketing. All chapters are data-rich to back up their strong assertions. Part 1 is CPG heavy, Part 2 covers emerging markets, services, durables, new and luxury brands.

Kantar's Blueprint for Brand Growth is where I recommend you start though. Not a book - a free downloadable resource you can get here.

Even better, jump into Chapter 1 of Rebrand Right where we summary a lot of the books above, avoiding all the jargon and helping you understand the four factors that have been proven to drive brand growth. (Get it for free here). Ulli's book also pulls a great summary of all the data out there.

Also keep an eye on work and reports produced by Les Binet and Peter Field, the IPA and System 1. Like this one on the Magic of Compound Creativity, explaining how consistency leads to creative quality, stronger brands and greater profits.

Getting a bit overwhelmed by the list? Download it here to keep as a reference guide.

4. Books on human psychology and behavioural science

“I strongly encourage anyone who wants to be taken seriously as a brand consultant to get serious about human pyschology...aka Behavioural Economics, Design Thinking, Service Design, CX etc. etc. Brands being the thing that connects people and businesses. I have come across brand strategists who look down on the entire discipline of research / insight. Highly myopic IMHO. When reframed as the exploration of motivations, needs, desires, hopes, aspirations, fears and insecurities to inspire brand building, then understanding and engaging with customers becomes an essential skill of any brand strategist." Ned Colville

Recommendations on what to read in this area:

1. Alchemy - Rory Sutherland

2. Anything by Orlando Wood - particularly Look Out for the importance of emotion in branding building

3. Anything by Richard Shotton - like The Illusion of Choice

4. Thinking Fast and Slow - Daniel Kahnemann

5. A New Way to Think: Your Guide to Superior Management Effectiveness - Roger L Martin.

Research in general, and understanding customers, employees and the broader stakeholders that influence a brand's success can really put people off learning brand strategy. Or worse - encourages them to learn a 'process' that is just an internal workshop.

This is not enough to do brand strategy properly. You can't get at a strategy that needs to influence people outside the business, by just talking about it inside. It may feel enough for a micro business that doesn't have any internal or external complexity, but as soon as you want to earn properly for brand strategy and work with bigger clients you need a professional process. Brand Strategy Academy has 3 modules on research. Taking you through all the questions to ask step by step, and helping you understand how to do the analysis and present the findings. With AI tools where they truly help that have been tried and tested by the community. If you're ready to do it properly, take a look.

5. Books to help you expand your skills - brand architecture, naming, design

Perhaps you really want to expand your skills as a strategist - into things like naming, identity or brand architecture.

The best book on naming I've found is:

Brand Naming: The Complete Guide to Creating a Name for Your Company, Product or Service -Rob Meyerson

Rob also has a follow on workbook to help you work through a real project called 'The Naming Workbook'.

The best book on brand architecture just came out at the end of 2025, and it's called 'The brand architecture book' by Nick Liddell. It takes you way beyond the somewhat futile discussion of 'branded house or house of brands' and deep into how to approach brand architecture.

Both Rob and Nick have masterclasses on brand naming and architecture within Brand Strategy Academy. Other masterclasses in there include ones on embedding brand strategy in the business, how to price your strategy projects and how to brand your design agency.

For books on brand strategy into design my favourites are:

1. Branding in 5 and a half steps - Michael Johnson

2. Designing Brand Identity - Rob Meyerson and Alina Wheeler.

3. Building Distinctive Brand Assets - Jenni Romaniuk

“I also learn from reading books by designers (old and young; graphic, interaction and beyond): they often write in profound ways about their work and I find familiar brands and objects take on new meaning once the ideas and people behind them are revealed. As an example (it sounds a little on the frivolous side), over Christmas I read a book called 'Understanding Comics' by Scott McCloud and it absolutely blew my mind. There's stuff in there about purpose, form, idiom, structure, craft and surface which can be extrapolated to branding. And then there's fiction... Where would we be without that?” Nick Liddell

6. Best brand strategy starter books

If you feel like you've lost your way a bit or just want to start with the fundamentals, here's the top ones to ground you in what brand strategy is and why it's valuable:

1. Rebrand Right, How To Refresh Your Brand And Marketing To Grow Your Business

The book covers the whole rebranding process but if you just want a handle on how to write a brand strategy in a way that avoids all the jargon and true engages with the business you just need to devour chapter 3. But suggest you also read chapters 1 and 2 to ensure you understand how a brand strategy drives growth and what sort of research you need to do to inform the strategy.

