I love the cartoon above because it helps illustrate a point that is often lost on a lot of people: the point is that depending on where you are standing or coming from, your view of any situation is going to be entirely different.
That’s often tough for people to understand because it is often easy to think that our way of thinking is so logical that it would be stupid to think any other way.
Which is wrong on so many levels, but that’s probably a post for a different day.
The bigger point for today is about the brand you have built for your company.
I do a lot of work with sports teams and I got into this conversation with the CMO of a NFL team recently, who shared that the big differentiator for his team and his team’s brand is that they have a specific point of view.
I thought that was great that he got it and also thought it was ridiculous that I had to think that was great because to me having a POV is just an obvious thing that every brand should have.
But not every brand does, and so I continue to be able to get people to hire me for my idea on this topic!
So thank you for that!
But the question is, Does your brand have a POV?
Or, have you fallen into the common trap of just doing one of these moves: “I’m with them!”
Which means you are just tagging along with everyone else, right or wrong.
How do you know whether or not you have a solid brand POV or not?
Here’s a few steps:
1. Are you covering new ground from a unique perspective or are you just parroting what everyone else is saying?
You know while we are on the topic of sports, this happens a lot because a lot of sports brands want to be best in class…not world class. And, that leads a lot of teams and people to just keep retreading the same ideas and the same business models, whether or not they work or not.
Why?
Because they are safe.
If you are in that situation where you are just staying within the norm, you likely don’t have a strong POV.
2. Does your brand own a particular word or idea in your market’s mind?
Apple used to use a slogan: “It just works!”
Which really stood in for the idea that Apple was simple, but advanced.
When I talk to people, they know we talk revenue.
Does your company have the same situation going on? Or, are you all over the place and trying to be too many things to too many audiences?
If you are, you likely don’t have a strong brand POV!
3. Is there a particular voice that your brand uses to express its ideas:
Lately I have been covering a lot of ground on bad sales emails on LinkedIn and in doing that, I think I developed a new voice, one that is much more consistent with who I am.
But let’s look at the world of beer, have any of you picked up a bottle of Stone beer?
If you have, you know that their copy comes across in a specific voice and it isn’t for everyone.
Just like the voice I have developed here over the years, the Stone voice is unique and specific.
If your brand voice isn’t particular and uniquely yours, you likely don’t have a strong brand POV.