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I faced people from all walks of business who fully disregarded design (though they were completely influenced by it). I also met fine artists who drowned in their own work and the dense creative universe in their minds. Then I met designers. And instantly fell in love. Let me tell you why. Designers are familiar with critiques. They not only tolerate them but actively look out for them. They honestly believe in iterations and learn to edit down their work. They embrace simplicity and create beauty based on requirements other than their own. Design education teaches you to run away from assumptions and to have the stomach to scrap your work often. I’m bringing this up because it’s time to bridge the gap between design and business.Laura Busche
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So, you don’t have money to invest in your brand? You do have money for damage control, right? Here’s the thing: anyone can make your brand inferior in your absence.Laura Busche
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Research conquers doubt. It aligns everyone around the incontestable. Research is the key to clarity–in startups, enterprises, and life itself.Laura Busche
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Brands play in an exciting sandbox of symbolic meanings.Laura Busche
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People change, and so do their aspirations, and so should brands.Laura Busche
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Make sure you test your brand story’s recipe with whomever you’re cooking it for.Laura Busche
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Lean brands are the result of continually testing assumptions.Laura Busche
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Do everything in your power to make customers go confidently in the direction of their purchase intention.Laura Busche
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Brand and product don’t compete. Brand is product, and everything else conforming to the unique story that consumers create when they think of you.Laura Busche
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Products shouldn’t just work well, they must unfold well.Laura Busche
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People relate to people, and if your brand feels like people, they’ll relate to you, too.Laura Busche
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Positioning is finding the right parking space inside the consumer’s mind and going for it before someone else takes it.Laura Busche
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Your brand story’s “happily ever after” involves open wallets.Laura Busche
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All human aspirations are opportunities for brands to build relationships.Laura Busche
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Everything and everyone represents at least one brand. Therefore, to brand or not to brand is not even a question.Laura Busche
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In today’s saturated marketplace, you’ll go nowhere selling a “bunch of features.” We are in the business of disrupting the market with brands that matter.Laura Busche
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What is the “Once upon a time” of your brand story? Ask yourself this: “How does what I’m building help consumers close the gap between who they are today and who they want to be tomorrow?Laura Busche
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A brand is the unique story that consumers recall when they think of you. This story associates your product with their personal stories, a particular personality, what you promise to solve, and your position relative to your competitors. Your brand is represented by your visual symbols and feeds from multiple conversations where you must participate strategically.Laura Busche
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If building a disruptive, dynamic brand is not in your plans, neither is profit.Laura Busche