2. You are a Fish - Nick Liddell

Don't be put off by the title - it's one of the best pure brand strategy books out there in my mind.

3. The Brand Book by Daryl Fielding. Super on the fundamentals and includes helpful tools.

4. RED Marketing, The Three Ingredients of Leading Brands, Greg Creed and Ken Muench Great case studies, process and tools - particularly for consumer brands (it's written by the former CEO and CMO of Yum Brands who own KFC and Taco Bell, among others).

Marty Neumeier’s work is often recommended - particularly Zag and The Brand Gap - but these may be a bit basic for you if you're an experienced strategist. And Dan White writes and illustrates a set of really short and accessible, insight-packed guides, like ‘The Smart Branding Book.’

7. Business strategy books

It helps to understand the difference and cross-overs from business to brand strategy.

Try these for starters!

1. Good Strategy, Bad Strategy - Richard Rumelt

2. No Bullsh*t Strategy - Alex Smith

3. Playing to Win - A.G. Lafley and Roger L. Martin

8. Podcasts to help you get better at brand strategy

Uncensored CMO.
Just Branding (I share my brand strategy framework in this linked episode, and in more detail in this free mini course here).
Unicorny. (Here's my two episodes on this one).
The Marketing Meet Up.
Marketing Week Podcasts
Kantar: Futureproof.
Siegel + Gale Says: gathers insight from across the global Siegel+Gale network on the issues and trends shaping the branding landscape.
Lippincott CMO Heather Stern’s podcast: Icons in the Making.
Jim Stengel: The CMO Podcast - on the topic of purpose-driven brands.
On Strategy Showcase: more advertising and marketing campaign focused, but cherry pick through the fantastic conversations on here.
Dig Insights: Dig In (I share my thoughts on practical brand strategy in this one). Their focus is insights and research.

9. Newsletters and subscriptions to help you get better at brand strategy

I publish Brand Strategy Smarter most weeks for free – sharing with you my learnings on how to, well, you’ve guessed it...

Off Kilter newsletter by Paul Worthington ("which is a weekly treat and invariably contains links to other brilliant thinkers and thoughts").

Jim Carroll's blog.

Alex M H Smith's strategy emails: https://basicarts.org/newsletter/

Interbrand’s Now and Next newsletter.

StratScraps newsletter from Alex Morris https://stratscraps.substack.com

The Brand New site by UnderConsideration, LLC (“easily worth the annual subscription”).

Consider a subscription to HBR and dig into McKinsey’s marketing and sales insights.

Mark Ritson's weekly column in Marketing Week is a must-read.

The reality: reading and listening only gets you so far

Reading gets you knowledge. It doesn't get you a repeatable process, a framework and approach you can pitch with confidence, or an answer when a client pushes back on your recommendation.

Brand Strategy Academy is a 7-module course, 2 hours a week over 7 weeks. You'll walk away with a simple framework, a repeatable process, and the confidence to explain and sell brand strategy as part of your offer, in less time than it would take you to read three of the books above.

Join 470+ designers, marketers and strategists who've taken this course.

What you get: a repeatable brand strategy framework for every project, practical tools instead of theory, 21 weeks a year of live Q&A sessions with Sarah to drop into when you need them, on-demand start, lifetime access.

Your spot is waiting in Brand Strategy Academy .

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Sarah Robb has spent over 20 years building brand strategies for businesses across every industry, from global corporations to ambitious SMEs. She spent a decade as a senior director of brand strategy at Landor, the world's largest brand consultancy, and has worked with clients including EY, Gatorade, BP, Pfizer, Andrex, Maybourne, Diet Coke, Dorchester Collection, HPE and Ronald McDonald House Charities. She is co-author of Rebrand Right, a step-by-step guide to diagnosing, defining and delivering a rebrand that drives growth. Sarah created Brand Strategy Academy because she believes smaller businesses and freelancers deserve access to the same calibre of strategic thinking that the biggest brands in the world use. The Academy has helped over 460 designers, marketers and strategists level up their skills and create brands that drive business growth.