5 Ways to Free Your Mind During Brand Development

When doing brand development, whether for a new brand  or a brand refresh, it’s important to get yourself in the right frame of mind in order to maximize your creative potential. After all, brand development/refresh work is some of the most important work an organization’s marketing team will ever do because your brand’s DNA is at the heart of all communication and engagement.

But “branding” isn’t just coming up with “good creative.” It’s much more than what most people would call the “creative” (taglines, identities, etc.). It’s the Mental Model, market position, values, promises, etc. There’s a lot to consider if you want a brand platform that is going to be relevant for many years to come. And this becomes increasingly difficult as you progress in the brand development/refresh process—you’ll likely see the potential for several approaches for your brand. Choosing the right path can be quite subjective!

Having been through this process many times, I’ve learned that you have to free your mind before and during this process if you’re to have any hope at getting it right. Over the years my team and I have come up with a few ways to help make this happen.

How to Free Your Mind During Brand Development

1. Get Your Ego Out of the Way
   Being an individual with your own tastes, interests, hobbies, likes, and dislikes should be celebrated among your team. BUT these personal nuances have very little importance in the brand development process. You may think that “intentional grounding” is a military protocol, RG3 is an energy drink, and football fans have limited IQs. That’s OK. Just don’t let those opinions bias you in the creative process. Remember, you are not your customer.
2. Don’t Complicate Your Target Audience
   I can’t tell you how many times I hear, “We can’t do that—our industry is very different than most.” Last time I checked, we’re all still selling to human beings, right? Your industry may have its nuances (buying cycles, purchase motivations, regulatory considerations, marketplace options, etc.), but it’s still made up of human beings that share a lot of the same worries, frustrations, and insecurities as every other human being. They’re all wishing they could make more money, earn more recognition, lose weight, have more sex, and buy more crap. When you’re responsible for developing a brand, make it a point to be a student of human behavior and don’t over-complicate your target audience with phantom attributes.
3. Understand That There are Boundaries
   So often we hear people say, “Come on, gang! Let’s think outside the box, here! Let’s get creative with our brand!” While this enthusiasm should be applauded, it can often be misguided. While we would all love to be “outside the box thinkers,” the reality is that your brand can only be what it has the potential to be. That is, your organization’s people and culture create a set of limitations for your brand. You have to ensure that you deeply understand your organization’s culture and its limitations if you’re going to create an authentic brand. We often call these limitations “the fence posts” because they, literally, fence us in to an area of reality, which is a good thing.
4. Give Yourself and Your Team Time
   Time and time again, I’ve found that the Mental Models, market positions, taglines, etc. we’ve developed come to us when we’re in the shower, having dinner at a restaurant, shopping at the grocery store, etc. That’s because the creative output doesn’t always (in fact, rarely) happen during scheduled strategy/creative meetings. I won’t attempt to get into explaining how creativity happens in the brain, but I will say that almost all of your “creative problem solving” happens at the sub-conscious level (when you’re conscious brain is focused on something else). Becuase of this, you need to give yourself and your team time. Don’t expect the creative gems will arise during a planned strategy/creative meeting. Instead, still plan and hold your strategy/creative meetings, but make sure to allow for several meetings and enough time between meetings.
5. Think Beyond Your Products
   If you’re ever going to create a brand for the ages, you’ll need to think beyond your products. Remember, your brand is supposed to be a concept, an idea. Let me help make this a bit more clear. For example, if you say your brand is about being in the business of “building custom homes,” you have a product. However, if you say your brand is about being in the business of “making people’s housing dreams come true,” you have a concept. Without a concept, your brand is limited by the boundaries of the product and, thus, on its way to being a commodity. With a solid concept, your brand is liberated and able to become greater than the product, giving you the ability to innovate for years to come.