They don’t care about it beyond how it can help them make their lives better or solve a problem they have, that is.

But it’s not all bad news. You can use that knowledge to your advantage.

The biggest impact in marketing hasn’t been made by things like chatbots, machine-learning, IoT, or even ChatGPT4.

Despite those buzzwords dominating our zeitgeist for the last decade.

What’s resonating with marketers, designers and entrepreneurs alike is storytelling.

So why am I obsessed with storytelling, and you should be too?

Storytelling is more than a buzzword

A terrible accident at 19 years old, where I broke my back by falling off a waterfall fueled my obsession to try and understand myself, my body, and others around me¹.

Actually, that’s not how my fascination with storytelling began. But I got your attention.

Universe didn’t conspire to ‘push’ me towards storytelling.

But that would sure make a great story.

In fact, that’s the story of how Jessie Inchauspé became the Glucose Goddess.

You see, people love stories. They appeal to the emotional decision making bits of our brains in a way that facts and figures can’t.

And from a business point of view, you should know that stories can influence those decisions.

Consumers make purchasing decisions based on their emotions (feelings and experiences) rather than information (brand attributes, product features).

In fact, storytelling is more science than magic.

What will storytelling do for my business?

If you take the time and careful consideration crafting your brand story, it can work wonders for your business. Here are just a few potential benefits:

• You will attract more customers who are the ‘right fit’ for your brand. Those you actually want to work with and those who want to work with you
• You will keep more customers because they will feel a much deeper connection and a shared identity with your brand
• Success stories for your business will become a lot more frequent and authentic. Your image boosting will become a lot more organic thanks to your new raving fans.

So as we see, when applied to your business, storytelling can be leveraged as a tool to attract better customers and build a loyal audience. But how? By building a brand story around your customer and showing how much you can help them. But, I would be providing a dis-service if I gave away the winning formula for generating a great brand story, without sharing some context first.

Why formulas matter

Some of you may be familiar with the ‘Hero’s Journey’ popularised by Joseph Campbell, or the Seven Basic Plots by Christopher Booker.

Both are Jungian-influenced theories, suggesting that you can distil any story in history down to one of these basic plots.

Ultimately every great story that’s ever resonated with populations worldwide adheres to a formula.

Formulas are used to create a predictable result. Formulas are a great way for someone to study something new and to learn why and how something works. If you want to become an expert in any field, you’ve got to master the formulas.

Every author, screenwriter, or public speaker has studied the ‘formulas’ for their respective creative fields. Why? Because they work.

Why formulas are meant to be broken

But blindly following formulas can get you into trouble too.

As Seth Godin says: “The problem with the formulas — let’s just pick an obvious category like screenwriting — is there are 10,000 hacks who are turning out formula-driven screenplays every day in Hollywood. Almost none of them turn into great movies. The great movies are the ones that broke part of the formula, right? It’s when you break one of the principles that you’re actually doing great work.”

So if you follow them to the letter, your new brand story won’t set your brand apart – which is a key reason for crafting a brand story in the first place. That means you’ve got to master the formulas so that you know how to bend them in creative ways.

That’s where the magic happens.

The winning storytelling formula for your brand

So without further ado, I’m sharing a 4-step recipe that will help you put together a winning brand story that builds relatability and trust.

Whether the story is about a hero who faces the unknown, and needs to overcome some challenging times to transform.

About a protagonist faced with defeating a powerful enemy that threatens everything and everyone.

Or about a hero who must seek out the help of the supernatural or a guide to grow.

If you distil down the Hero’s Journey or the Seven Basic Plots you will notice they all have:

1. The main character with a dream or problem
2. A conflict, challenge or obstacle the character must overcome
3. A resolution, achievement or success (unless you’re writing a tragedy)

And as we’ve learned, customers only care about how you can make their lives better, so to empower your brand story, a fourth, and the most crucial ingredient is necessary.

4. Make the customer the beneficiary of your story

Storytelling ingredient 1 – the character

Introduce your character/s to the story, in our case the person or people who conceived the business and brought it to life. Also, you want to set the scene of how things were before starting the business.

Have a look at some of these powerful brand examples:

• From GoPro – “GoPro was founded in 2002 by Nick Woodman—a surfer, skier, and motorsports enthusiast in search of a better way to film himself and his friends surfing.”
• From Warby Parker – “We were students when one of us lost his glasses on a backpacking trip. The cost of replacing them was so high that he spent the first semester of grad school without them, squinting and complaining.”
• From Chobani – ”In 2005, Hamdi took a loan from the Small Business Administration, bought an old yogurt plant, and brought a small group of passionate individuals together to make the real, wholesome yogurt that he remembered from his childhood.”
• From Beats by Dre – ”Beats by Dr. Dre (Beats) is a leading audio brand, founded in 2006 by Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine.”
• Jessica Alba founded her company Honest because she “…couldn’t find one brand to trust for all her everyday needs”

Storytelling ingredient 2 – the conflict

Reading a story without a conflict would be like watching paint dry. At their core, all stories that resonate are those that deal with challenges and adversity. A problem can unite an audience in a quest for a resolution and can rally customers around your brand.

To refer to our brand examples:

• GoPro Founder Nick “was in search of a better way to film himself and his friends surfing.”
• The Warby Parker boys “were amazed at how hard it was to find a pair of great frames that didn’t leave our wallets bare.” whilst finding that “The eyewear industry is dominated by a single company that has been able to keep prices artificially high while reaping huge profits from consumers who have no other options.”
• Hamdi from Chobani has “found that in America, yogurt just wasn’t as delicious or widely available as it was back home. He believed everyone deserved better options…”
• The conflict that Beats by Dre seeks to remedy is front and center in their headline: ”People Aren’t Hearing All the Music”.
• Honest was founded on Jessica Alba’s belief that “you shouldn’t have to choose between what works and what’s good for you” and she “…knew that there had to be others out there looking for safe products, simple solutions and clear information about their choices.”

Storytelling ingredient 3 – the resolution

Without a resolution to a conflict, there would be no story. And there isn’t anything quite as satisfying as a ‘happily ever after’ that shows hope and achievement.

To use our brand examples:

• GoPro “has grown into an international company that has sold over 26 million GoPro cameras in more than 100 countries.”
• Warby Parker has found a resolution after realising that “by circumventing traditional channels, designing glasses in-house, and engaging with customers directly, we’re able to provide higher-quality, better-looking prescription eyewear at a fraction of the going price.”
• Chobani has “grown from one man’s dream into America’s favourite Greek Yoghurt.”
• Once Beats by Dre identified their conflict, the resolution became clear: “Through its family of premium consumer headphones, earphones, and speakers, Beats has introduced an entirely new generation to the possibilities of premium sound entertainment.”
• As far as Honest, Jessica Alba’s mission for empowering people to live happy, healthy lives was so strong that  “…she had to create…” the products that weren’t readily available.

Storytelling ingredient 4 – your customer

This is possibly the most important ingredient to our 4-step formula.

As humans, we are all wired to have needs. As such, once our basic needs of food, sleep and shelter are fulfilled we then shift our focus on more ‘meaningful’ needs such as self-actualisation, companionship, recognition, enlightenment and more.

We are constantly looking around for ways to meet those needs, so if your brand isn’t offering a way to serve one of those, then your business may as well not exist. And no amount of storytelling is going to convince them to care.

So even though you are writing a story about your business, make sure that your customer is the beneficiary of the story’s resolution.

Let’s look at how our examples handle that:

• GoPro recognises that their customers are the ones who “humble and inspire us every day with incredible creativity that helps us see the world in an all-new way—and fires us up to keep creating the most awesome, innovative products possible..”
• Warby Parker goes a step beyond, addressing worldwide access deficit to glasses and it “partners with nonprofits like VisionSpring to ensure that for every pair of glasses sold, a pair is distributed to someone in need.”
• Chobani gives every full-time member of the company shares through their Chobani Shares initiative. It also has a continuing mission of “bringing better food to more people.”
• Beats by Dre is clear in their mission, they are catering to all music lovers worldwide, seeking to capture the excitement that recording artists intended in their music: “The brand’s continued success helps bring the energy, emotion, and excitement of playback in the recording studio back to the listening experience for music lovers worldwide.”
• Honest maintains social initiatives and community partnerships, which “…have ensured that more people have access to safe, effective options when they need it the most.” – again anchoring back yo how they are focused on benefiting the customers.

Storytelling – putting it all together

I know I’ve just unleashed a ton of information at you. Let me summarise.

Create a brand story around how things were, defining your main characters, the conflict or obstacles they’ve faced, and how they’ve achieved a successful resolution, demonstrating how that benefits the customers.

Simple, right?

The main idea is that customers don’t want to hear you tout your own horn.

Or sell them your product features. Consumers want to be part of a story.

Giving proof that you are the best solution to the problem doesn’t make the sale. If a customer figures something out or discovers it on his own, he’s a thousand times more likely to believe it than if it’s something you claim.

Craft a compelling journey that customers want to come along on.

