Creativity and Brand Courage

Posted by Rahna on August 26, 2010 under Branding, Personal Branding | Be the First to Comment

Do you have the guts to build your brand? 

Branding takes courage, because it requires that you make some hard decisions about what you are…and what you are not.  The decisions about what you are not are the hardest to make.  You have to be willing to wrench away what is not serving you in the long-term development of your brand and sometimes, that can feel like you are cutting off your arm.

But take heart.  You can find the courage to build your brand magnificently, by looking at examples from other areas of life.

Architecture.  Editing. Gardening. Sculpture. Music.

What do these creative endeavors all have in common?  Minimalistic courage.  The courage to declare what they are not. 

Less is more: My husband is an architect and a big proponent of the “less is more” concept made famous by Mies van der Rohe.  You need to use this concept in building your brand.  Your brand doesn’t need to be all things to all people.  As a matter of fact, the more your brand tries to be all things to all people, the more you will water down your brand message.  Be single-minded in your focus, and that will clarify your brand.

Use The Red Pen: Haven’t you ever struggled with an email communication and finally found that deleting one extraneous sentence made all the difference in the world?  The resulting missive was crystal-clear in its communication and just exactly what you wanted to say?  The same applies to your brand.  Be crystal-clear in communicating your brand to your target audience by editing out what doesn’t need to be said.

Focus Your Energies: In gardening, you “dead-head” spent blooms and prune your flowers of the smaller, less significant buds in order to direct all the energy of a plant to creating fewer larger (more stunning) blooms.  Do the same in your own  business or your own brand.    If you are a corporate brand manager, ask yourself, “What product groups are really not conveying our core brand message?  What lines are draining our resources, taking away from our energies for where we want to go, not where we have been?”  If you are an individual, take stock of your daily activities and ask yourself, “What am I doing that is draining my energy and distracting me from where I want to go and who I want to become?” 

See Your Brand Vision:  Have the courage to hack away that which is not serving you or your brand.  When Michelangelo looked at a block of marble, he “saw” the form inside, waiting to be released.  His job as the sculptor was to hack away, peeling back the marble that was not part of the form.   Because he had a very clear vision of what the form was, it was easy for him to eliminate all “unnecessary “ parts of the marble.  Have the courage of Michelangelo and chip away at anything that is not serving by developing a very clear image of your brand future.  Anything that isn’t contributing to that future needs to be eliminated.

Harmonize:  There is a fine line between streamlining and becoming a “one-trick” pony.  Really take the time to identify what is the noise and what is the music of your life.  When a two year old bangs on a piano, it is a noisy (although perhaps energetic) affair.  A musician wants to create melodies and harmonies, not noise and dissonance.  So s/he will start with a main idea (the melody) and add other notes to support and enhance the song (the harmonies).  There are lots of notes, but the composer is still discerning in his/her choices.  Not all notes are there.   Choose the right notes for your brand.  What will harmonize with your brand most effectively?

Branding is a creative effort and requires you to express both courage and creativity.  Anyone who has heard me talk knows that I am an advocate for being bold in your branding efforts.  You cannot take a “halting and half-way” position in building your brand.  Be bold.  Be brutal.  Be creative.  Be courageous.

Brand yourself, your company, your products courageously.