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 for your clients?
- Does your quality match your deepest values for standards?
Of course, you have to consider the cost of these things. But are you giving a good balance of these things, constantly working toward a better customer/client value and value for yourself?
The key thing to realize here is that you don’t have to build a grand, world-changing brand to be meaningful. It’s enough to be where you are, doing what you love, for people you care about, for the right reasons. Because that’s what a brand is made of. The challenge, of course, is expressing that brand. But if you already are living out Your brand, saying it is the easy part. Because people can tell who you are by what you do.
3 Steps Toward a Bottom-Up Brand Definition
So how do you discover your brand from the ground up? Maybe you can find your heart in what you do? As they say “Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.”
- Products/Services. List your products or services. Think about what’s in it for your clients. How does buying your stuff make them a better version of themselves?
- Let’s talk about the reason that you’re so excited and encouraged when people buy what you offer. Why is the product or service so good for them, and why do you care?
- Let’s take the other side. Why are you so frustrated when people don’t do the things you suggest? Is your reasoning about you, or is it about them?
Now, write it up. Call it a manifesto, a rant, whatever. Talk about what you care about, now that you’ve thought through these things. Complain, gripe, but make sure you eventually arrive at your “why.” Because your “why” give you the positive thing you’re fighting for that allows you to test everything else.
Your why is bigger than your brand. But maybe you can look at the things you do and find that you’ve been connecting people with a bigger “why” all along.
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