Write your own brand story

Whether you’re using storytelling to craft an about us page for your website or creating an overarching story to inform your brand mission and strategy, make sure the information is true, relevant and inspiring to your customers.

Simply listing out your highlight reel and milestones, like so many other brands do, won’t resonate with them or make anyone care.

Instead, what people will relate to is a story of your journey. A journey in which you’ve faced and overcome obstacles in the pursuit of your goals, finding a path towards success that ultimately benefits those who you serve. Your customers.

Enjoyed this article?

Please share this article with just one person you think might enjoy it. And if you found this article insightful consider signing up for Studeo Insider emails and receive more insights like this, once a month. 

¹ I actually did break my back when I was 7. Spending the subsequent 3 months on my back,  tied up to a bed, pulled by springs. That time was mostly used by sharing and listening to stories with my fellow ward members. So I guess you could say that my fascination with storytelling has an interesting origin story.

The post Proven 4-Step Recipe to Perfect Your Brand Storytelling appeared first on Studeo.

I’ve worked with businesses that have thrived for years before approaching me, despite a lacklustre logo and web presence.

And I’ve also seen businesses close down after just 3 years, despite having an (subjectively) amazing visual brand identity.

So does that mean that branding is, in fact, useless? Of no value whatsoever? Overrated?

Yes, and no. Here are 3 things to consider.

Branding to business mismatch

Like I previously shared before, a wonderful visual brand identity is not going to save you if your business model, product and/or service are subpar.

And whether or not you have ‘great branding’ won’t help you keep the doors open.

20 percent of businesses fail within the first year and 50 percent fail within the first five years.

And I can tell you that the reason they fail is seldom poor branding.

Just look at early AirBnb. By all measures, judging their early branding efforts alone (especially their visual brand elements) should have rendered the business fruitless.

Quick brand experience sidebar

I’ve recently dealt with an online platform (with pleasant branding) where you’re able to book from a selection of mechanics online that come to you.

I’ve ordered a battery replacement, and ever since then my car has been malfunctioning.

Apparently, with newer cars fitted from ‘head to toe’ with electronics a genuine car battery should be fitted (i.e. Volvo, Mercedes etc).

Asking for a refund, the brand I dealt with referenced me agreeing to a 20 page doc and an aftermarket battery.

That may be so. But did I also agree to subpar outcomes and unhelpful service? Certainly not.

And do you think the business will last long, unless they rethink their policies? Not sure.

You know that branding is a long-term game

Branding efforts are less like heating up a meal in a microwave and more like cooking in a pressure cooker. You don’t always see instant results, and you can’t check on progress every 5 minutes.

Is it possible to see an immediate change in sales after a branding and packaging uplift for your products? Sure.

But will that change be a predictor for long-term success? Not necessarily.

You often need years of consistent branding efforts (aligned with strategic objectives), before you see reliable patterns.

e.g. 2 years after an amazing packaging redesign for confectionary brand Bahlsen, sales have gone down in 2023. Despite fans and design aficionados alike initially praising the change.

According to their research it’s the result of a design that doesn’t completely match what consumers expect from the category.

It’s possible for branding efforts to show positive immediate results but poor long-term results. And vice versa.

You need to play the long term game of branding. Rather than hoping for a microwave ready brand.

Startup vs. scaleup branding, there’s a difference

Looking at the previous two points above, it’s clear that whether you’re a startup or a scaleup, your branding objectives should be different.

Startup branding should be focused on short bursts of branding activities aimed at ‘testing’ and learning from the market.

e.g.

1. Define an initial brand positioning (a hypothesis to be tested in the market)
2. Test 2 or 3 initial landing pages with minimal viable design/identity options
3. Select winning option and refine it to a semi-finalised, fluid brand identity
4. Start building up a library of assets (colours, messaging, website, templates, styles)
5. Refine by ditching what’s not working well, only keeping what is necessary
6. Based on data and/or market decide if repositioning is required
7. Evolve or refresh the brand to reflect the new brand positioning if necessary
8. Continue leaning into what’s working and consolidate all distinctive assets

For scaleup brands (those who have found success and thrived in the first 5–10 years, regardless of branding) tend to need to focus on steps 6 onwards only.

So does all of this mean that branding is useless? Overrated? Unnecessary even?

On the contrary, branding is something that should be present at all stages of your business, but the focus and approach should be varied based on your situation.

Enjoyed this article?

I share unpopular views on branding, along with actionable brand-building insights for business owners.

Please share this article with just one person you think might enjoy it. I email insights like this every month to my Studeo Insiders  –  if you liked this, consider signing up.

The post Is Branding Ludicrously Overrated? appeared first on Studeo.

Growing up, my grandmother imparted countless nuggets of wisdom to me. Many guide my life today.

One such principle guides your life too. As well as your business and overall success.

She told me early on that I should avoid talking about these three topics:

• Religion
• Politics
• Sports

(I’d also add a fourth one – avoid talking about somebody’s parents)

Why? Because people tend to have extreme beliefs, attachments, and passion for some of those, and often other things too.

It’s a rare quality for someone to hold strong views and be open-minded about them.

How our beliefs shape our choices

When your views are aligned with someone, you’ll likely develop stronger bonds.

When your views are opposed, it’s much less likely for a relationship to blossom.

This principle holds true when building a brand. And it determines the success of your business.

Sadly, most businesses approach this all wrong.

When you embody certain values through your brand, customers who align are more likely to choose you over competitors.

But mess this up, and you’ll alienate both - your current and any potential customers.

Authentic beats wannabe, every time

Here’s an example: when I was 8 or 9 I was the ‘goody two shoes’ student.

We’re talking straight A’s. Teacher’s favourite.

I enjoyed the admiration of 2 or 3 other ‘goody two shoes’ students just like me.

But I couldn’t help but notice how much more popular the ‘bad kids’ were among a larger group of peers.

So I ‘changed my shoes’ as it were, becoming aloof, and disinterested in my study and school work.

Only to discover that this was disingenuous to who I was.

Ultimately losing the attention of everyone.

How businesses typically approach team culture

Some business owners approach branding in much the same way.

They may have read somewhere that adopting brand values is pivotal to the long-term success of their business.

1. They’d read that values can drive the actions of a brand.
2. Let the employees know what’s expected of them.
3. And tell the customers what they can expect from a brand.

Each of those three statements is true.

Which is why these are the best 10 values your business should adopt today: Quality, Passion, Empathy, Trustworthiness, Innovation, Professionalism, Excellence, Inclusion, Fairness, Honesty…

False! Any more than 3–4 core brand values and you really don’t know what you stand for.

And neither do your customers.

Not to mention that those are cliche things that customers expect from every brand, regardless.

They’re not going to be the deciding factor why they stay or leave.

How brand values influence team culture (and business success)

Consolidating what you stand for helps prospects and potential customers be clear about what you stand for and why.

Whatever your opinion of Donald Trump is, his winning political campaign in 2016 was clear.

Brand values need to be genuine to you, your business, and your team.

When you authentically embody those, customers will come flocking.

Key takeaways for using brand values in business

In summary, here are the top 3 mistakes businesses make when defining their brand values.

1. Too vague  –  hard to put them into action for you and your team
2. Too many cliches –  a missed opportunity to show customers why they should choose you over another business
3. Inauthentic to you  –  not sustainable long-term, stunting your growth, alienating customers

When I work with my clients to define brand values I use three ingredients to package them up to be most effective.

1. What is it  – think headline-style title
2. What does it mean (description providing more context)
3. What does that look like from a day-to-day application for the brand and/or team members

Here are some examples.

Example one: telecomm business

Value
Obsessed with learning

Description
We see learning as a vital part of understanding the unique requirements of each of our clients. It’s a collaborative process. Learning about our clients’ businesses enables us to design custom solutions, and teach them how to use those solutions most effectively.

Application
Schedule weekly group hackathons and/or time blocks for learning and exploring new technologies and solutions.

Example two: non-for-profit org

Value
Seek & offer help

Description
We define ourselves by the work we do, not our title or seniority. Asking for help is not a sign of weakness, it’s a superpower.

Application
If you spot that someone needs help, offer it. If you need help yourself - ask for it when it’s uncomfortably early to do so. This applies to asking for help from the community or external partners.

Example three: health food business

Value
Empowering choice

Description
Our platform may have started as a way to empower you to choose healthier meals but our future ambitions are to enable you to become autonomous and self-sufficient, whatever your food preferences are.

Application
Every customer service rep helps maintain a database of personal customer preferences, adding and reviewing it weekly, categorising, for machine learning to provide further possibilities for personalisation.

Brand values bring tangible results

Some examples of tangible results my clients got by embodying relevant, authentic, and actionable brand values include:

• Increased their Net Promoter Score
• Increased revenue as a result of improved team output
• Improved employees’ job satisfaction

What 3 words/phrases would you use to describe your brand values?

Enjoyed this article?

I demystify the world of branding by sharing actionable brand-building insights for business owners. Follow me for even more branding wisdom than your grandma could ever muster, bless her.

