Russian dolls and heretical questions

can help you solve your branding issues…

Here’s how:

First look at the default way businesses operate with branding- They follow trends, new technology, and industry norms. 

Why?

Because this is an easy way of delegating operations and marketing budgets. No real clarity is needed as others have done it for you.

But not only is this unsustainable but is a rat race to the bottom.

The chase to have the fanciest Tikok, the most money spent on Facebook ads, and outsourcing all work to cheap labour.

You have to make an active decision against that.

You need to play your own game.

But how do you do this?

You need to ask heretical questions.

Sound odd? Let me explain.

When someone has more money, time, and resources than you- ideas are what set you apart.

They are the thing that differentiates good from great. Get good at idea generation and you can bypass shortages elsewhere because 90% of the value is in the idea not in the delivery.

But getting these innovative, new ideas is easier said than done.

*In steps our Russian doll.

You need ridiculous (and often awkward) conversations that lead to these ideas that can’t be ignored.

Good questions can generate fresh perspectives that no money could ever buy.

But people aren’t brave enough.

Like the doll, there are big, easy questions all businesses deal with.

People solve these as it keeps them feeling productive and because everyone else does the same in their industry they don’t change.

Good brands can step a bit deeper by uncovering another layer of their brand identity through difficult questioning.

But rarely does anyone ask the awkward or even the heretical.

Why?

Because it disrupts, causes inconvenience, or offends.

These are the questions that when you ask, could shake the entire structure of any organisation.

You can avoid the intimate, heretical questions but that doesn’t mean you avoid the effects. Another brand will simply dictate the outcome of your business for you because they got clear and had the tough conversations.

It is the reason why Facebook hires people to expose their vulnerabilities:

“If we don’t create the thing that kills Facebook, someone else will”

Here are a few heretical questions that if you answer could reshape your brand and allow you to play your own game:

• What are you doing that undermines your value proposition?

• How would you put yourself out of business if you were a competitor?

• What is the elephant in the room you are scared of talking about?

• What is a bold action you could be taking but aren’t, and why?

• Do you really encourage people to ask hard questions?

Remember:

The best way to protect your house is to lose your own keys. Once you need to break in, you look at the weaknesses in a new way.