The positioning<>brand connection
Brand is fun. But it's also a strategic investment.
Hi friends,
I like to say that you brand is your positioning incarnate. In my mind, they’re two sides of the same coin.
I say this, because when I worked in house at Hiber under the greatest creative director I’ve ever met, I saw first-hand how it worked. Our value proposition was to make IoT simple — so everything about the brand screamed simplicity. I wasn’t even allowed to use em dashes because it created complexity. He cared about the details.
The result was that Hiber became an Amsterdam darling. I was proud to work there. It was projected to be the next Dutch unicorn. It was a hot place to be. When the company eventually started an acquisition process, brand was a huge lever in the valuation.
It was easy for people to understand our value compared to the competition. In fact, it was fucking obvious from the moment you looked at the site. And I genuinely believe that obviousness helped us get more phone calls with behemoth multinationals — even when we were selling something totally new to the market.
Five years away from that experience, I still believe this is true. In fact, I’m even more bullish in my opinion that brand IS strategy — not “vibes”.
It’s where the rubber meets the road. Where your 35-page “strategy” actually has to perform in a 20-character headline.
It’s about creating a memorable personality, sure. But it’s also about giving your message a voice, and subconsciously reminding people of where you stand in a crowded market.
If you use brand strategically (and are *consistent* with it), it basically gives your marketing superpowers.
❤️ You become more trustworthy.
⭐ You stand out from the crowd.
💌 You create an emotional connection.
😎 You become recognizable.
💸 You can literally become more valuable.
See where I'm going?
So yes, brand is about ~~feelings~~
But it's also a business-critical investment. One that can have outsized returns (to the tune of 10-20% increases in revenue, according to a 2021 report from Marq)
When you think about it that way…
… kind of silly to treat it like an afterthought, right?
Pssst. Want some help building a brand that makes your unique value obvious? I’ve just launched BrandStack — a new agency that helps post-PMF B2Bs do exactly that.
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I have read so many hot takes this week about AI I think my head is going to explode. So instead of any business content, here’s other stuff that I think you might find interesting.
I’m newly obsessed with The Running Channel on Youtube.
Did you know you can watch full episodes of Mythbusters for free?
Olivia Rodrigo’s Glastonbury performance of All American Bitch. This thing is a songwriting masterpiece. And Rodrigo and her band know how to put on a show.
I read The Book Thief for the first time in 20 years and WOW this hits differently in the age of MAGA.
