Rebrand in 3-hours, not months, with Brand Sprint

Brand Sprint is a series of workshops that are linked together and take 3-hours to be completed. This is our version of it, and it was inspired by the original Brand Sprint created at Google Ventures by Jake Knapp (the author of the book “Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days”) for startups who were thinking about their brand for the first time.

How our Brand Sprint version is different? What are the advantages of it?

Brandenstein’s Brand Sprint is an upgraded version by adding more exercises that focus on the company’s customers, writing the message, and structuring the website to tell a story.

Let’s explore the advantages you’ll get from Brand Sprint:

1. To lay the base of your brand

The same as Google Ventures’ first exercise, we define the company’s motivation to establish why it exists in the first place.

• What, How, Why — The 3 main questions included in The Golden Circle, which is a concept developed by Simon Sinek who says, “people don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it”.

Why you do what you do? (eg. we want to protect people’s data from being stolen)

What does your company do? (eg. creates a free and open-source web browser)

How you do it? (eg. keep your passwords safe on every device)

• Top 3 beliefs & values — Finding out what you & your company believe in to inspire customers to choose you instead of your competitors.

What are the top 3 beliefs and values, you and your brand have? (eg. customers first, collaboration, customers safety)

• One-liner Story — Stating everything that your brand is & does in one short sentence for more clarity and differentiation.

Character + Problem + Plan (hint to it) + Success (eg. “Most businesses struggle to talk about what they offer. We have a process that helps them clarify their message so their companies start growing again.”)

2. To learn about your customers

How to deliver a product if you don’t know the address? When it’s about branding it’s the same. Your story should be shaped around your target customers in order to get to them.

• Identifying the customers — Begin with wondering if the current customers are the ones that you want to use your product. A niche of customers that respect your brand and believe in you, in reality, are the loyal ones.

Are the current customers the ones that you want for your product?

• Customers’ pain points — Identifying the problems your customers are facing that are related to what your product solves for them.

What are the 3 problems your customers are facing? (eg. no time, stress, not getting paid)

• Customers’ wishes — Asking yourself ‘What our customers really want?’ For example, you’ll realize that your ideal customers are busy persons and don’t have the time to learn how to use new applications, so they wish an app that is intuitive and easier to handle.

What do your customers want? (eg. guidance, a place to keep everything in)

3. To have a compass

What are you hoping to achieve in the long run as a company? What’s your plan for the long term? The exercises from below will help you answer these questions.

• Vision & mission — This exercise is meant to set the company’s motivation in stone. These will be the things that will motivate everyone that works at the company & the customers to support you.

What’s your vision? What are you hoping to achieve in the long run as a company? (eg. to provide access to the world’s information in one click)

• The plan — As the name talks itself, you’ll find out what are the steps your customers will take to fulfill their needs with the help of your product.

What are the top features that differentiate your product from the competition? (eg. affordable price, all-in-one, track your time)

• Competitive landscape — Frequently startups find out along their journey they made some design choices that look very similar to their competitors. Placing your competitors on the axis will help you become aware when designing or writing your branding message.

4. To write better your story

Most websites have a great design, but their problem is the lack of clear and concise writing for visitors. As a result, they go away if they don’t understand what are the benefits for them, or if they don’t have a connection with your story.

• Empathy statement — When you write an empathy statement, you address directly to your customers and show that you are aware as a brand of what they go through. That’s the first step in assuring them that your product can resolve their problems.

What brief statement can you make that expresses empathy and understanding? (eg. Escape tool overload)

• Positive changes — Establishing what benefits your customers will get once they start to use your product. As a result, you’ll obtain a more concise description of your product.

What positive changes your customers will experience if they use your product? (eg. get paid faster, collaborate easier, peace of mind)

• Look & feel — You start asking ‘If our brand was a person, how it would look and behave like?’. Thinking about this aspect, you’ll replace hours that you’d spend collecting design ideas and adjectives with 5 minutes.

If our brand was a person, how it would look and behave like? (eg. confident, modern, reliable)