Everyone is yelling about branding, but…
what the heck is it?
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A decade ago, Slow Burn Marketing was saying, “QUESTION: What’s the difference between a small-business brand and a billion-dollar brand? ANSWER: The zeroes.” Back then, there was vehement anti-brand sentiment. Gurus riding around on their tricycles of marketing genius were proclaiming big-business style branding a waste of money. Today, branding is all the rage. We like to think we had some small influence on that trend. We spoke around the world. We made people pay attention. We helped clients as much as quadruple their revenue through brand power. And still, with all the gurus pedaling around on their three-wheelers now waving the pennant of branding, where is the coherent, succinct, usable definition? Still right here. Still free.
Why one? Because focus is essential. Think: It's a floor wax AND a dessert topping. You cannot brand as two things and make it work.
Why core customer? Because if you define the person to whom you are speaking, you can develop a voice that speaks with relevance and is evocative. Why feel? Because all decisions are made emotionally and justified after the fact. This is not opinion. This is neuroscience. Reason leads to conclusions. Emotion leads to actions. Humans are emotional creatures. Make the human in your customer equation feel the right emotion, and your brand becomes the answer to the problem every time. |
My, what a big brand you have.