Please share this article with just one person you think might enjoy it. I email insights like this every month to my Studeo Insiders  –  if you liked this, consider signing up.

The post Your Team Culture Is (Probably) Setup for Failure appeared first on Studeo.

That’s right – the beginning of every year.

Well, I wasn’t going to miss the boat. And at the beginning of this year, I published 23 ideas to help entrepreneurs re-energise their brands and businesses in 2023. 

Many of the ideas were also geared at those transitioning from employment to launching a new business (something I’d personally done almost 5 years ago). 

And following the 23 prompts, I went on to post another 37 as part of a 60-day content challenge. 

They were so popular, in fact, that a small crowd of 3 asked if I can package it all into one big ebook (If this is something you’d download too, you can do so here)

Today, I’d like to leave you with the 10 top-performing posts from that list. 

10 unique lenses to look through to build a more effective and innovative brand.

1. What do eggs and brand offers have in common?

Apply an egg analogy to the process you use to take customers from A to B.

All of your customers have a desired end-state.

You have the most efficient way for them to get there.

However, while they might all want an egg, not everyone will want it delivered in the exact same way.

Soft-boiled, hard-boiled, devilled (this is just boiling, not to mention omelettes, frittatas, etc)

Even if you only ‘hard-boil’ – don’t turn others away*. 

*If it would only take a small tweak to ‘soft-boil’ too.

Can you think of at least 3 ways to adjust your offers (and process) so you can accommodate (and increase revenue as the result)?

1. An option that has most of ‘you’ in it
2. An option with less of ‘you’ and more ‘self-help’
3. An option purely focused on ‘self-help’

2. Brand management 101: show increased value

As a thinking exercise, let’s take a part of this prompt literally.

What is it about the way you deliver your product/service that can you 10X?

PayPal’s Peter Thiel says to be competitive, every company needs to have something that’s 10X better than their closest competitor.

And often, the only way to get customers to switch brands is to be 10X better in at least one dimension.

The interesting thing is that this doesn’t necessarily need to be the core thing around which your offering is built.

It could be just one thing that makes a significant difference.

e.g. Performance, reliability, convenience, quality, variety, availability, and delivery methods.

3. What if your solution was borrowed?

Airbnb doesn’t need hotels to compete with hotel chains.

Uber doesn’t need cars to compete with taxi services.

Even Apple doesn’t create all components for their products.

If you’re thinking about starting a business, you can see that you can do so without ‘owning’ anything.

Here are some of the most popular business ideas from 2022:

• Dropshipping (products shipped by others)
• Affiliate marketing (products made by others)
• Ghost kitchens (food prepared by others)
• Digital marketing (marketing other businesses)

You can apply this thinking to an existing business too – without redoing your entire business structure.

Because when you decide to scale you’ll need to either find more time (outsource or delegate) or find a way to clone yourself.

4. Is there something forgotten that can be made exciting again?

Tamagotchi. 

Do you remember those needy digital pets you carried around in your pocket in the 90s? Or perhaps you were a fan of another super popular game in that same era called Tetris?

Well, both of these are making a huge comeback in the 2020s, and not just for those of us who are feeling nostalgic.

The younger generation has had such an influx of input since their birth, like real-life graphics, animated movies, and avatar-based virtual realities, that simpler 8-bit games can almost feel like a welcome zen-break from all those notifications and noise.

The learnable lesson here is that if something was popular once, it can likely gain popularity again. Things get a new life again decades later because we all gravitate towards familiarity.

So if you want to revitalise an existing business in some way. Or you’re thinking of starting something new but don’t know what yet. 

Look at some cultural phenomena from 10-20 years ago for inspiration.

5. Why put lipstick on a pig?

There is a common, hindering cycle that many businesses face.

(More product brands, but service-based businesses go through it too)

They start with a core focus, one core idea or solution they provide.

e.g. Helping to track and improve time efficiency for corporate teams.

Over time, whether through customer requests or their own shiny object syndrome, they end up adding a bunch of features. (Features not directly connected to their core idea e.g. project management functionality, accounting, and invoicing)

They become so inefficient to finally realise that they need to simplify, going back to their core idea. Then the cycle repeats.

In this example, brands assume all customer requests need to be actioned. They end up putting lipstick on a pig.

The team (business) hasn’t decided if they want to focus on (a) sustaining existing value for a select few or (b) delivering every new request to remain relevant and accessible for everyone.

You’ve got two options:

1. Continue repeating the cycle until exhaustion
2. Find out what you stand for (a or b)

6. What is minimum viable perfection?

Perfectionism can be a wonderful quality if balanced with action, and framed as ‘having a vision’.

It also implies and requires a high level of patience (paradoxically, I’m very impatient, but through practice, I’m able to stretch that muscle)

The thing about patience is that it only works if you do.

If you are researching, planning, and looking for inspiration to feed your vision, that ‘patience’ translates into procrastination and rarely eventuates with a product. Scenario A.

If you combine your patience with focused actions, you get progress and outcomes. Scenario B.

Most perfectionists like us (that’s basically any entrepreneur or designer) see an MVP as a subpar, imperfect product that doesn’t match our ideal vision.

Instead, think about an MVP by framing it as a set of milestones that do eventually lead up to your ideal vision. 

Incrementally. 

And with a 1000% more likelihood of seeing progress (as opposed to Scenario A).

7. What 2 simple lenses can help you innovate?

When I was 10 my parents encouraged (read forced) me to read more books. So I hated it.

Because of this early ‘trauma’ and associated dislike of books I didn’t really pick up a book voluntarily until I was in my late 20s.

Now that I am older I love reading – it’s one of the best ways to learn something new and expand your brain by ‘downloading’ new information into it.

Well, if we take this prompt and the concept of books, what are some examples of magnifying or minimising, that have led to innovation?

E-readers minimise the physical size and weight of books by replacing paper with electronic ink displays. They also minimise the storage space required for books (you can have 100s of books in an e-reader).

Audiobooks take that concept even further, as they also minimise the effort in reading. You don’t need to schedule a time to read as you can simply listen to a book while driving, or exercising at the gym.

This type of thinking can be applied to just about any industry, product or service. Can you think of a way to magnify or minimise something in your line of work?

8. What if your brand’s future feels foggy?

In the world of business think of the fog as uncertainty. 

The grey transition period between where you are now and where you’d like to be.

It can be especially challenging to keep your confidence if you don’t have clarity about what you need to do.

But one thing is clear. If you’ve hit a plateau, whatever got you here won’t get you there.

Here’s an example from a recent client interaction.

They’d been accustomed to learning necessary skills ‘on the job’.

And amazingly, this approach served them for 25 years, but they’d been stuck for a while.

New strategy – hire subject-matter experts to help them leap to new grounds (marketing, technology, social media, leadership training).

Can you spot an outdated practice in your business that no longer serves it?

9. How can you look at niching differently?

I believe most people are looking at niching all wrong.

Looking at a specific industry or sector to work with. Or only focusing on a specific deliverable. Or only working with a business of a certain size. 

Yes, you can niche based on those things. But it should be a combination of all of them and a whole lot more. 

It could also be informed by the generation the company’s founders were born in. And/or shared interests they have in common with you. And/or types of challenges they face as part of their daily role that you’re uniquely positioned to solve.

Basically, the more specific, the better. And I, as a self-professed Deep Generalist have always found this the most challenging. 

And sometimes we all need that reminder: being vague and ‘for everyone’ with ‘every type of challenge’ isn’t doing you any favours in terms of new clients seeking you out.

Have you managed to tap into a successful ‘niche’ that’s been working well for you or do you still need to keep exploring?

10. How can you focus on the negative to win?

When I was about 20 I used to take my then-first car to a mechanic I really liked dealing with. 

They always found a way to ‘save me money’ by getting after-market parts, or spotting when I could prevent a costly mechanical fault from happening.

And then one terrible event led to a total breakdown of our customer-to-brand relationship that couldn’t ever be fixed.

A long story for another post where the relationship was tainted. Despite years of delightful service.

So there’s an interesting paradox going on with customers choosing brands. 

We ‘punish’ brands for bad service more readily than we ‘reward’ delightful service.

In other words, delightful service is what might draw us into the world of a brand initially. 

But we almost expect it from that point onwards.

The moment they stuff up, we’re off looking for another.

You’d think we’d put more weight on those businesses that delight us. 

But it turns out we value not being disappointed – more. Science supports this.

If today, you decided to put your ‘delightful’ experience aside for a moment and dedicate your full effort towards preventing the biggest hassle about your (or similar) products or services, what would it be?

Enjoyed this article?

Share this with someone you’ve been convincing to start a business for months. Or sign them up for Studeo Insider emails to get insights like this, once a month. 

Want to access all 60 prompts? Download the Get Ideas Deck or download the ebook for free here.

The post 10 Unorthodox Ideas for Effective Brand Management appeared first on Studeo.

As a solopreneur, you can correct a few inconsistencies or hiccups in your business quickly. 

Or you can even turn a blind eye to some without suffering any major setbacks. 

You can do that by calibrating your actions to your internal principles and long-term mission. i.e. Will this action help move me towards where I need to go?

