Before you read on…
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I am wildly inspired by people who come up with an idea, build something, throw it out into the world, and hope for the best without knowing what lies ahead. I love an underdog who dares to dream big dreams.
Take J.K. Rowling for example, even if you’re not a Potterhead just go with me on this… For five years (5 YEARS!) after the little boy wizard strolled, fully formed, into her writer’s mind’s eye, she worked on the stories of Harry Potter. Did she suspect the massive brand that would be born from her words? I suspect not.
I wonder if she questioned whether parents would spend actual British pounds for an actual book with pages and no pictures? Did it rattle around in her middle-of-the-night-brain whether the children these stories were intended for would actually read them in this day and age of screen-driven short attention span?
Spoiler alert: Yes! It turned out that readers of all ages would spend all manner of real dollars to immerse themselves in the wizarding world that lay just beyond the reach of mere Muggles.
The backbone and courage it takes to dream, build, launch, and grow a brand of any kind is tremendous. Doing it without chickening out is #goals for an Enneagram 2 (wing 3) like me. We’ll definitely talk more about that another time.
Here are a couple of things that keep me going:
Success is not just luck.
We don’t have to jump without a parachute.
Now, I know you’re reading that thinking, what in the actual heck is she talking about? I know, I know, sometimes the rah rah talk gets to be a little much, but let me paint you a picture.
Imagine for a moment that you are the wildly adventurous type that seeks the thrill and adrenaline rush of jumping out of a perfectly good airplane. (This is decidedly not me, you understand, but it works for this analogy.) You would probably look for a reputable plane, pilot, tandem jumper, and a triple-checked parachute right?
It would be absolute madness to just decide you want to skydive, go up in any old plane, on any old day, with any old pilot, fling open the door, take a flying leap, and hope for the best on the way down.
In business, your brand blueprint is the parachute.
Don’t jump without it.
The smart skydiver does the research, does the prep, and triple-checks that parachute. Their successful jumps aren’t left only to luck.
So it goes in business. Take the time and do the work to detail your brand blueprint aside and apart from the fun and excitement that comes with logo design, font families, color palettes, and website design.
The first three parts of your brand blueprint are your mission, vision, and values. It sounds simple, but remember, simple doesn’t necessarily mean easy. Invest the time and reap the benefits down the road.
Mission Statement
Your mission statement describes what you do for your customers. Your mission statement must be clear and action-oriented to remain useful in your operations instead of being relegated to a policy that lives in a filing cabinet or on a wall plaque.
Ask yourself these questions:
- What do your customers pay you to do?
- What does working with you get them?
- How do you do it?
Remember Jerry McGuire? Putting pen to paper for his mission statement led to a massive shift in professional and personal success, all because he had the courage to champion a different and better way of representing professional athletes. More personal attention. Fewer clients.
What’s yours? Can you clearly articulate it to someone who doesn’t already know you?
Vision Statement
Let’s take that idea a step further and you can start to see why Jerry’s mission statement looked more like an essay. A brand’s vision statement puts words around what it hopes to be in the future. It’s your chance to dream big about the real and lasting impact you could make on your audiences.
Ask yourself this question:
What is the dream that keeps tugging at your heart and firing up your imagination?
In other words, if you could meet 1-year, 5-years, or 10-years-from-now- you, what would massive success look like?
Brand Values
A brand’s values statement are the documented beliefs that a company stands behind and should always serve as the true north when a difficult decision needs to be made.
Southwest Airlines comes to mind as an example of a company with strong brand values whose customer experience and day-to-day operations are obvious proof.
Storytime… For a lot of years, I was a frequent business traveler, living in a mid-size air market. I am extremely well-versed in the nonsense that comes with living in a city that doesn’t have a lot of nonstop flights and almost always includes a connection in a major hub (I’m looking at you, Dallas). I have encountered almost every kind of air travel problem out there, and I’ve been known to make my own routes to get from Lubbock, TX, to wherever so I could fly Southwest Airlines.
They value service and friendliness possibly above all else. With that in place, their support personnel are not only empowered but encouraged to go out of their way to delight passengers and celebrate when they make meaningful, friendly connections with others. Do you know what they get in return?
BRAND LOYALTY.
REPEAT BUSINESS.
WORD-OF-MOUTH ENDORSEMENT.
In other words, they get me. They get an ambassador who will intentionally choose a longer travel day instead of flying a competitor and encountering a terrible experience, they get.
I guess if I HAD to jump out of a plane, I’d probably make sure it was a Southwest Airlines skydiving plane. No, that’s not a thing, but you get my point.
Now, it’s your turn:
- What non-negotiable beliefs do you have that guide the way you do business?
- Thinking of some brands you love, define the values they display that you admire and might want to emulate.
The backbone and courage it takes to dream, build, launch, and grow a brand of any kind is tremendous. Doing it without chickening out is a damn miracle. Yet, here we are and I’ll say it again: success is not just luck and we don’t have to jump without a parachute.
Great stuff takes time and preparation. Do the work and let’s jump!
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Cheers!