Aha! 7 Lessons I Learned About Branding in 2022
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Branding is like anything else. If you dedicate enough time to it, you’ll inevitably come to collect a fair number of subject-matter tidbits. Those little aha moments along the way: too light to blog about, too weighty to forget.
So, as a reading, writing, quoting, citing one-man-brand-band, it won’t surprise you to hear that I’ve managed to amass a small pile of brand-related learnings myself this year. Flashes of insight that have helped inform my thinking when building a brand.
And here — in some semblance of order — are seven I’ve picked out for you.
A successful business is one that concentrates on both product and brand
Most companies can usually be characterised as either product-led or brand-led, both of which entail differing mindsets.
Developing and optimising a product largely involves eliminating redundant elements from the customer experience while maintaining, or improving, a desired outcome. To put it another away, product is all about what you can remove (in the service of speed and ease).
On the other hand, brand building is much more about what you can add. It’s about inserting into the customer experience touchpoints that exhibit a company’s personality and signal that it has the user’s best intentions at heart. A sprinkling of surprise and delight.
A company that combines both of these approaches is a force to be reckoned with.
A brand-driven approach can be challenging to adopt for businesses
For many businesses, a brand-led approach will require a wholesale change of mindset. The practice doesn’t fit as comfortably into the immediate “x input = y output” ethos that many executives feel most at ease with.
A company’s brand is an asset that is cultivated over time and — if executed successfully — will continue to pay invaluable dividends further down the road.
Note: This isn’t to discount the value of consistently tracking brand health. More on that here.