When your business expands beyond just you, that level of control becomes almost unattainable. 

The culture of micro-managing company owners

We’d all known or worked for a micro-managing business owner at some point. It’s not pretty.

You suffer because you can’t get on with your work with the constant check-ins. And your boss can’t scale their business because they can’t get out of their way.

Of course, the dream version of this situation is where you are empowered by your manager’s confidence in you. 

The confidence that you will find a way to solve a problem without hand-holding. And in a way that will have a direct impact on achieving the overall goals of the business. All at the same time.

The resulted-in ideal outcome – your boss can use the newfound freedom of time to scale the business, its impact and its innovations.

What is the cost of sticking to the less-than-ideal scenario? 

Here are three short stories from my own experiences to help paint a picture.

1. Hiring the wrong person

A company I worked at once hired a seemingly experienced manager that we were all excited to work with. 

We’ve had two Zoom calls with him as a candidate. He said all the right things, was friendly, and demonstrated (or perhaps more accurately, dazzled us with) his apparent experience.

Two weeks in, after he arrived, it became painfully clear. He did not fit in culturally. His ambitions, goals, and managerial style were massively different to everyone else on the team. 

He struggled to navigate our team’s culture and often ended up doing tasks that he should have delegated himself. 

All because we failed to communicate what was expected from him. And his lack of clarity on how best to contribute to the overall objectives of our business.

2. Unable to grow individually, or as a company

Shortly after graduating from design college, I started as the first employee of a new business. After a few years of slow growth, we started seeing improvements. 

I asked for a salary increase. 

My manager’s response? “I’d love to, but I just can’t justify it. I don’t believe in increasing someone’s pay for doing the same role. And besides, nobody else at the company is earning what you’re asking for.”

Mind you, at this point, I had more responsibilities than originally hired for, more experience, and a new team I managed. Plus, I committed to doing even more to get the increase.

But alas, we were not aligned on a singular vision for the business, and needless to say, I did not stay, despite enjoying the work and my then team.

3. Suffering from high turnover & toxic mindsets

The CEO I mentioned at the top of this article was experiencing needless staff burnout. 

There was also a ‘me vs. them’ mentality at the team level. 

Culturally, team leaders tended to ‘hog’ their responsibilities, or micro-managed those tasks they did reluctantly agree to delegate to others.

Needless to say, the team was not to blame. The cause was a lack of a clearly defined ‘playbook’. Something that documented the ‘rules of the game’ in an actionable and easy-to-understand way for team members to implement.

And an aligned vision for everyone to aspire to, knowing how their behaviours and actions contribute.

With a few strategic workshops and team training engagements, we are now turning this around together.

The secret to avoiding these setbacks

Did you recognise an element of yourself in any of those stories?

I am lucky enough to have had a front-row seat to seeing, and learning (and in each of those cases, influencing) how that conflict can get resolved.

The ‘secret’ is embedding a strong brand culture into your business.

“With great brands, the culture and the values don’t play supporting roles in business operations—culture and values are the brand, and they’re used to inform business decisions and employee actions.” 

― Denise Lee Yohn, Brand Strategist & Author

Like your personal principles and purpose that guide you, clearly defined and actionable brand values and vision will lead your brand to success.

1. Hiring the ‘wrong’ manager did teach us to take culture fit and alignment on brand values seriously, that led us to work with better folks who drove the company forward.
2. Getting clear on what was important to me and what kind of an organisation I wanted to work for as an employee made it easier to seek out a workplace that valued my unique contributions AND enabled me to x3 my then salary.
3. With my guidance, brand workshops, and training, the organisation with the questionable culture has turned their luck around. With a compelling vision and clearly defined brand values that focus on employee interactions, we are improving team’s engagement and company’s Net Promoter Score as the result

How do you implement a strong company culture that succeeds?

Brand culture isn’t a set-and-forget kind of deal. 

There are a few critical components that you’ll need to consider if you want your business to continue making an impact:

1. “People don’t quit jobs, they quit their bosses” – If you, as a leader, create an environment where your team has the freedom to make decisions and can have fun at the same time, you’re increasing the capacity for creative thinking and improved results. Idea: Create a climate where everyone’s allowed to make mistakes, as long as they have measurable strategies to learn from those learnings.
2. Brand strategy isn’t purely the domain of the marketing department. And it isn’t something that just informs your visual and verbal identity either. If you think that handing off a Brand Strategy document to your Marketing Manager is job done, think again. You need to integrate it into your customer & employee experiences. Idea: You or your HR Manager can use your brand strategy to formulate employee OKRs and metrics, and use them for performance reviews, appraisals, and evaluations. 
3. Your brand values and purpose aren’t something you just print off in a boardroom to look good in front of clients. Your entire team needs to be clear on what’s expected of them. On a day-to-day basis, and how their actions are expected to lead to those bigger outcomes. Idea: Organise quarterly brand presentations to inspire the team (and any new members), sharing success stories of how an employee’s action led to an improved outcome.
4. Being equipped with a compelling brand culture and clear documentation on how to bring those elements to life, reinforces your ability to attract quality candidates that share your vision when hiring. Idea: Just like you’ve defined OKRs for current team members, you can formulate interview questions to ensure you can spot someone who would be a great fit vs. someone who won’t, even if the latter has ‘better’ work experience on paper.
5. Your brand culture is like farming or tending a plant. If you don’t provide tender loving care to it consistently, it won’t survive for long. Idea: Set up quarterly leadership workshops to review your strategic anchors (how you will succeed), the overall strategic objectives (what’s important right now), and the customer journey (are we delivering on our promise to customers). These ongoing reviews will help you tweak and adjust your strategy as needed.

Final thoughts on company culture

Your brand’s success depends on embedding a healthy and compelling company culture into your business.

It’s an ongoing commitment. And so is the work to maintain, review, and adjust it, if needed.

For best results, implement regular internal reviews and workshops or work with someone like me to help guide the process. 

And enjoy the fruits of an all-singing, all-dancing brand and business.

Enjoyed this article?

Please share this article with just one person you think might enjoy it. I email insights like this every month to my Studeo Insiders – if you liked this, consider signing up. 

The post Are Company Culture and Branding Related? appeared first on Studeo.

Why? Because without a proper plan for a consistent effort, that initial burst of new energy eventually fizzles out. 

The New Year deceives us. 

Our strategy, goals, objectives, key metrics, and actions should be reviewed and tracked continuously. Not just January. 

But, as it happens, New Year is still a natural prompt for a review.

And so as I was sitting around the Christmas table, I got to thinking about ways to reach more people with my content without going through content burnout again. 

The idea struck me! What if I take content already created (my card deck of 60 prompts) and apply it to one specific area?

And so the idea of 60 daily brand-building prompts was born. 

Below, I invite you to peruse 23 prompts to help re-energise your 2023. I will use each prompt as a lens to look through different aspects of building a brand and a business.

1. Facing a roadblock? Simplify it to a singular truth.

The prompt: How can your challenge be simplified to a singular truth?

Russian author Leo Tolstoy described truth as: ‘Truth, like gold, is to be obtained not by its growth, but by washing away from it all that is not gold.’

First, let’s define the word challenge. 

It could be an obstacle. Like a digital platform you’re using for business, raising their fees.

Or it could be a roadblock. Like being unable to break through a certain profit threshold. 

Take all of the information about your situation and wash away any assumptions, false beliefs, or those based on fear.

What is left is the truth and a way for moving forward.

Raised fees may still be lower than compared to other competing platforms, given your specific circumstances.

Or your energies might be focused on raising revenue (and increasing expenses) rather than finding a way to streamline your ‘cost to deliver the goods’.

2. Think you need a world-changing business idea to succeed? Think again.

The prompt:  Can only dead fish go with the flow?

Supposedly, only the brave and the determined can fight against the flow to achieve greatness and create something new. But to be different isn’t limited to only ‘going in the opposite direction’. 

That phrase seems to indicate that unless you are wildly different, you won’t succeed.

You don’t always have to go completely opposite to mainstream to have something innovative.

Apple isn’t going in the opposite direction to other technology companies, they simply ‘package’ their products better.

Tesla isn’t really moving in the opposing direction, they’re simply finding an alternative way to empower a vehicle.

‘Reverse ideas’ can be a great way to start an ideation process of what to improve.

But if your only pathway to a solution is looking for a polarising opposite to what’s expected, you’re likely to turn a lot of people off before you even begin.

Grow quickly and build a following by going with the flow but finding clever ways to package what you’re creating.

3. Struggling to stay relevant? Consider this idea.

The prompt:  Your audience can’t see. Does your idea change?

Counterintuitively, creativity can thrive when some boundaries are given, often producing novel results. To cater to the visually impaired, Disney developed ‘Feeling Fireworks’, a tactile experience that makes fireworks more inclusive.

You won’t have a profitable business if you create something that nobody needs.

After all, “necessity is the mother of invention”.

In other words, to create a thriving business, innovate, or be creative, you need boundaries.

