Every now and then, when I’m writing a post on social media, I find myself wanting to go a little deeper. I find myself wanting to write more than 140 characters, or explore an idea more than is possible in a Facebook post.
And this week, when this feeling came up, I figured I’d just continue the conversation over here.
So here’s what I was talking about:
So many start-ups are investing time & money into websites, social media, marketing & business strategy without actually having any brand clarity.
That’s like building a house with no foundations. At some point in the future… you’re going to really regret it.
And even as I wrote it, I was thinking, yikes, I don’t want to come across all judgemental or pushy. Because at the end of the day, brand clarity is my business.
But you know what? It’s my business because I’m passionate about it, and I’m passionate about it because I really really believe in it.
So why am I so sure that brand clarity is such a vital piece of the puzzle? Because I’ve made the biggest mistakes of my career when I was lacking in it. Because I’ve worked with a whole bunch of startups who weren’t getting the traction they deserved because of it.
Instead, way too many businesses get fixated on zipping ahead thinking that branding is something a graphic designer does when creating a logo.
But to me, branding starts way way before then. Or at least, it should do.
This last couple of months I’ve been switching things up a little. I’m still working with start-ups & entrepreneurs, but I’ve also started taking on some corporate clients & bigger brands.
If I’m honest, I’m still feeling like the little kid on the big kid's playground, but holy smokes it’s fun. I’m learning heaps & totally geeking out on how branding looks & feels when it goes to the next level.
Around this time last year, when I was totally immersed in back to back episodes of Mad Men (yep, I was reallllly late to that party haha), I realised I wanted to take a peek into the agency world. I wanted to step up my game and gain some more experience. And in the last 6 months (it most definitely didn’t happen straight away) I’ve had some epic opportunities to work alongside other super creative folks on building big brands.
And here’s something interesting I learnt: Even the big guys need some help when it comes to brand clarity. Sure, they’ve built big businesses, and sure, they’re not having to hustle quite as hard as the start-ups to get attention. But the mistakes they’re making? The challenges they’re facing?
They all come down to the same thing: Lack of brand clarity.
I’ve been totally blown away by some of the bigger companies I’m working with, who’ve hit some serious speed bumps because they’ve never really taken the time to understand their values, to get to the bottom of their why, to craft their why, to know their people & to learn how to build an experience around all of those things.
And I’ve been insanely excited to see what happens when they start putting in the work. Teams get reignited. New strategies fall into place. Rad ideas start showing up. Everyone has a sense of who they are as a company and where they are going. People are stoked again.
So I guess I wrote this today to make you think a little. To remind you that sometimes it’s worth taking the time to build the foundations. Sure, it might not feel as sexy as throwing up walls in your new house, or picking out furniture but holy smokes, your house is going to stick around a lot longer (and you’re going to feel a whole lot more confident) if you’ve got some solid foundations underfoot.