The hardest questions in branding
And how to tell if you can trust the answers
Most branding projects start with questions. Sure, it’s called Discovery or Intake or On-boarding, but it’s just asking questions. Some of these questions are about understanding how a company operates and what their offerings are. Then there are a bunch of questions about the brand — values, priorities, archetypes, “your why”. This is where branding transitions from practical understanding to unlicensed corporate therapy. As branding people, this is where your skills of conversation, perception, re-framing, and generally reading between the lines come into play.
Some clients have very clear answers to these questions. But most do not.
The problem is, even the ones that don’t know the answers to your deep insightful questions might answer as if they do. Yes, some clients are super introspective, low ego, and happy to admit when they don’t know the answer to something. But as your clients get bigger, you run into people like this a lot less often.
These questions, on the surface, sound like things that people in leadership positions at companies should definitely know right away. What does it say about them if they don’t have a good answer? So they make one up or just say the first thing that comes to mind. Maybe if you asked the same question five times you would get five answers. Who are you to tell them what their company’s North Star is? Who are you to challenge their vision for the next ten years? Sure, you can examine and scrutinize their answers, but in many cases the real answer is that they just don’t know — which is probably why they hired you in the first place.
Part of the problem is how deceptively complicated questions like these actually are. Being put on the spot in a Zoom with 10 people doesn’t tend to invite thoughtful answers.
Another part is that companies know they need branding but don’t really understand the connection between branding and what their actual business is. The corporate world has clearly reached the hive mind conclusion that branding is valuable but getting from lofty questions to a name and a logo still tends to feel like alchemy — and by alchemy I mean crackpot nonsense.
One of the hardest skills to develop here is your sense of whether you’re getting honest, thoughtful answers, or whether you’re just speaking with a conversationally capable adult. Because if you’re just speaking with someone who can come up with smart sounding answers to your questions, the foundation for all your subsequent work is going to end up feeling pretty marshy.
Key in this is the ability to ask hard questions without sounding like an asshole. Because if you overlook assumptions, ignore contradictions, and generally take answers at face value, you are doing your clients a disservice.
Branding is an exercise in uncovering truths that lie under the surface — helping companies see themselves in new and exciting ways. The gold isn’t laying around in plain sight. If it was, it would have been found long ago. Excavation is the job. This means setting up a relationship where digging is allowed and even encouraged. So don’t stop once you have your list of questions answered. Don’t be overly reliant on frameworks. Don’t stop digging until you get to the interesting stuff. And there’s always interesting stuff.