You can apply this thinking to innovate an existing business.

Case in point: I’ve met business owners that went from making things to making things accessible.

Websites, PDF documents, and other digital and interactive tools.

Read that again: they stopped making their core thing – and started doing something different.

The changes in your business don’t have to be this drastic, but the prompt can help you see something you weren’t seeing.

4. Need to add more excitement to your offers? Think like Walt Disney.

The prompt: Imagine that you are Walt Disney.

As a way to inspire and direct the Imagineering team, Mr. Disney’s created ‘Mickey’s 10 Commandments’. Commandment #4 is ‘Create a weenie – Lead visitors from one area to another by creating visual magnets and giving visitors rewards for making the journey’.

What does this tip make you think of?

It could be about weaving stories into your business and how to connect everything.

It could also be about gamification and how you could reward customers for their attention.

Look at your current business – specifically services/offers and customer experience.

e.g. If you only rely on selling one high ticket offer (or volume of low-value products), you could look into a value/product ladder.

e.g. If you want to improve churn rate, systemise a way to reward loyal customers (anniversary vouchers, surprises for repeat customers)

Options for improving these two areas are only limited by your imagination (limitless).

5. Is the status quo holding you back? Package your business idea cleverly.

The prompt: What if you took away a key requirement?

Tesla took the assumption that cars needed a driver out of the equation and put self-driving cars into development. They’ve also made some of the software available as open source to other car manufacturers to enable industry-wide innovation.

Innovation is seldom about creating something that doesn’t exist.

More often, it’s about finding a new way of doing an old thing.

Say you’re in the hotel business. Do you need hotels?

Not necessarily. Enter Airbnb.

Another example is the pandemic. 

It showed many businesses that what many assumed was a key requirement was optional.

Working on-site at the office to be productive.

6. Trying to turn problems into opportunities? Use this technique.

The prompt: Can you turn it into a ‘how might we’ question?

A perfect mix of specificity and broadness in a ‘how might we’ question is a great way to help open up the possibilities and see a multitude of solutions. If you can create multiple ‘how might we’ questions for your problem, even better.

You might have heard to frame problems as opportunities.

That’s bollocks. Problems are great.

They help us become better problem-solvers.

But we can turn problems from scary to fascinating by framing them as questions.

And it will work even better if you spot multiple questions within a problem.

Problem: We don’t have any idea why customers return their orders.

• Question A: How might we get customers to tell us reasons for returns?
• Question B: How might we decrease the number of returned orders?
• Question C: How might we get customers to contact us before they decide to return a product?

7. Want more cut-through in the market? Use this exercise.

The prompt: How can you sum up your idea in only 6 words?

Supposedly, once upon a time, Ernest Hemingway bet some friends that he could write an entire story in just six words. This kind of brevity might seem impossible, but if you think about writing an entire 300+ page book, the premise seems less daunting.

Focusing on the absolute essentials can help you find the true essence of your brand.

Think about your brand and business, could you distil it down to just 6 words?

What about your customers? How would they describe your brand in only 3 words? 

A little more effort now… what one word could summarise the essence of your brand?

When we think of McDonald’s, we think of burgers. 

Even though they also have a cafe, a playground, and other products and experiences (and they consider themselves a property company). 

But they’d built their business around a core offering, making sure to be top-of-mind for it. What one thing are you top-of-mind for?

8. Need more business focus? Adopt a metaphor to drive your brand.

The prompt: Can it be like a radio signal?

Albert Einstein described the wire telegraph as a very, very long cat. ‘You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. And radio operates exactly the same way: you send signals here, and they receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat.’

Most ideas and businesses are born by looking at the world at large.

Is there a ‘big idea’ that can focus your business efforts?

e.g. Amazon (the company) applies the metaphor of Amazon (the river) to how they think about business. Keyword – resource.

Arguably the largest river in the world, Amazon represents the company’s ambitions to offer the widest range of products to the widest areas of the world.

A ‘big idea’ or brand metaphor can often outlive your actual offering (i.e. products and services may change).

To discover your brand’s metaphor turn to customers and see what story about your brand they are telling.

Tip: Interviewing 10-25 customers will be a good start.

9. Having issues with brand assets? Take a monochrome look at them.

The prompt: You can only execute your idea in black and white.

The red, yellow, and green traffic lights are somewhat problematic for colourblind people who have trouble distinguishing between colours. That’s why some new innovative traffic light designs include additional arrows for ‘go’ and a cross for ‘stop’.

This is an especially helpful prompt when thinking about your visual brand identity.

While colour can be a wonderfully memorable brand asset (e.g. Tiffany’s Turquoise), you can’t rely on it solely.

There are times when colour is unavailable or unpractical to produce. And in some instances, is unseen (colourblindness).

And you need to have other elements that customers associate with your brand beyond colour. (distinctive brand assets)

Does your logo work when reproduced in black in white or in small sizes?

Do you have other brand elements customers associate with you (e.g. The Golden Arches of McDonald’s)

Going even further and touching on a previous post, what if your audience can’t see at all – can they still recognise you by your audio branding?

10. Customers aren’t as engaged as you’d like? Add some play.

The prompt: Imagine that your audience were children.

As children, we tend to be less concerned with outcomes and mistakes and more with exploration and curiosity. Richard James, a naval engineer, came up with the idea for the worldwide phenomenon toy Slinky by accidentally dropping one of the battleship’s springs.

There are plenty of businesses already taking care of our ‘base needs’ (shelter, food, safety, etc)

And today we all seek more play and wonder in our lives.

Is there an element of play, exploration, or curiosity you can add to your business?

You might launch a community like Lego did with Lego Ideas.

A hub that allows users to submit ideas for Lego products to be turned into potential sets (essentially promoting play in adults).

Or you might add playful automation like Duolingo with their learning reminders.

And automate customer notifications when it’s time to return.

11. Need to align your team? Fight a villain in your brand story.

The prompt: What if you rebelled against something?

In 1984 everyone got talking about Apple, as it set itself up as a rebellious defender of humanity, liberating the world from monotony and technological lobotomy, and building a massive following of fans in the process. 

Branding-wise, you don’t need to go to extremes to succeed or stand out.

But you do need to differentiate sufficiently for customers to choose you over others.

As Rollo May said, “The opposite of courage in our society is not cowardice, it is conformity”.

In practical terms, can you find a Lex Luthor (villain) to your Superman (your brand)?

It could be an outdated industry standard. 

It could be certain damaging beliefs you want to change.

It could be bad habits customers are working to overcome.

Next step: Create a story that positions you as a no-brainer solution for rebelling against (and defeating) this ‘villain’.

You can use this strategy to inform your marketing messages, pitches, tone of voice, and more.

12. Want to have the same impact as Google? Become indispensable.

The prompt: Can your idea change language?

The word artificial is an example of a changed meaning. It was once used to communicate something artfully or skilfully constructed by hand. Then we also have verbs that never existed before, such as Google, Uber, and Xerox, thanks to the success of those brands.

When a brand becomes indispensable, everyday, must-have, it can alter our vocabulary.

There are downfalls (e.g. genericide), however, the upside outweighs those. Your business becomes top-of-mind for a specific category.

If Yahoo ended up buying Google in 2002, we could all be yahooing right now instead of googling.

To achieve that laser focus, lean into your primary strength that serves the (future) needs of your customers.

Being known for doing one thing really well (even if you do other things) is what helps to build those associations. 

What could that be for your brand?

A previously shared tip on distilling your brand down to 1 word can help inform that decision for you.

13. Customers find your process too complex? Focus on this instead.

The prompt: How can you reduce it to pure essentials?

Recipes that call for just 3-5 ingredients are gaining popularity because of their simplicity, purity, and accessibility. Similarly, traditional Italian cuisine relies on the freshness and combination of just a few key ingredients.

Have you engaged brand consultancies that built you a 7-step process pyramid to ‘inform your brand’?

Or does your own process involve these many pillars, elements, and gizmos? 

The truth is that your audience doesn’t care nearly as much about your process as you do.

What they do care about is whether you can get them from A to B with the least risk and most benefit.

Your process is below-the-bonnet stuff – most people don’t need to know about each component that makes a car work.

In fact, your conversions will double when they perceive you as a simple, no-brainer solution.

Stop talking about your process, and start marketing the direct outcomes of working with you.

14. Struggling with brand consistency? You need this analogy.

The prompt: Can you think about it as the weather?

If it’s dark and rainy, it might be dark and rainy for two weeks in a row. But it will also be sunny one day. It isn’t under one’s control when the sun comes out, but it will.

This weather analogy is a great mindset to apply to building a brand or business.

When launching a new product, reaching out to business leads, and building revenue, consistency is a must.

e.g. I know that if I ‘forget’ to spend at least 50% of my efforts on networking and marketing my services, new business will dry up.

Building a brand, marketing, and innovation. Those are all ongoing, long-term activities. And you will have ups and downs.

You can’t control the outside forces (market, global events, etc).

But if you have a systematic approach to your brand-building activities, results will always appear.

Despite what’s happening with the weather.

