5 brand tips for founders

1. Seek clarity not distinction

The most frequent problem we encounter is a brand hunting for distinction by looking for gaps in market. Looking for a new hot take on an old product. Fine if it leads to a genuine product idea. But, all too often we find the drive for distinction clouds the issue. It can disguise an unresolved concept with a veneer of uniqueness.

Instead hunt clarity. Distill. Distill. Distill. Until the concept is singular. Only then can you begin to form a persona of distinction around it.

2. Never forget gran

No, I’m not being ageist by picking on my dear old gran Eileen. But if yours was anything like mine – a formidable, frank and loving lady who wouldn’t stand for any bullshit of the modern world. She would see through corp speak, tiktok trends, Ad-Man speak, or any other form of bullshit we’re bombarded with by the minute.

She would however cherish honesty, straightness of message, and human connection. So how would you pitch my gran? Would you brand pass the BS test? Is your narrative brutally clear? Plain? Human? Needed? Adding value to the world?

3. Criticise your baby

No one cares about your brand, your product, your business, or you. So don’t be shocked when a product launch fails, campaigns bomb, or people move on. Never be blindsided by it. Start to expect it.

More importantly, when developing your product or concept, you have a natural bias towards success. You love it. You believe it. You push for it’s very being. Remember you’re the odd one out. You skew the perspective. You care more than anyone ever will.

Force yourself to criticise your baby. Look with unloving eyes to determine which attributes you love because they are truly great, and which you love just because it’s your child.

As a founder, bias can be a good thing. You’ll need it for the dogged determination for success. But be self-aware so you can refine and test with objective clarity.

4. Segmentation is for suckers

Demographics, socio-economic clusters, persona profiling, brand archetypes… honestly guys it’s so dead it’s not even funny. Any agency or consultant who thinks they understand customer base by looking at a traditional audience segmentation is either completely delusional or selling snake oil. I can hear researchers or agency strategists tutting right now. But let’s all be honest – it’s in the same arena as studying zodiac signs. Probably more dangerous because most people truly believe them.

I give a real-world example from this year. A leading food brand that we collaborated with have an NPD pipeline that covers products like:

‘healthy protein breakfast’ – for high performance gen-z athletes.

A ‘convenient on the go lunch’ – for ambitious, time-poor working professionals.

A more traditional ‘centre-plate meal’ – for creative cooks and older family mid-week meals.

And an indulgent dining offer – for affluent, post family couples, looking for a weekend treat.

In their wisdom, they had a robust offer that can be marketed to different user groups at different occasions. They developed brand campaigns and propositions based on the user insight and profiling. Making a disjoined brand narrative and a thoroughly muddled attitude.

The reality was the user is just me! I grabbed a breakfast shake before the gym. Ate a quick lunch at my desk in-between calls. Fed the kids in a hurry on a Tuesday night. Then got something else for me and my fair lady.

Just me. Living life. Not four different people in neat brackets. One human, different needs.

Stop reading star signs and state your offer to the world. People use you how they need you. That’s all.

5. Brand isn’t quarterly!

This isn’t mine. Plenty of people take this view, but I heard the sentiment first in a Steve Jobs clip – that his biggest retrospective learning from Apple was to measure impact over years and decades. Not quarters. Whether that be product success, design behaviours, brand, or most importantly people. Understanding real growth, change, and value, comes by taking a long view.

6. Brand > product!

Ok, I’m a brand person so this will come across as biased. But look at the tangible measures of brand value versus product value. Would you rather have shares in Innocent or SunnyD? In Patagonia or Regatta? In Monzo or HSBC? All typical product brands, but the true growth and value is in smashing the product ceiling and becoming an attitudinal brand.

Why? Product has utility. Brand has memory, familiarity, trust, and loyalty.

7. Noise ≠ value!

Don’t swoon over your own noise. This world is eager to tell you how great you are with likes, impressions, shares, and penetration. These can help validate marketing campaign spend or gather user data. Just don’t become a slave to tracking noise. It can lead to a false reading – a veneer of success that rarely translates to real value or sustainable growth.

I’m certainly not a traditionalist. But for measuring growth, traditional figures are much more revealing and accurate. Unprompted brand recall, repeat customer ratios, sales growth beyond general category growth. Real measures that are not skewed by Mark’s algorithm.

Ok that’s more than five. There’s surely hundreds more. But that’s kind of the point. It’s multifaceted and never a set formula. We’re all learning. So create how you want. But go all in!