You buy values with action, not words. You don’t own values just because you put them on your wall or think they’re a nice idea. You own them when they work. So let’s learn how to put your values to work every day and build your brand. Your brand’s values work in your company before Read More
Topics
4 Ways to Build Your Brand From the Inside Out
Your brand translates your values and gives you a stronger personality in the world. This involves both actions and words. To put it another way, your brand’s values turn nice thoughts into both actions and the words that show the values behind those actions. And where better to begin than to solidify your brand than Read More
4 Questions to Right-Size Your Branding Effort
In the article that Mike wrote, we talked about the three objections to branding. His article shows us that not everyone is at the exact place to brand, and not every company needs a lot of branding. It can be a waste of money in some cases. Let’s talk about when it is and when Read More
The 3 Most Legitimate Objections to Branding
We routinely talk about the importance of branding. But how do we push this understanding deeper? Maybe even deep enough to make it practical and clear in your specific business? Understanding comes from allowing the biggest arguments against your position to land with full force, separating logic from emotion and then dealing with them in Read More
2 Weeks to Turn Brand Values into Accountabilities
Branding is impractical, right? It sounds great in theory, but in reality, it’s all vague and touchy-feely. But what if I told you there’s a clear, everyday process you could execute in the next two weeks with your team that will help you become more interesting and remove hypocrisy (when your company says it believes Read More
The Costs of Greatness
Building a great brand doesn’t happen by accident. It doesn’t come easily to anyone. It’s hard work and requires an almost inhumane level of commitment to values in service to a bigger “why.” Most people aren’t willing to do the work. That’s why so many brands fall flat. But for those of us who are Read More
Discover Your Brand’s “Why” in 1 Hour
Your why is bigger than your brand. But as grand as that is, your why can sometimes be discovered by what you do, what you buy and what you sell. Do your hires represent your values? Do your products reflect your beliefs about what’s best for your customers? Do your services reflect your best intentions Read More
Your Brand is Not Your “Why”
Everyone is trying to understand brand, constantly looking for new ways to express it. One model is to think of a brand as a “person.” And this may be a helpful model. But like all models, it can’t be true in every sense. While a person may be all about him or herself, a brand, Read More
Find Yourself: 2.5 Steps to Quick Brand Wins
Brand alignment is about finding yourself. But we don’t mean a new-age/hippie inner voyage. We mean testing your brand by what you actually do. Here’s a way to do that today. You don’t need to be in college to go on a journey of self-discovery (if you’re smart, you’re doing it your whole life). However, Read More
How The Right Constraints Give Direction and Bring Freedom to a Brand
A fish isn’t free in the sky or on the ground. A fish isn’t free on a mountain or in the desert. A fish is only free within certain environments. Oceans, rivers, streams and ponds are the places in which fish can flourish and be free. But even then, not every fish is free in Read More