15. Want to be perceived as a more premium brand? Define this first.

The prompt: You can only build your idea using red 2×4 LEGO® bricks.

In a study, two groups were asked to build a construction, one group with no constraints, and the other could only use a certain type of brick. Which group do you think came up with the most creative constructions?

The question on the card may seem like a trick one. Surely creativity would come from fewer constraints?

The reality of the experiment (and many similar studies) shows otherwise.

The ‘constraints’ group’s creations were judged to be significantly more creative and lateral than those in the free expression group.

Beyond creativity, limiting inputs can help position your brand as a premium one (and charge premium prices).

FMCG brands do this a lot. 

e.g. ‘We make our yogurt only from fresh Tasmanian milk’

or ‘We only use ethically sourced wild tuna’

In practical terms, you can limit your:

• ‘ingredients’,
• the customers you work with, 
• the deliverables 

Try this modified version of Marty Neumeier’s Onlyness Statement:

Our [your offering] is the only [your category] that [perceived customer benefit]

16. Don’t feel like you’re working on your dream business? Go through this exercise.

The prompt: Imagine that you are dreaming.

Carl Jung believed that dreams were the psyche’s attempt to communicate important things to the individual and give us clues about what was really going on. He believed that dreams felt nonsensical because they communicated in symbols. What dreamy and abstract associations and symbols can you conjure up?

Here’s an exercise to help you (re)imagine your dream business. 

You can do this exercise alone or with your leadership team.

Imagine it’s 20 years in the future. 

Your business and project have been a resounding success.

It’s impacted the world in ways you couldn’t imagine. 

A report is being written in TIME magazine about this reality.

What’s on the cover page (sketch)? Write the headline. Subheading. A short summary of the report.

After the exercise, you can reverse engineer to steps and events that lead up to this success (and discuss common themes of this vision if you have multiple participants).

17. Not getting the desired product launch response? Let customers create your brand.

The prompt: What if customers were involved in co-creation?

Kickstarter started in 2009 as a way to bring creative projects to life and help creators build communities around their work. As of 2021, over 19,004,664 community members pledged, supported, and have become part of over 193,952 independent projects and ideas.

Being an idealist and perfectionist can cause us entrepreneurs a lot of frustration.

We launch products that underperform because we forget to establish product-market-fit first.

We need to build what the market wants, not what we think it needs.

Share a survey to gather potential interest.

e.g. I’m thinking of building a course/product that helps achieve x, would you like to learn more?

Split-test your ideas with low-cost Meta ads.

e.g. Set up 2-3 basic landing pages with different ideas, headlines, etc, and see which ad performs best.

Launch a waitlist or beta program.

e.g. Run organic or paid traffic to the waitlist for your offer and see if it gathers sufficient leads.

Have the market co-create with you by telling you what they need.

18. Can’t overcome a challenge? Try redefining the problem.

The prompt: Can you redefine the problem?

When Henry Ford was looking for more workers he redefined the problem by instead asking ‘How can we find more work for people?’ and helping him to think about it from a different perspective and reinvent the manufacturing process as a result, by introducing a conveyor belt. 

If you can’t overcome a challenge, try redefining the problem.

Let’s say you’re struggling to find a logo designer who will ‘nail’ it.

Phrase your challenge as a series of questions, until you see the ‘real’ challenge.

 How or in what ways (action) (object) (outcome)?

e.g. How can we design (action) a logo (object) that will make my business seem professional (outcome)?

e.g. How can we position (action) the business (object) so that it’s perceived as professional (outcome)?

Even a slight language change can help you see you have an entirely different challenge.

19. Ended up with a bloated product or service offer? Reconsider your priorities.

The prompt: How many components can you subtract?

French author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry once said that ‘Perfection is achieved when there is nothing left to take away’, and while less isn’t always more, we can always reflect on ‘What can we take out of the idea or experience to make it more focused?’

The word subtract in itself tends to have a negative association.

Our brains are wired to subconsciously see addition as a more positive action.

But complex doesn’t always mean better.

Clear marketing messages will work better than complex ones.

Less complex branding and visual elements are more versatile.

Your team will perform best with actionable (not vague) brand values.

A clear (and somewhat automated) process will beat a complex one.

20. Feeling the snowball or treadmill effect of social media? Refocus your energies.

The prompt: Can you find similarities with a snowball?

For instance, we can think about investing as having a snowball effect. As the snowball rolls farther, it gets bigger (the longer you keep investing the stronger your investment grows). 

The most relevant business activity we can apply this analogy to today is social media content.

The average human consumes roughly 34 gigabytes of data & information every day. 

That could equate to about 100,000 words heard or read every.

But if you’re not somewhere in that ‘noise’, you risk slipping away from people’s attention altogether.

That doesn’t mean you need to get on the hamster wheel of social media though.

You don’t need to post every day to stay relevant. Focus on a few exposure and reputation-building pieces.

Even 2-3 weekly, strategically planted pieces can compound in the long term.

21. Investing too much effort and money in acquiring new clients? Adjust your strategy.

The prompt: Your solution has to be a sum of many parts.

One of the rules in Cubist Art is that if representing an object, it must be fractured and depicted from several viewpoints – this type of constraint typically creates something novel and unexpected. How can your idea be a combination of many parts?

Let’s look at just one possible way to apply this prompt to your business.

You’ll know that it’s much harder (and costlier) to seek out new clients than to serve existing ones.

And yet, most business owners spend a disproportionate amount of time on the former.

If you could redirect just some of that energy into finding new ways to serve existing clients…

You could re-invest some of the profits back into marketing to have new customers come to you. Win/win.

Apple does this very well. They get you with the iPhone. Or the Mac. 

But they have an entire ecosystem of other things for you to buy. Apps. Music downloads. New iPhones and Macs.

22. Don’t have the skills to innovate? Partner with someone who does.

The prompt: Imagine that you’re a chef.

In the most basic terms, we can understand that a chef creates a recipe or dish based on certain ingredients s/he has or knows. If a new ingredient is introduced, suddenly there is an opportunity for new experiments and recipes. 

As a ‘cook’ equivalent business owner, you might do okay.

But it’s unlikely that you will have a ‘Michelin-star restaurant’ (be top of your market)

If you do want to be a leader in your industry you need to find a way to innovate.

A way that you and your business can ‘create the recipes’ not just cook them.

So as a ‘cook’ business owner wanting to innovate you’ve 3 options.

1. Learn the skills you need to become a chef (possible)
2. Remain a cook but hire chefs to head up innovation (easier)
3. Partner with a chef and build something of value together

Option 4: You do you, there are always alternative solutions to every challenge.

23. Can’t find a viable business idea? Borrow one.

The prompt: What if you had to borrow the solution?

Social Car is a service that lets car owners rent out their automobiles to people who temporarily need a car. More flexible than typical car rental agencies, it provides renters with access to a car nearby and allows owners to earn extra income. Win-win.

Airbnb doesn’t need hotels to compete with hotels.

Uber doesn’t need cars to compete with taxi services.

Even Apple doesn’t create all components for their products.

If you’re thinking about starting a business, you can see that you can do so without ‘owning’ anything.

Here are some of the most popular business ideas from 2023:

• Dropshipping (products made by others)
• Affiliate marketing (products made by others)
• Ghost kitchens (food prepared by others)
• Digital marketing (marketing other businesses)

And if you have an existing business it doesn’t mean you need to rethink your entire business structure.

But if you want to scale, at a certain point you’ll need to find a way to outsource or delegate.

Enjoyed this article?

This series is part of a 60-day content challenge. Prompted by my Get Ideas Deck, I’m sharing 60 daily prompts on LinkedIn, applying them to brand building. 

Hopefully, these will help you spot a new opportunity for innovation, strategic pivot, new leverage, or a rethink of your business and/or brand in 2023. 

Want to access all 60 prompts? Download the Get Ideas Deck or download the ebook for free here.

Please share this article with just one person you think might enjoy it. And if you found this article insightful consider signing up for Studeo Insider emails and receive more insights like this, once a month. 

The post 23 Ideas to help Rediscover Your Business Passion appeared first on Studeo.

I felt excited, nervous, and scared, all at the same time. That meeting was later described as baptism by fire by my manager and everyone who participated.

As the intros and ice-breakers were over and done with, I was first introduced to the concept of Brand Archetypes.

I remember having an out-of-body experience. The agency owner was obviously passionate about the topic, and her ‘pitch’ was infectious.

I always felt determined on building brands that had meaning, and so my initial response was amazement. Why weren’t archetypes the accepted standard for defining brands? They just made sense.

Fast forward to today, and I’m not surprised that so many other marketing and branding professionals have bought into the idea. I was hooked too – after that initial meeting, I went on to spend the next 5+ years bringing brand archetypes to life.

If you aren’t familiar with them, a simple search will reveal hundreds of articles about brand archetypes and why they are the tool you need as a brand builder, including several written by me.

Those 5 years have taught me many lessons about brand archetypes. And whether you think they are complete nonsense or are indeed useful, I’d like to share my learnings with you – the good, the bad, and the ugly.

