What does our brand stand for?
If I were to stop ten employees in the hallway at the health systems consulting firm where I work and ask them to describe what our brand stands for, I bet their answers would be all over the map.
There are a lot of reasons for this, but a big one is that the CEO doesn’t believe in marketing. So much so that he banned the communications team from uttering the word. Needless to say, the company doesn’t have a marketing, communications, or brand strategy.
Working at a company without a brand strategy leads me to often ask what it takes to create one.
There are endless ways to approach this question, so I’m sure this isn’t the last time I’ll ask and try to answer it. But today, I listened to a podcast interview with Amanda Goetz, CMO of Teal, who broke it down in some high-level steps:
Start with an overview of a competitive landscape. Identify where you think your product will fit in. Reflect on how consumers might view you compared to the competition.
Develop an “only statement” to tease out your value proposition (“we are the only company that does xyz”).
Figure out if the “only statement” resonates with your consumers: Do product research. Create and share wireframes. Do user testing.
Add in the emotional layer. Dig into what you want consumers to feel when they’re interacting with you.
Create a brand pyramid. The first layer is your functional benefits. Second layer is your emotional benefits. Third layer is your voice and tone. The final fourth layer is a one-liner that describes your brand essence. (That final one-liner should be the one that every employee you stop in the hallway quotes or paraphrases.)
Build out your visual identity.
Iterate! The company and landscape will constantly evolve so your strategy should too.
I loved the idea of a brand pyramid—a simple tool that can clarify the fundamentals of a brand. So, I decided to test it out by creating one for Peloton, a brand that’s part of my nearly everyday and is crushing it with their branding.
