Brand clarity
Brand strategy
Getting clear on what makes you different and why people should care. Positioning, narrative, and the organising idea that gives everyone a North Star.
The problems that brand strategy solves
-
You can’t explain what makes you different
You know you’re not the same as competitors, but when someone asks what sets you apart, the answer gets vague. Or defensive. Or too long and complex.
-
Hiring feels harder than it should be
Good people are choosing competitors over you. Your employee value proposition doesn’t land. People join but don’t stay because they don’t connect with what you stand for.
-
You’re not all aligned
Leadership have different answers to ‘what do we stand for?’ Sales are telling one story, marketing another. New hires don’t know how to make decisions that fit.
-
Your positioning doesn’t work anymore
What got you here won’t get you there. You’re entering new markets, or the market has shifted around you, and your current story doesn’t fit.
-
You’re multiple brands and it’s messy
Merger, acquisition, growth – now you’ve got overlapping brands, confused customers, and no clear architecture. Should these be one brand? Many? How do they relate? Should they relate at all?
-
You have a business strategy but can’t make it stick
The plan is sound, the ambition is clear, but people aren’t acting on it. Nobody can explain it in a way that makes customers care.
Feel like different problems? They’re symptoms of the same thing: lack of clarity on what you stand for.
If you don’t define what makes you different and why people should care, you’re leaving your brand to accident – and in the hands of your audience (and competitors).
Four foundations. One organising idea.
What you stand for has four foundations: positioning, purpose, principles and personality. None of them is enough on its own – the value comes from the way they overlap, with a single organising idea at their centre. Your North Star.
Positioning
Clear positioning means you can answer ‘what makes us different?’ – and everyone in the organisation gives the same answer.
Purpose
Defined purpose means people understand why you exist beyond making money. It’s what makes good people want to join you, and stay.
Principles
Agreed principles mean your people know how to make decisions when the answer isn’t obvious. They know what you stand for.
Personality
Distinctive personality means you show up consistently. In a crisis, in growth, in the everyday. People recognise your style.
Each one needs the others to be true. Purpose without positioning is hollow. Positioning without personality is forgettable. Principles without purpose are arbitrary. Personality without principles is performance. That’s why they overlap.
At the centre, the idea that holds them together – your North Star. Short enough to remember, clear enough to guide decisions, compelling enough to inspire action. Not a tagline. Not a campaign line. The internal truth that drives every external expression. When someone asks ‘What do we stand for?’, the North Star is the answer.
“I would recommend you get Garrett on board before you get into naming and design, it’s a great investment.”
How we get there
Brand strategy isn’t a workshop and a deck of slides. It’s a process of discovery, synthesis and definition.
- 01
We start with understanding
Your customers. Your market. Your business. Stakeholder interviews, customer research and competitive analysis surface what people actually value, where you sit competitively, and what’s true about who you are. Proper inputs, not guesswork.
- 02
Then comes the breakthrough
Synthesis of what’s true about you and what’s meaningful in your market. Collaborative workshops with leadership pressure-test where the breakthrough lies. The position only you can credibly own. Insight that’s obvious once someone points it out.
- 03
Then we define the strategy
The breakthrough takes shape as the four foundations – positioning, purpose, principles, personality – articulated clearly, tested rigorously, then distilled into the North Star at their centre. Ready for everyone to use.
Why it works
People don’t rally around a spreadsheet. They rally around something they understand and believe. Something that feels true. The foundations give them substance; the North Star gives them shorthand.
Business strategy tells you where to go. Brand strategy helps you get there.
“Garrett has an alchemist’s talent, taking all the different opinions, ideas and anecdotes and distilling them into a single brand essence. I admired his ability to take intangible concepts and translate them into concrete actions.”
Strategy only works if it gets used. The next step is usually messaging and voice – turning strategy into language people can actually use.
Related thinking
Business strategy made sticky.
February
You have a business strategy. It’s ambitious. Well-conceived. The board, on-board. So why isn’t everyone moving in the same direction? Because strategy on paper isn’t strategy in action. And the gap between the two is where most good plans fall apart.
MoreDo you have a positioning problem? Six ways to tell.
February
You have a great offer. Your customers love it. But new prospects aren’t biting, every conversation drifts to price, and your own team describe what you do differently every time. Sound familiar? These are symptoms. The problem probably isn’t your marketing.
MoreWhat you should get from a brand strategy engagement
March
A workshop and a document is one version of brand strategy. Here’s what it should look like – and what you should expect to walk away with.
MoreBuild the best foundation for your brand.
To discuss the challenges and opportunities you are facing…
Get in touch