What’s so special about Brand Archetypes?

As humans, we are drawn to those who share our values. And early advertisers were clever (or manipulative) enough to recognise that linking products and services to people’s unconscious desires was a way to create those associations with brands.

Advertising, marketing, and branding folk always look for shortcuts to get their brands ahead. And it just so happens that archetypes are a great tool for communicating what brands want to be associated with. 

Why?

Because if you think of concepts like the Hero, Rebel, or Caregiver, they can instantly conjure up a set of character traits and motivations each character represents. 

They can make us feel something. Something intrinsic and primal.

“Objects or actions which survive for generations must be good at serving some hidden purpose…they correspond with something deep in our nature.” – Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Antifragile

The agency with the passionate owner where I worked defined its entire Brand Strategy framework around Brand Archetypes. This left me feeling frustrated, as I see brand archetypes as a useful but limiting tool, and you can’t let them inform your entire strategy for building a brand.

But even despite my frustration and the fact that most academic marketing experts dismiss the notion of brand archetypes altogether as quasi-scientific, one thing is true. 

Archetypes provide an extremely reliable way to communicate a feeling or an idea quickly and efficiently, thanks to their intrinsic qualities.

Most branding tools get dismissed as bullshit

Speaking of the aforementioned academic marketing experts. 

If you haven’t yet come across The Definitive Marketing BS Index or The All-Time Marketing BS Index, I invite you to see if you can spot your favourite marketing tool on the list.

Golden Circle, anyone?

“There is always a well-known solution to every human problem – neat, plausible, and wrong.” – H.L. Mencken

As we live in such a nuanced and complex world (everyone has a unique view of the world), finding a ‘golden answer’ that solves everyone’s problem is highly improbable.

So naturally, the critics will always find a way to destroy a theory (helping their own sense of self-grandeur and importance).

Let’s take a quick look at the nuance of one of such frameworks that is easily dismissed. Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.

The key argument against the framework is that our human needs do NOT act like levels in a computer game, as the pyramid suggests. We don’t go through life upgrading our needs one level at a time.

What most don’t realise is that Maslow never intended for his framework to be depicted as a pyramid – it just made a nice diagram for publishers to use in the textbooks.

Maslow believed that we have satisfied and partially unsatisfied needs at different levels, and the order in which our needs emerge is not fixed.

The moral of the story is this. Don’t believe any framework that claims to be the answer to all branding problems. But at the same time, do lean into the strengths of a framework if it has provided you with useful and successful outcomes with building brands before.

Biggest criticisms of Brand Archetypes

If you do a Google search like ‘what archetype is Apple’ you’ll find plenty of examples where keyboard warriors and wannabe analysts marry some of the biggest brands to a particular archetype the same way Simon Sinek advocates for a must-have WHY in your brand. 

With a healthy dose of confirmation bias, and zero context or nuance considered.

You’ll find an equal amount of articles that claim that Apple is a Creator archetype and articles adamant Apple is a Rebel.

You can then see why it’s easy to criticise and dismiss the framework.

Others reference brand archetypes as the opposite of branding. Associating with a singular (and generic) archetype just doesn’t make sense when you’re trying to differentiate.

After all, they say, if we looked at popular culture and storytelling, even explorer archetypes like Indiana Jones are much more nuanced, with sprinkles of Rebel and Sage characteristics.

So as a business owner or a brand builder you might be forgiven for the confusion – what are you meant to do with this stuff? 

Do you scrap every branding tool out there, including Brand Archetypes?

Using Brand Archetypes to your advantage 

So, as you are now aware, there is no branding tool out there that hasn’t copped a beating.

And if you make peace with that notion, and still feel intrigued or compelled by Brand Archetypes, let me share some of my key learnings and findings with you.

These will help you negate the cons and amplify the pros of this tool and ultimately supplement your branding process.

1. Multiple archetypes per brand. Yes – humans are much more nuanced than being just one ‘archetype’. And brands can be too. Not because ‘brands are just like people’, but because brands are built by people (founders, managers, leaders). People who are nuanced and complex. It’s okay to have layers of personality.
2. Dominant archetype. When I work with businesses I help to determine the dominant brand archetype (along with their traits and characteristics). The dominant archetype can define the overarching brand personality as well as its tone of voice. Just like you might be seen by others as predominantly caring, or serious, or something else, it makes sense to lead with that dominant tone of voice for brand consistency’s sake.
3. Archetype layers. In addition to your dominant brand archetype, find complementary archetypes that your brand can also represent. Just like our Indiana Jones example above, perhaps your brand is a tad mischievous at times, but also wise and sage-like when needed. Looking at the brand archetype wheel above, these additional archetypes will tend to be adjacent to your dominant one. Explorer, for example, is surrounded by Sage and Rebel (like Indiana Jones). This is why we see contradictory articles about the archetype Apple or The Walt Disney Company use. The Archetype doesn’t need to lock you into a singular monotone personality, rendering you talking like a robot. These additional layers of your brand personality can help to tailor specific ad campaigns, inform a new product range, or help to structure how a certain department interacts with customers. In extreme cases, we’ve even used an archetype that sits on the opposite end of the wheel to tailor the messaging for a cut-through marketing campaign. When used strategically, it can help to ‘spice’ up your marketing.
4. The tone of voice. Your dominant AND your secondary archetypes can help to inform your tone of voice as a brand, as mentioned above. For example, as an Explorer Brand Archetype, your tone of voice might be Motivational and your secondary Sage archetype would add a Knowledgeable dimension to it. Think of your tone of voice as all the different ways you express the layers of your brand personality. Tone can vary depending on the people we talk to, as well as the situations in which we talk to those people. For example, you might speak differently to a family member than a neighbour. You might also speak to your family members in different ways if they were sad, happy, or frustrated.
5. Visual brand identity. Much like the tone of voice and your brand personality, your visual brand identity can be informed by your Brand Archetype/s. I typically lean into the dominant archetype here and try to distill the essence of the brand personality into a couple of core concepts. Do I want to communicate strength, confidence, and empowerment (like with this hero brand), or does the brand I’m creating stand for transformation and magic (like this brand with a wizard personality)? Hopefully, those examples give a glimpse of how a brand archetype helped me to boil down and communicate the visual essence of a brand.

So, if after all that you’re still left wondering whether Brand Archetypes is going to be a useful tool for you as a brand builder, I invite you to start taking mental notes whenever you’re watching a movie or reading fiction.

Can you recognise specific archetypes in the story? And can you see how those are used as ‘vehicles’ for building a story that’s relatable, meaningful, and makes you feel like you’re a part of it?

And if so, ask – do you want your brand to be able to do the same?

Enjoyed this article?

Please share this article with just one person you think might enjoy it. And if you found this article insightful consider signing up for Studeo Insider emails and receive more insights like this, once a month. 

The post Are Brand Archetypes Useful or Utter Nonsense? appeared first on Studeo.

These are the names of real people, by the way.

Their celebrity parents have exercised their right to name their offspring, flexed their creative muscles, and possibly plotted to gain some extra publicity. All at the same time.

Good on them.

Unlike some of you, I take no issue with celebrities giving weird names to their children.

At the end of the day, when the children grow up they can either change their name if they wish or lean into it and use it to their advantage. Especially if that name turns out to be an accurate representation of their personality and authentic self. 

A business on the other hand can’t change its name – it’s at the mercy of its owner. 

So when, as an entrepreneur, you get a creative urge to rename your business (again), it might benefit you to read this first.

A brand name is a vital asset

In 2002–2003 I launched my first blog aimed at sharing inspiration with other graphic designers.

In the following 2 or 3 years, I must have changed the name of the blog (and the domain name) at least a dozen times.

You know how it is. You get bored of things. You now consider your old idea lame which you thought of as ‘cool’ 5 years ago. You get a new idea to improve on it.

These are natural creative urges.

But here’s the thing. Your business (and brand) has many important assets that contribute to building up your brand perception in the minds and hearts of your customers.

And the consistency of those assets is one of the core requirements to upkeeping that brand perception.

A brand name is a key asset. It’s also often the first and most critical touch point for your brand.

So while it might be tempting to change it up once in a while don’t let your subjective preferences drive what should be a strategic decision.

If you’re thinking of renaming your business, here are a few things to consider first, before you do:

Internal reasons to change your brand name

1. A change in strategy: You have a new strategy for the business and where you want it to go, and the current brand name no longer communicates the brand’s ambitions. Facebook’s move to rebrand as Meta might be listed under this ‘bucket’ with their new strategy to focus on the metaverse.
2. Limiting potential: The current name is too limiting (i.e. named after a single product or service). A great example is Dunkin’, which has dropped the Donuts from its name as it was now a limiting descriptor of what they offer today.
3. Merging and partnering: If your business gets acquired, merges with another business, or acquires another large business, it will make sense for a new name to reflect that merger. Will it have both names as partners? Will you come up with something entirely? Recently, HumanCo acquired Coconut Bliss and renamed it to Cosmic Bliss, after recognising that after all, many customers still want the ‘old fashioned’ dairy in their desserts.

