Brand Positioning: Part 1

Hello, adventurers!

Marty Neumeier said a brand is “not what you say it is, it’s what they say it is.” And that’s true — ultimately, your brand is the collection of experiences, emotions, preconceptions, and feelings of your customers. But in order to build a successful business, you have to do the legwork to most effectively position your brand to win.

Brand positioning is the first step in building a future-friendly business strategy.

We’re going to create, and unpack two key components:

1. Brand Architecture
2. Brand Positioning Platform

1. Brand Architecture

None of the world’s great structures were built without architectural planning. Similarly, you can’t build a thriving business without first developing your brand architecture. This is the blueprint of your brand that ensures structural integrity and is made up of five elements:

• Brand Vision
• Brand Mission
• Brand Story
• Brand Attributes
• Brand Values

Ideally, your brand architecture should fit on a single piece of paper, like you see here. This will become your plumb line, a reference point that you can always check to make sure you’re on the right path. Let’s unpack each of these elements.

Brand Vision

Your brand vision is what you want to see happen. I developed a brand for a hospital and their vision was “Healthier Kids, Stronger Families.” My personal vision is “less poverty, more hope.” A vision is lofty, in the clouds, way up on the highest peak.

Brand Mission

Your brand mission is your calling. It’s what you want to do, or perhaps what you feel compelled to do. An example, from the hospital I referenced earlier, is:

“To improve the health and quality of life of the individuals and communities we serve.”

If your vision is in the clouds your mission is in the dirt. It’s gritty, challenging, inspiring, and specific.

Brand Story

Your brand story is a brief narrative about the ‘why’ and the ‘what.’ Ideally, it shouldn’t be longer than a paragraph, and it should reflect the personality of your business.

We love stories don’t we? Stories connect with us on so many levels. Remember, you’re building a brand, product, or business for people.

By creating your brand story you move from the abstract business ideas to the emotional human connection — it’s a rewarding, and worthwhile exercise.

Here’s an example of a brand story from the hospital example earlier:

“We strive to build a community where kids can grow up healthy and where families can grow stronger. Our goal is that no child would need to visit the hospital. But sometimes, a hospital is necessary. And when it is, our hospital is there to give hope, build courage, and help heal what’s broken.”

Brand Attributes

What character traits would you use to describe your brand? Maybe your brand is quirky, light-hearted, encouraging, whimsical. Maybe your brand is characterized by legacy, community, honesty, integrity. This exercise usually produces a lot of attributes, but do your best to whittle those down to 10 or less, and add them to your Brand Architecture document.

Brand Values

Finally, list out your brand’s values. These are the important elements that drive your business, and motivate you to succeed. In the hospital example, here are the brand values that we established:

• Our Care
• Our Patients
• Our Community
• Our Team Members
• Our Facilities

Alternatively, one of the tech products I worked on had more narrative values that we held to like:

• Foster Education
• Pursue Integrity
• Embrace Encouragement

This is an exercise where you explore the DNA of your business. There’s no magic number of values — work out the ones that mean the most to you and remember, you can always adapt as you move forward.

Now we have the 5 components that make up your Brand Architecture. This is a valuable blueprint for your brand. You can use this to help design your brand identity, make decisions, and measure success as you move forward. It’s meant to be a foundational document, but it’s worthwhile to review and analyze every so often and iterate as your business grows and adapts.

Now that we have your Brand Architecture in place, it’s time to work on your Brand Positioning Platform. Stay tuned for Part 2 of Brand Positioning.

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