How can investing in your brand shape your blueprint for growth?

“We believe that a brand is a promise made, a product is a promise kept, and marketing is a promise shared. These are all one experience.”

In a decade of building brands with innovators and visionaries, we’ve seen firsthand how great brands create clarity for leaders, empower innovative teams, and involve customers in creating positive change. We believe brand building is an essential investment for every business, from the smallest startup to the biggest company.

We know every business leader wants to grow and make an impact, but if we’re honest, change is hard. As your business grows, you’ll face unique challenges at every stage, and you will need clarity and focus to meet them. On top of that, time is short, resources are limited, and windows of opportunity can open and close at any time.

This is why you can’t afford to skip investing in your brand. And the good news is you can start right now, where you are, creating a brand that positions you for future growth and impact. It all starts with finding your unwavering truth, the north star that guides you through anything.

The unwavering truth is your core promise – the one thing you deliver that your competitors can’t.

What is your unwavering truth?

“Why do you exist?” is the fundamental question for every business owner, and the answer to this question is your unwavering truth. Great brands are clear about what they stand for, and they organize their entire business around that stance.

For example, Walmart is known for delivering low prices no matter what – even if it means sacrificing customer service. Contrast that with AirBNB, a brand that has increasingly moved toward an others-centered, community-driven posture of hospitality, allowing them to offer shared experiences, a new approach to travel, and creative responses in times of crisis.

The unwavering truth is your core promise, the one thing you deliver that your competitors can’t. To start building a great brand, you’ll need to dig deep and get crystal clear on what makes you different from the competition and why your customers should care. Once you do this, you will have the foundation you need to build a brand that works and grows with you.

The right-sized brand puts the greatest effort toward the most differentiable aspects of your brand.

How do you know your brand is working?

A lasting, effective brand does more than let the world know you exist. It casts a compelling vision for the future. Your most effective brand is certain of your unwavering truth and will focus on what makes you different and why customers should believe you, attracting loyal allies along the way. 

If you’re an entrepreneur, you’re probably familiar with the concept of Minimum Viable Product, the most basic product a startup needs to prove its differentiator. The same ideas can be applied to branding as well. What is the Minimum Viable Brand that sets you apart from the competition? 

A quick note about the “minimum” part: the minimum viable mindset is not about skimping and taking shortcuts. It’s about developing the right-sized brand for your growing business. 

For example, the brand you need to bring a novel product to the market should look different from a 30-year-old company pivoting to reestablish its market presence. A minimum viable branding approach puts the greatest effort toward the most differentiable aspects of your brand, so you can sharpen your vision and prove that you are uniquely equipped to accomplish your vision. This is the kind of effective brand that wins over allies and consumers.

How do you know how much brand you need?

As any entrepreneur knows, the possibilities are endless when it comes to the future, and sometimes maintaining the status quo is riskier than change. But we also know that once we actually get to the future, it will look very different from what we expected. As you determine your branding needs, you need to balance crafting a long-term vision with building a foundation for future evolution. It’s important to consider the reward and the risk simultaneously.

A new solopreneur startup can test something bold and see if it works for their audience, but a failed brand (or rebrand) can become an expensive disaster for a large established company. Before starting the branding process, consider how much you have to lose if you do it wrong. If the risk is high, you’ll want to include deeper research in your process and carefully consider if you’re looking for an evolution or a revolution.

Branding isn’t just a plug-and-play formula. We believe there is no one-size-fits-all approach to brand, so we take a flexible approach that addresses different needs, factoring in the rewards and the risks. Here’s how our process works.

What’s the process for creating an effective brand? 

Now that we’ve covered how essential branding is, let’s talk about two of our most challenging resources to manage – time and focus. We all wish we had more time. It can be hard to make the time to work on your business and craft your brand. That’s why we’ve developed a brand co-creation process that helps leaders focus their limited time to deliver the biggest impact. 

• We use workshops as a tool for focus. It’s hard to find time to work on your business when you’re in the weeds of running it. A few scheduled hours facilitated by an expert strategist can help you find clarity in the chaos and meet your high-level branding goals.

• We take a collaborative approach. Our workshops bring all the key decision-makers together to cover each other’s blind spots and find solutions together. This not only saves time but also ensures greater excitement and buy-in from all of your stakeholders.

• We build, then iterate. Crafting a brand is only the beginning. After you launch, we test and iterate to make sure your brand resonates with your audience. This will ensure you have an effective, impactful brand that builds deeper relationships as you grow.

No matter where you are in the life of your business – in the early stages of launching, navigating a pivot or M&A, or realigning an established company with your original vision –  an effective brand creates the solid foundation you need to grow your impact.

What is your north star?

A clear and well-communicated brand has the power to attract the right customers and serve as your north star to remind you why you do what you do. It can guide new team members so they better align with the business, and build emotional connections with your customers. You just need to get started.

Ready to build the optimal brand for your growing business’ goals? Contact us to find out how we can help.