Do you really know who your business competitors are? Maybe not as much as you might think.

Could it be that you’re not really in competition with that other lot up the road?

Yes, you might make and sell the same stuff, but in terms of competition, that’s not the complete story.

It’s not even half the story.

This is why I try and persuade clients to shift their thinking – from the ‘what’ to the ‘how’. Because this will let us see and appreciate clear differences us and others.

Some people will buy from you because they like how you do things. Others will prefer the way them lot up the road there – do things.

That’s not something to worry about. On the contrary, it’s something to celebrate.

It’s knowledge and understanding that can drive our business to soaring success.

Loving your ‘how’

If we dwell too much on why those customers are choosing that competitor,  we’ll start trying to corner the entire market by trying to be ‘all things to all people.’

That’s the path to destruction.

Take this analogy.

Imagine you’re carving a sculpture. Chip, chip chip, you go, with your chisel.

There’s bits of stone flying off this big block of sandstone, going everywhere. And you start to see the shape of what you’re working to create.

Those stone chips are all over the floor. They’re the bits you don’t want. They’re what you throw away.

But they’re of vital importance in this process – because they’re what is shaping the creation.

And so it is with business branding. We are shaped by what is not important to us.

In this way, who doesn’t like us determines who does like us.

Do you see the integrity and the honesty in all of this?

It’s right there, in the centre of the #brandvalues we’ve created.

I find this thought inspiring; the purity and integrity inherent in efficacious brand development processes.

 

Next…/ The emotional power in corporate values