brand strategy and storyline series 10 · January 25, 2023
What Comes First, Purpose or Position?
Both are essential, and here are six steps to get you there.
“Brand purpose is your brand’s superpower” -Karen Bailey.
Your brand purpose and positioning are intertwined; one cannot exist without the other. Your customers and potential customers may not be able to differentiate between the two, but they connect to both, and most importantly, they purchase based on both.
To answer the question, though, purpose comes before positioning because the why always comes before the how. You must move through six steps to discover, build, and set your purpose and positioning. The first three steps are The Inspired, and the final three sets are The Decisive.
This work will be some of the hardest yet best work your team will ever do. It’s where your brand's heart, head, and guts get established. If done right, your business and brand will grow and thrive for years.
THE INSPIRED STEPS
These form the foundation for your brand’s heart and empower your organization.
- What do you believe? Brands are built on beliefs. This is the first step to defining what you stand for and will drive everything else. Your beliefs come from your heart and soul, where everyone connects deeply, and most importantly, your customers will share these beliefs. Keep the list focused; around 3-5 beliefs work well.
- What do you value? This step is essential to do it right because your values drive your culture, operations, customer experience, and how you earn your money.
- What is Your Purpose? What is the main reason for your brand’s existence? Not to maximize shareholder value or grow market share. How you improve lives, the community, and the planet. As Simon Sinek says, this is your why, the source of your most profound emotional connections.
Lasting brand value is earned when people see their own values authentically reflected in the organization and choose to passionately live, breath, and share the company’s story.
–Charlena Millar
brand strategy and storyline series 10 · January 25, 2023
THE DECISIVE STEPS
These are where you make deliberate choices and stand out from others.
- What’s your vision for the future? This is what you aim to achieve and provides the framework for your brand today and tomorrow. It’s where your business strategy begins. Keep it short and straightforward, so everyone remembers. Here’s a very clear example from Ben & Jerry’s: “Making the best ice cream in the nicest possible way.”
- What is your mission? How you’ll achieve your vision. This statement articulates your aspirational customer and where your future innovations will come from.
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What is your brand’s position in the marketplace?
It’s been over forty years since Al Ries and Jack Trout first published POSITIONING:
The Battle for Your Mind, and we are still using this positioning statement today.
It forces all the choices you need to make to stand out in the market, against your competition, and with your customers.
Here’s the positioning statement that your brand must answer, deceptively simple yet challenging to complete. If you get stuck, give me a call.
For Specific Customer Description that need Customer Needs & Wants You Solve. Your Brand is a Define product or service category that How you solve their needs & desires, that’s because The reason(s) or support for how they can believe & trust. Unlike Name Competitor, we How you’re different vs. competition.
You can learn more with our free e-book. Brand Strategy—How to build a brand that grows your business for years to come. Just go to the Resources section on our website. And remember, Branding Changes Everything.
If we fail at positioning, we fail at marketing and sales. If we fail at marketing and sales, the entire business fails.
–April Dunford
