Don’t Miss All The Heart

In the first 30 minutes together, I tell my clients three annoying (but unavoidable) TRUTHS about brand building. And then I ask them to pinky swear they'll take a deep breath when they come up (they always come up), remember 'this is unavoidable' and keep going.

Here's one of the three:

In the first 30 minutes together, I tell my clients three annoying (but unavoidable) TRUTHS about brand building. And then I ask them to pinky swear they’ll take a deep breath when they come up (they always come up), remember ‘this is unavoidable’ and keep going.

Here’s one of the three: It’s okay to write a brand strategy from your head. But you’ll be missing all the heart.

Articulating your brand’s heart (the thing that gets and keeps customer attention) requires getting out of your head, which is a challenging shift for most of my brilliant, driven clients (I have tricks to make this transition easier).

The best brand strategies–the ones that CONNECT with clients–come from your deepest values, your spookily detailed understanding of your ideal client and utter truth-telling.

Stop Being Polite and Get Uncomfortable.

  • Not to be like my brand.

  • Not because it’s a “good exercise”.

  • But because it’s WHAT’S REQUIRED to build a distinct, irresistible brand strategy.

Being your brand all the way is how you demonstrate your difference and make it easy for customers to understand that difference and see if your values resonate with theirs.

Things to remember:

  1. Your Brand Strategy isn’t a public document. It’s a proprietary articulation of your unique attributes. It’s a document that folks sign a NDA for the privilege of reading. Your Brand Strategy is not a public document unless that’s a strategic decision you make. It’s your chance to be completely honest.

  2. When I say ‘stop being polite’, I’m not saying ‘be an asshole’ or ‘say disrespectful things’. I mean BE YOURSELF. Are you an asshole? No. Are you gross? No. Therefore, the work you do isn’t gross. Stop worrying.

  3. One of the HUGE values of completing a Brand Strategy is: you can now hire a marketer, a copywriter, a PR firm or a designer and get a BUNCH of things off your plate. If you don’t tell the truth in your Brand Strategy, no Marketer, Copywriter or Designer can make powerful content for you.

So, eschew politeness because realness is where connection happens. If you’d like help identifying the HEART OF YOUR BRAND, we’d love to help.