A clear frame helps people see what you want them to see first.
I often hear a business owner say at the beginning of brand strategy work, “Yes, but there are a lot of people who want x, so we want to keep doing x work, too.” Or, “We can serve all these kinds of customers.”
They are reluctant to eliminate anything or anyone. “But we know how to do x too.” Or, “We don’t want to say no to this type of work.”
What that tells me is they are afraid focus will cost them opportunities.
Think about a frame around a painting or photograph. It creates a boundary that helps the eye zero in on where to look—whether it be looking through a camera, mapping composition for a painting or “framing” a business conversation. It helps eliminate the extraneous information to direct attention on what makes a photograph or painting beautiful or a conversation more effective. With so much information coming at us all the time, this is an almost constant and necessary effort.
Strategy provides a constant in an unpredictable marketplace. It isn’t dependent on the barrage of tactics that keep changing around it. It provides the lens through which to view the company and understand its place in the category. It narrows the field. That makes it easier for people inside the company to know what the company stands for and easier for people outside the company to understand why they should choose you. Boundaries are important, even vital, when a business is trying to grow.
A clear brand distinction is memorable and organizes the business.
It is the one core idea you organize the business around and want to be sought after and known for. It becomes the center of your systems, products and services. Without that kind of dedicated focus, the business starts adding more and more—more messages, more offerings and more explanations. Eventually, it slows to the speed of dripping molasses and the distinction gets buried.
It is possible to keep doing x work quietly, but not promoting it broadly, other than merely letting existing clients know you also do x. This turns it into a value-add rather than completely diluting the brand claim you are driving in the ground.
The more things you ask people to remember about you, the less likely they will remember any one thing about you, turning a clear value proposition into a meandering, unmemorable paragraph about you.
Just like a photographer doesn’t lose the world outside the viewfinder, the organization doesn’t lose anything outside the frame. Instead, both are deciding what the viewer—or the customer—sees first. Think about it. A good frame helps us see what the artist wanted us to see. That’s what brand strategy can do for a business too.
I recently wrote about how a business with multiple audiences established a defined strategic claim, or positioning strategy, that gave every part of the company one idea to organize around.
Once you know what you want to be known for, the hard part may be resisting the urge to keep widening the frame. Rather than losing everything outside of it, you are simply deciding what you want people to see first.
Establish a clear and compelling distinction of why someone should choose you over anyone else. Create a strong and memorable voice for how to communicate this distinction. Then guard this distinction with everything you have, organizing systems, processes, people and programs around this one promise. Once you have done that, you are well on your way to greater visibility and higher profitability.
Read more of Jennifer’s deeper thinking on brand, leadership and the decisions that shape enterprise value on Substack.
