How to find what makes you different.
How to explain it so that everyone gets it. And remembers it.
How to do this without all the usual branding bluff.
This is what brand consultancies call your ‘brand essence’ or ‘big idea’. Whatever you call it, we’ve explained the steps to writing down why you’re different in clear words. And there’s not a single brand triangle in sight.
1. FIRST, SAY WHAT YOU DO
Sounds easy enough doesn’t it? And it will be, if your company only makes one thing like paperclips or tin openers. But most companies and organisations make lots of things and offer services that are difficult to describe, let alone pin down.
So all the more reason why you need to be clear about what you do first (and not mix it up with what you stand for or believe). It’s often tricky to do this in a single sentence. So try writing a list (like we have) and then carve it up in different ways: combining a lot of things into a short list; saying lots of things in a long list; seeing it from your point of view; or your customers’. See what works best.
Say it simply: say what you do, not what you ‘deliver’ (unless you’re a postman).
2. FIND WHAT YOU DO DIFFERENTLY
Overpaid consultants are prone to calling this bit the immersion phase (and doing lots of things like semiotics and SWOT analysis). Don’t. Start by asking some questions:
Ask your people what they think about you.
Ask your customers. Why do they pick you over someone else?
Check what the competition’s up to. Do a bit of ‘mystery shopper’ espionage on the sly. What do you do that they don’t?
3. REAL NOT ASPIRATIONAL
But should you be finding out what you do differently now? Or what you want to do differently in the future?
Start with now. At least first of all. It’s fine to have realistic aspirations about the future as long as you clearly say this and set out what you’re going to do to get there. But the ‘realistic’ bit is important. We once worked with a company who had ‘adventurous’ as their aspirational ‘brand value’. But they couldn’t think of one adventurous thing they had ever done. Or would ever do.
4. WRITE DOWN WHAT’S DIFFERENT ABOUT YOU
This is the really tricky bit. We’ve sat through plenty of presentations from brand consultants. Everything’s fine until they get to the brand idea. And then it’s always:
‘We’re all about excellence’ or
‘We put customers first’
(or another vague sentence that everyone says).
With clichéd values like ‘fresh’, ‘innovative’, ‘bold’, ‘honest’.
So how do you know if your idea is something everyone else would say? First, do the ‘opposite’ test. You wouldn’t say ‘we put our customers last’ (so you don’t need to say you put them first). See if you can boil down what you do to the facts. Then, can you explain how you do this differently or better than everyone else in simple words?
Second, do the ‘external line’ test. You should be happy for people to repeat your brand idea outside your business. If your line sounds too weak to use outside your company, it’s not good enough for your people to use either.
Finally, write down what you do differently in sentences, not single words. Otherwise you’ll end up with a list of clichéd values that sound like they’ve been plucked from a thesaurus.
5. MAKE IT PRACTICAL
Most branding is too lofty and theoretical (which means people don’t get it).
Do everything you can to show what makes you different in practice. Write down an ‘about us’ page for your website. Show how you write your invoices differently. How do your people answer the phone or deal with complaints?
Write down everything in normal, real words (don’t say things like ‘experience’ and ‘unlocks’). And do away with all the theoretical bluff that most brands use like missions, visions, values and brand triangles. Really. It doesn’t help anyone to know that your mission is to be ‘the world’s leading consultancy’. It’s too broad, and doesn’t help anyone see why you’re different and how you work. No one uses these things outside the boardroom and no one will miss them.
It’s not that businesses shouldn’t have values, beliefs and a conscience. It’s that the way they express them is bland, boring and soupy. One company sounds a lot like the next – whether they make sandwiches, websites or washing machines. If you’re going to write all these things down, make them different.
6. DON’T ASK FOCUS GROUPS ABOUT YOUR BRAND
They don’t know (‘If I’d have asked my customers what they wanted, they’d have said a faster horse.’ Henry Ford.)
It’s your company. You’ll instinctively know when you’ve cracked what’s different about you so stick to your guns.
But do ask the people who work for if they believe it. Because if they do, they’ll persuade your focus groups and customers for you.
7. GET A HEAD START
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