The reason I'm sharing so much on brand is because today brand is everything. You could be the most unique startup and the first to do something, but if your brand experience isn't right, you leave massive scope for someone else to come along, do the same thing as you and walk away with your market because their branding is more compelling and memorable. Here's a really interesting presentation on bridging the gap between your brand and your strategy and is a nice follow on from my previous post on brand building.
In summary here's what it says about what a brand is
- It's not a logo, entity or product
- It's your audience's gut feeling about your organisation, product or service
- In other words it's not what you say it is, but what they say it is
The presentation then highlights the 5 disciplines of brand building:
- Differentiate: Focus
- Collaborate: 1+1=11
- Innovate: Zig when others Zag
- Validate: Use focus groups plus cheap, dirty, quick tests. If your audience can't verbalise your concept then you've failed to communicate it.
- Cultivate: Develop and influence the character and not just look and feel of the brand
