Andy Whitlock on LinkedIn: 'How to make sure your brand strategist isn’t a numpty' Three to four… | 13 comments

The second assumption is just as dangerous: it is the dangerously linear assumption that the best way to build a brand is to set out to build a brand. I really don’t believe this. I think if you set out to build a great business, you’ll stand a fair chance of building a great brand. I am not equally confident that someone aspiring to build a great

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That is: A person — often a founder, or someone similarly empowered — needs to have compelling ideas, establish a voice and perspective, and use it. Tools like brand books and style guides are important so agencies and partners know how to speak the same language. But the actual opinions and values can’t be algorithmically generated or offloaded to... See more

ompanies are focused on building products rather than brands. A product is something made in a factory. A brand is something made in the mind. To be successful today, you have to build brands, not products. And you build brands by using positioning strategies, starting with a good name.

Messaging versus positioning: they are distinct, and positioning is the fundamental input to the messaging.

- What’s surprising for many people, she says, is that marketing is actually highly tactical. There are frameworks and distinct steps founders can take to define what their company is doing, why it’s important, and why — above all the noise — people should listen to them. - How to Position Your Business - “You can't be everything to everyone, but y... See more