Branding Revelations

Modern branding involves a series of revelations …

1. The internal revelation of why your brand exists.  This is the purpose of your brand beyond the business model, infrastructure, etc.  (We call this your Brand Core).  Once you know your brand’s purpose, it changes the way you think and act.  Instead of trying to create an image or perception, you will focus on getting your story told.  You will worry about authenticity and transparency.  To large extent, this purpose will replace your mission statement, guiding principles, etc. as a singular declaration of why your brand is here - and why the audience should care.
2. Your audience has a revelation that your product is for them.  They make an emotional connection and trigger the “adoption” mechanism.  This rarely happens through advertising (although advertising can help validate the adoption).  Instead, it happens through a process of discovery - word-of-mouth, research, customer experience, first impressions, etc.  Your audience will want to connect with you for a variety of reasons- brand “mirroring”, excitement, driving need, etc.  Almost all of these reasons will go back to the simple reason that your brand purpose matches theirs.
3. The market has a revelation about your relevance.  In other words, people are talking about you.  Stories are told - by employees, customers, vendors, etc.  The Internet and media start to chatter about you.  Momentum is created, creating additional audience revelations.  A sub-revelation is that “eyeballs” are largely irrelevant.  The true measurement of a modern brand is the number of conversations.  Some companies try to jump straight to this phase.  However, the hype-to-relevance odds are extremely low.  Just like building a fire, you need the real fuel of stories - not just an accelerant.

The most difficult thing for most organizations to overcome are their deeply ingrained expectations about what marketing/branding is.  It requires a change of thinking.  Not to a new set of tactics and tools, but a revelation that the rules of marketing and branding have changed.  That “message control” doesn’t really exist.  That your company is transparent whether you like it or not.  That employee morale and customer satisfaction are closely related.

In short, great brands are not created, they are revealed.  First to you, then your audience, then the masses.

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