I think we can both agree that roses are all sorts of different colours, violets are actually violet, and a brand without diamond-standard clarity feels like a brain tornado.
The thing about brain tornadoes is they whisk up all sorts of self-doubts we don’t like and questions we can’t answer and then making smart business decisions becomes so hard we seek to outsource them, inevitably, to someone who doesn’t know our business half as well as we do.
Which makes approximately zero sense.
If this happens (ahem, when this happens), there’s a little brand values trick you can try to first ground you and then guide you.
Choosing your brand values is the kind of exercise we’re told we “must” do as part of our brand strategy. And while brand values are important… the standard exercise is stale as last week’s leftover sourdough. And what kind of person would let good sourdough go stale?
You’ve probably done some version of this exercise before. (Maybe it feels like you’ve done it 347 times.) If I asked what your brand values were, you’d probably give me a list of about 5 words. These could include words like:
Transparent
Freedom
Collaborative
Playful
Innovative
Quirky
Simple
Etc etc
Having a list of words is a good first step, but the problem is they have too much scope and not enough context.
>> You want your brand to be original…
But anyone could pluck these words from a list.
>> You want your brand to be one-of-a-kind…
But there’s nothing unique about these words themselves.
>> You want your brand to be memorable…
But these words on their own lack specificity.
While a list of words can go some way to get you clearer on what’s truly important, they need to go so much further than that if they’re to get you clearer on what decision to make.
That’s where the two-word trick comes in.
“But not.”
This… but not… that.
Add those two tiny words into the mix and suddenly you can turn a vague one-word value into a much clearer signpost for your whole brand and business.
Transparent… but not oversharing
So when you’re wondering whether to write a piece of vulnerable content, you focus it on an issue you’ve already worked through, not one you’re working through right now.
Freedom… but not complacent
So when you want to switch to working three days a week because your systems are doing their job, you still carve out time and energy to perfect the service or program you’re delivering.
Collaborative… but not people pleasing
So when you’re asked to take part in a summit run by someone you admire, but you hate summits, you confidently say no.
Playful… but not overly familiar
So when you’re connecting with your audience on social media, you have fun while being firm about your “no FB messages” boundary.
Innovative… but not unnecessarily complicated
So when you come up with an awesome new idea for a training that nobody in your industry has done, you strip it back to the core transformation rather than turning it into an 8-week course.
Quirky… but not off the wall
So when you want to inject more “you-ness” into your brand, you don’t feel pressure to be brash, bold, or irreverent with your communications if it doesn’t feel aligned with your real personality.
Simple… but not ever boring
So when you decide to have only one lead magnet, one email funnel, one signature service, or one marketing platform, you make sure all your content has both educational value and entertainment or emotional value (or both).
Try it – and let me know if it helps!
Because the fewer brain tornadoes you have, the more space becomes available for lightbulb moments.
0 Comments