How Do You Define a Brand?

Start by Asking a Different Question

Most of the traditional methods for defining a brand are based on the idea that a brand is made up of a collection of attributes, among which include; a brand’s purpose, positioning, values, vision, personality, voice and visual identity.

The use of these attributes helps us to make sense of what is an inherently amorphous concept. They provide us with a set of tangible traits from which to start building the intangible.

While these concepts have their value, the process of compartmentalizing brands into standardized parts doesn’t typically lend itself to breakthrough brand strategy.

And when we’re too invested in a particular framework or best practice, we are likely to miss out on the messy, sometimes meandering work involved in creating something truly impactful.

So as I set out to offer an alternative “process” for “How to Define a Brand”, I knew I wanted to leave plenty of space for deviation.

But the more determined I was to answer this question, the more I found myself stuck in a rut of the very thing I wanted to avoid — adding yet another assembly-line branding process to the hundreds that already exist.

Until finally, it occurred to me that maybe it was the question I was asking that was blocking me from the better answer.

Harvard Business School marketing professor Theodore Levitt famously observed that, ‘people don’t want to buy a quarter-inch drill. They want a quarter-inch hole.’

This was the central tenet to what came to be knows as the Jobs-To-Be-Done theory. It asserted that if we can understand the real job our customers want filled, we can make better products and know how to better market them.

One of the things I find most helpful about the JTBD theory is that it contextualizes products by how they help people accomplish a goal (or “job”).

So instead of the emphasis being on features, which have become increasingly indistinguishable, a product’s value is tied to the outcomes it enables.

As I searched for a new framing, I began thinking about the broader value proposition that effective brands must deliver on. We don’t need brands for the sake of brands, we need what brands make possible.

So then, what exactly is the job of a brand?

The first and most important job of a brand is to convince the right people to choose one product or service, over another.

And the second job is to reinforce those decisions — by fulfilling its initial promise and continuing to add meaningful value.

But to build an effective brand strategy, context is everything.

So I ultimately arrived at a more reflective question to replace the one I started with.

How do we compel the right people to choose us?

For clarity, I define the “right people” as the people who are most likely to see the value in a solution like yours. The people who, whether they know it yet or not, have an opening for the job you do best.

“Compelling them to choose us” means understanding all of the signals that people like them need to see, in order to be inspired enough to change their behavior. What are they looking for? What are they missing? How do they see themselves? What do they need to see to be convinced that you’re the right one for them (both initially and over time).

This is the question at the center of a hard-working, change-making, worth her weight in gold, brand strategy.

And in case you haven’t guessed it by now, this post will not be offering any templates or checklists for how you should go about answering it.

Because the answer hinges on the unique relationship between your product, the people you’re seeking to impact and the context from which they view you.

And the template for your brand lies in the unique set of traits and behaviors that are most likely to move your people (customers) towards choosing you.

As you embark on your own branding process, consider suspending everything you’ve ever been taught about what all the “best” brands do.

Replace it with this simple question and see if it frees you to move beyond what’s ‘best for every brand’, so you can discover what’s best for yours alone.

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