Unlock your brand mindset

The world is moving incredibly fast.

Every day, established brands launch new products and deploy campaigns that promote them on millions of platforms available to reach billions of customers. And every day, thousands of entrepreneurs are readying new businesses to launch new products to compete with those established companies.

It’s getting crowded for brands out there, so in order to succeed (or survive) you must make the right decisions, and for that, you need the right mindset.

In my opinion, the brand mindset.

I believe that the brand mindset is a superpower business leaders already have, but few of them harness it. When I explain to entrepreneurs what I do as a brand consultant, I usually describe myself as Edna Mode, the peculiar character from Disney-Pixar's “The Incredibles”, because I am here to help them unleash that superpower.

It’s not my place to explain the science behind having the right mindset. For that, you can trust legend Carol S. Dweck and her book “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success”.?

In my terms, the brand mindset is a set of principles, beliefs, and attitudes that shape the critical thinking behind your brand known as brand-led thinking.

Having one is extremely powerful because it facilitates the decision-making process and accelerates your brand strategy.

A brand strategy is an overarching plan to create meaning systems that influence how people feel about your product, service, or organization. It’s an essential element to building a business, one of the most important levers a company can have.

Brand strategy thrives with the brand mindset.?

Think of the brand mindset as the software you install in the hardware, your brand strategy. You don’t change your computer all the time, you keep it for years. But you constantly update it in order to operate smoothly and to integrate more functionalities. Same thing here, you build a strategy to provide the right direction to achieve your goals over the years, and then you leverage the mindset to drive your business and team forward.

If you didn’t get or like the techie analogy, here’s another one.?

Your brand strategy is the resource, and having a brand mindset is you being resourceful.

In times of crisis, your brand mindset will allow you to make smarter decisions, avoid stagnation, and correct the course. And in times of opportunity, it will accelerate your business and reinforce your chances of growing.

In both cases, it will help you stick to the plan.

When I meet with leaders and we start talking about their business, I can instantly realize if they surface a brand mindset or not. I do it by scanning certain characteristics that I define as the 6 traits of the brand mindset.

Here they are:?

Self-awareness

You know what you stand for and your informed worldview is shared by your team. You have a purpose and core values that drive you to commit to your mission and achieve your vision. You understand the context of your business and the strengths and weaknesses of your company. At the same time, you also understand what your business is not. Bonus points if you are data-driven.

Customer-centricity

Your decisions are made with your customers at the center of everything. You know who are you here to serve to an obsessive level of detail, especially what is the problem you solve for them. You regularly run some form of research to make that image more accurate and then make changes to your operation to adapt it according to the learnings. Bonus points if you conduct customer interviews to understand firsthand what they think or feel.

Long-term thinking

You have a convincing take on the future of your business -years ahead- and that direction defines what you do in the short term. You show resilience to tackle the obstacles in your path and show patience, accepting you are here for the long run without becoming annoyed or anxious. Bonus points if you are attentive to market trends and practice some form of strategic foresight.

Clarity

You know what makes your offer unique and what value you provide to your customers. The position of your brand in the marketplace is indisputably clear and you have a tangible plan to express it to anyone, anywhere, anytime. That’s right, you know what to say, where to say it, and to whom. Bonus points if you defined a framework to make sure everyone is aligned on what the brand means.

Inspirational

You have an engaging story to tell about how you can help your customers thrive. You built a working culture that is so innovative and empowering that people inside the organization aspire to grow and people outside want in. You run a responsible business because you are here for the good of humankind and the planet, and make consistent efforts to unite everyone behind a cause. Bonus points if you have an understanding of who the main characters in your brand story are.

Experiential

You have the intention to consistently surround your customers with a branded expression that fosters positive feelings about your business and creates a halo effect. You develop a brand identity for all senses (sight, hearing, touch, smell, taste) and all touch points possible, so every connection is memorable. Bonus points if you can describe the emotions your experiences are supposed to evoke.

The 6 traits of a brand mindset are not things from another planet, as you probably noticed.

Every business leader has them hidden somewhere.

Yes, you have them with you and I encourage you to unleash them.?

I urge you to unlock your brand mindset because having one is like having a superpower.

If you use it badly, you will become the villain. But if you use it right, you’ll become the superhero that brings real good to the world.

The superhero that saves the day for your customers.

And you’ll become my superhero too.