External reasons to change your brand name

1. Cultural forces: Often, when a business is operating for a long time customers will adopt different ways to refer to the brand (acronyms, nicknames, or others), and it might make sense to lean into it. McDonald’s, for example, registered Macca’s after recognising that Australians often used this slang word to reference the fast-food chain. Similarly, National Australia Bank renamed itself as NAB after recognising how customers actually referred to the bank.
2. New market opportunities: Based on an extensive analysis you might spot that there’s an opportunity to ‘own’ a particular keyword, or phrase, which would elevate your reach and your market share. It could be based on SEO analysis, or other customer research, similar to the point above.
3. Legal forces: Sometimes, a larger, more well-known company with the same (or similar) name might take issue with you using it as well. Even if you’re operating in a different service class or category. If you don’t have the resources to fight the bullies, a name change might be an acceptable alternative.
4. Negative associations: If your brand becomes linked to a scandal or another negative association it might be a valid reason to consider a change. Facebook’s move to rebrand as Meta can be seen equally as a strategic change within the business structure, as well as a way to disassociate itself from the bad press Facebook was getting. Offensiveness is another valid reason why older brands like Eskimo Pie have changed their name.

Final considerations for changing your brand name

Both the internal and external reasons should align, and they typically overlap anyway.

Changing a name can be a touchy subject. And to be clear, changing your brand name should perhaps be the last resort.

Even despite the reasons listed above.

In many cases, a brand name has too much legacy to change. For example, if I was to suggest Johnson & Johnson change their name, I would be throwing out its 130+ years of brand legacy. 

Not a wise move. 

So you’ll need to find another creative way to overcome those internal or external forces in cases like that.

It could be looking at a subtle name change that will minimise the loss of that brand legacy. Think CVS Health (formerly known as CVS Caremark).

Enjoyed this article?

Please share this article with just one person you think might enjoy it. And if you found this article insightful consider signing up for Studeo Insider emails and receive more insights like this, once a month. 

The post 7 Acceptable Reasons to Change Your Brand Name appeared first on Studeo.

But it wouldn’t work for Sir David Attenborough. There’d be a disconnect between the man and the (brand) personality.

And this is an equally important truth for your corporate brand too. You can create and assign a brand personality, but it has to be something you can ‘wear’ authentically.

Failing that, you’re doing a disservice to yourself and your audience.

Read on to learn about all 3 criteria you need to consider to build a successful, well-rounded brand.

How personal brands influenced brand personality

Since the rise and early success of personal branding, businesses have been looking for ways to leverage that within their own branding efforts.

The key agenda of personal branding? Getting more attention. Great for businesses, right?

You can achieve great cut-through (as a personal or corporate brand) by adopting a brand archetype aka a brand personality, which I’d written about before.

Audiences connect easier with people than they did with businesses. So naturally, businesses started adopting more ‘human-like’ traits to become more relevant and relatable.

Being relevant to the target audience, your customers, your users, and your tribe is one of the main criteria for building a successful brand.

But the personal branding movement that spearheaded brands to try and be more relevant and human isn’t reliable long-term.

Most of its tactics tend to be polarising. Turning people into circus performers. This is also why we’re now witnessing personal branding’s imminent death.

Being relevant and relatable to your target audience is only one part of the equation.

Competition matters, but not as much as you think

As designers, we create and assign entire visual systems and brand personalities for the businesses we work with. 

If we do our job right, we will create visuals that evoke an appropriate and fitting brand personality.

But there is a danger. 

Many designers are driven and misdirected by perhaps the most viral branding myth of all – that the sole purpose of branding is differentiation.

So we make this our priority number one, forgetting any other objectives.

And when that happens, in our own need for self-expression and desire to differentiate, we can create something that feels amazingly daring and creative but totally inauthentic to the brand we’re creating for.

And on the flip side, as business owners, we may be tempted to follow the latest trends. 

Or to ‘outdo’ the competition with a daring rebrand.

Yes – differentiating adequately from the competition is an important aspect of successful brands. But not to the detriment of your brand’s character and reputation. 

If you’re a black suit and tie kind of business trying to wear a red dress and stockings, you may have got it wrong.

Customer centricity isn’t the only requisite

Customer centricity is a topic that’s progressively gained more and more traction. For years, it’s been advocated for and written about in branding channels en masse.

And with good reason. It’s an important mindset.

But what some business owners and designers alike tend to assume is that being relevant to the customer is the only thing that matters. 

They seem to stop there. 

Yes, showing up in a way your target audience expects is a must-have aspect of good branding.

But if you feel that your industry and your audience demand a certain type of brand to serve them, your question should be: can you authentically pull this off?

Remember that your business will need to ‘wear’ the chosen brand persona indefinitely. And you can only do that consistently if the people driving the business forward truly believe in it (and can personify it). 

If you don’t, your brand will likely suffer from a slow and embarrassing death.

So the third, and perhaps most important aspect of branding is – your business has to be able to personify how you show up in the world. It has to be authentic to you.

In summary, the 3 non-negotiables of successful brands are

Branding will continue to evolve. There will always be new trends, new approaches, and new mediums.

But 3 things will likely remain true if you want to create a successful brand of value.

Whenever you’re creating a new brand, going through a rebranding process, or making anything for an existing brand, think of the following 3 criteria: 

• Is this relevant and appropriate to my target audience?
• Is this differentiated adequately from competitors?
• Is this an authentic representation of my business? 

Are you taking into account all three aspects of brand creation?

Enjoyed this article?

Please share this article with just one person you think might enjoy it. And if you found this article insightful consider signing up for Studeo Insider emails and receive more insights like this, once a month. 

The post 3 Golden Rules For an Authentic Brand Personality appeared first on Studeo.

I get asked for book recommendations on brand strategy and creativity so often that I created this book list last year that I still send people to.

The interesting part about both these lists is that the books I tend to recommend aren’t specifically on brand strategy or brand building.

But they will most definitely improve your strategic decision-making ability. 

Brand strategy as a skill lies somewhere between critical thinking, creative thinking, problem-solving, intuition, and business know-how. 

And the books below cover a selection of these topics so that you can dive deeper into and improve your brand strategy game.

Rather than promoting my Amazon affiliate links with you to try and make a few bucks, I’d much rather you find the most accessible way to access these books yourself. 

If you do want to support me (and as always, get something of value in return), there are ways to do that at the end of this post.

Six books don’t seem like a long list. But believe me, each one will open a new perspective, a new way of looking at things, and a whole new ‘multiverse’ for you to pursue.

Whatever You Think, Think the Opposite by Paul Arden

A short, but punchy book to show you that there’s always a different way to look at things. In part, thanks to this book, I always aim to show different and unexpected perspectives on all things branding with my content creation.

Lateral Thinking by Edward de Bono

My fascination with how humans capture and develop their creativity began with this book and many others by Edward de Bono. Learn how creativity works and become a master strategist.

The Art of War by Sun Tzu

A classic read on how to master the art of strategising. The vital concepts covered here apply to participating in price negotiations, launching a business, or building a winning brand.

Alchemy by Rory Sutherland

One of the key men behind Ogilvy & Mather, Rory is a brilliant creative thinker, and this book will give you a glimpse of a different perspective on branding, advertising, business, and creativity.

Problem Solved by Michael Johnson

Practical examples are one of the best ways to see how something works, and Michael covers many of the communication challenges here we all face as brand builders.

Losing My Virginity by Richard Branson

One of the key concepts I learned from this book (something that deeply impacted how I approach brand building in general) is the ability to stay agile and not getting locked into tunnel vision.

Bonus recommendations

If you’ve devoured these already, and need another helping, many of my colleagues and peers whom I trust have shared additional recommendations that are worth checking out. 

• The Crux by Richard Rumelt, shared by Paul Lewis
• Net Positive by Paul Polman, shared by Nick Budden
• The E-Myth Revisited by Michael E. Gerber, shared by Michael Janda
• Made to Stick by Chip Heath and Dan Heath, shared by James Eccleston
• Creativity, Inc. by Ed Catmull, shared by Paul Oxborrow

In summary

• Lateral Thinking by Edward de Bono
• Whatever You Think, Think the Opposite by Paul Arden
• The Art of War by Sun Tzu
• Alchemy by Rory Sutherland
• Problem Solved by Michael Johnson
• Losing My Virginity by Richard Branson
• The Crux by Richard Rumelt
• Net Positive by Paul Polman
• The E-Myth Revisited by Michael E. Gerber
• Made to Stick by Chip Heath and Dan Heath
• Creativity, Inc. by Ed Catmull

Which ones have you already read? Which will you add to the list or read now?

If you enjoyed this article, you’ll love joining the Studeo Insider

There are already thousands of Studeo Insiders who receive insights like this one, monthly, and in addition, get access to my expanding branding toolbox for free. Other ways you can power up your branding game (and support me at the same time) is by following me on Instagram, and Medium, or checking out one of my products.

The post Surprising Books to Make You a More Strategic Creative appeared first on Studeo.