"Mission statements are not business goals," --a thousand times yes! It can be huge impact to reframe "business goal missions" around what we're doing for real people and collectively, the world.
Brand as "compound interest" is a great metaphor. Brands are only built over time and with consistent ongoing delivery, so the sooner you start showing up in the best intentional way, the better (stronger, and less expensive to impact).
Exactly! And sometimes we have to put brand language into words people already understand… so much of being a brand leader is translating brand to business and helping people see how it clearly fits in with what they’re already working towards or trying to achieve.
I really like the idea of hiring a brand specialist as step one, and letting them take on the task of hiring an agency or getting the marketing going.
At my current startup we tried doing marketing before we had an evolved and cohesive brand... and frankly those early marketing efforts were embarrassing. Which was my own fault.
Finally we got our brand specialist, and our new brand, and now marketing feels not only easy but in some sense natural: we already know what we want to say, so we don't have to think of it as we go.
I love this as an example! In tech it’s not a popular opinion, but I think it’s because people haven’t really examined the default. People rush to scale up ads without really analyzing the landscape or considering what they’re competing against. Your last point is killer—you did the foundational work which unlocks the success of everything that follows.
So many important ideas in here!
What stands out to me:
"Mission statements are not business goals," --a thousand times yes! It can be huge impact to reframe "business goal missions" around what we're doing for real people and collectively, the world.
Brand as "compound interest" is a great metaphor. Brands are only built over time and with consistent ongoing delivery, so the sooner you start showing up in the best intentional way, the better (stronger, and less expensive to impact).
Exactly! And sometimes we have to put brand language into words people already understand… so much of being a brand leader is translating brand to business and helping people see how it clearly fits in with what they’re already working towards or trying to achieve.
I really like the idea of hiring a brand specialist as step one, and letting them take on the task of hiring an agency or getting the marketing going.
At my current startup we tried doing marketing before we had an evolved and cohesive brand... and frankly those early marketing efforts were embarrassing. Which was my own fault.
Finally we got our brand specialist, and our new brand, and now marketing feels not only easy but in some sense natural: we already know what we want to say, so we don't have to think of it as we go.
I love this as an example! In tech it’s not a popular opinion, but I think it’s because people haven’t really examined the default. People rush to scale up ads without really analyzing the landscape or considering what they’re competing against. Your last point is killer—you did the foundational work which unlocks the success of everything that follows.