Less What, More How
Unpopular belief: It’s less about WHAT you build, and more about HOW you build it.
Let’s use a popular analogy - there are two houses. One house is built upon a rock, the other house is built on sand. The rain fell, floods came, and the wind blew.
How do you think each house fared?
The house constructed on the sand lost the loose ground beneath it and crumbled, while the house on the rock stands firm due to the steadiness of it’s chosen foundation. These were both simple structures that were designed to serve the same purpose. But how they were established determined their effectiveness.
The same principle holds true in business. A great idea will crumble if it isn’t built on a firm foundation. Therefore, while what you’re building IS important, the HOW you’re building it ultimately is even more crucial to its success.
First, let’s all acknowledge that we are constantly building and investing into our businesses. There is always something new to adapt and nurture to best serve our customers and teams. When we have something to build, the building itself and stewardship go hand-in-hand. Either of these things without the other is void of purpose.
The “HOW” of building begins from the groundwork of your business. This foundation is made up of your values and belief systems. These things inform you and shape what you are building whether you know what those things are or not. How you lay and set your foundation based on where you are and where you want to be affects everything that follows, positively or negatively.
So, as an entrepreneur and therefore steward of your business, how do you build a sturdy foundation? What does that process even look like?
We believe it starts with evaluating your brand.
As creatives in marketing and experiential events, we’ve had many businesses come to us who have been burnt by marketing before. They’ve wondered why their efforts did not succeed and why there was no way to measure success. Part of that is because they were advised to start running campaigns before they were really ready. They hadn’t built a firm foundation — becoming crystal clear on who they were as a brand, who they were trying to reach, or even setting clear goals.
What should we evaluate about our brands?
1- Ask the 5 W’s (and the bonus H):
Who does your company serve?
What does your company do?
Where does your company do business?
When does your company serve clients?
Why do customers use your company?
How does your company serve your customers?
2- Do your answers align with why your company exists? Do they align with where your company is headed?
If there is misalignment, you’ll find an opportunity to ask some really hard questions and begin to steer your company back on track. Should you find misalignment, answer the 5 W’s based on where your company should be and identify the gaps.
3- Where does your company need to be 12 months from now? Set realistic goals to measure success and assign dates within the next 12 months.
The answers to these questions become your blueprint for construction of the full structure that your business should be. Once you’re able to clearly understand and articulate who you are as a brand and who you serve, you’re then able to build a strategy for how to operate in that identity. All of this should point back to your 5 W’s and enable you to accomplish your goals.
In our business, we have a very specific phase for this process. It’s called our “RAMP UP PHASE.”
With any new client we work with, our 3 phases are: Kickoff, Ramp Up and Implementation.
This approach allows us to really focus on starting a project well, developing the right assets to implement a strategy, and then launching effectively.
The “Ramp Up” phase allows to lay and prepare a solid foundation to be able to build on well.
If you are feeling ready to audit your brand and take the next step closer to where you want to be, download our Brand Evaluation Questions to work through these strategic, brand building questions.
