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Discover the essential strategies behind creating a memorable and impactful brand

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A brand is only as powerful as the memory it leaves in the minds of its audience. But how do you define that memory—and how do you ensure it sticks?

That’s where brand drivers come in.

In our free eBook, Branding Fundamentals: Essential Strategies for Creating a Memorable and Impactful Brand, we introduce you to the foundational elements that fuel successful branding. These aren't fluffy taglines or trendy visuals—these are the strategic building blocks that make your brand truly stand out.

What You’ll Learn:

  • Essence & Promise – What lies at the emotional heart of your brand
  • Core Attributes – The defining traits that set your brand apart
  • Personality – The tone and voice that makes your brand relatable
  • Brand Positioning Statement – Your unique place in the market
  • Benefit Ladder – How your brand delivers value, step by step
  • Brand Filter – A tool for brand-aligned decision-making
EXCERPT

Essence & Promise

Essence and promise are the two most important concepts in a brand. They are the conceptual center from which everything else is built. 

Before we dive too deep, let’s define essence. 

A brand essence is the connecting thread that runs through everything that a company does. This is the main “memory” that the company wants to leave their customers with every time they interact with them. It is the core concept behind the brand. For Disney it's “magic,” for Harley Davidson it's “freedom.”

Now that we are all working from the same definition, let’s talk about what makes a good brand essence. From my experience, there are four factors that should be considered when building out your essence:

Is it grounded in reality and is it aspirational?

Great essences balance delicately between the current state of your business and your aspirations for the future. If the essence is too future focused, you won’t be able to live it out now. If it’s too focused on your current state, it won’t push you to be the best version of yourself. A good rule of thumb is that it should be 50% grounded in your current reality and 50% aspirational.

Is it applicable across your entire business?

Essence needs to transcend absolutely everything you do. Why? Because it is supposed to encapsulate the unique way that a company shows up in the world. This essence should be applicable whether we’re talking about HR processes or designing a new product or service. In fact, in the best circumstances, it should serve as a filter to decide whether an initiative should be pursued (more on that in a future post).

Is it enduring?

A strong brand essence should be capable of growing with you over time. This doesn’t mean that your brand will remain stagnant. Outward expressions of your brand will change, but the core essence remains the same.

Can you live it out 100%?

A brand essence will only have an impact if you live it out fully—from your processes to your service design to your people management and to your public-facing marketing and branding. If you can’t fully lean into the essence you’ve come up with, you probably need to go back to the drawing board. The only thing worse than having no intentional brand is to implement a half-baked brand.

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