Brand Core: Know Your Company

A strong brand has integrity. A strong company maintains the brand's integrity by defining its message. This means more than figuring out what you want to say in order to close a sale. It means more than determining what the market wants to hear in order to make a purchase decision. Messages have to be able to change without losing their integrity. To do that, the message has to emerge from a deep understanding of your business system.

Defining your message requires a lot more subtraction than addition. Many pay lip service to the ideas of core competency, uniqueness and a strong position in the consumer's mind. Few are willing to say "No, we are not that," or "No, we don't do that." But an intense, relentless focus is a narrow focus. The more things you try to do, the fewer you can do well.

Message definition is not rocket science: the core of your brand is right there in front of you. What's hard is having the discipline to leave out all the other messages that confuse the issue and dilute your brand's identity. Those other propositions might be attractive to some consumers, but not to your customers. They might work for some companies, but not for your company. The unique message that will energize your business system is not that hard to find. What's hard is making up your mind to find it, refine it, and polish it to get rid of all the extraneous detail that accumulates like dust.