“Cookie cutters are for baking, not branding”

and 9 more insights to transform your brand

by David Brier

A day that goes by without breaking some sacred branding rule is a day your brand has lost

TO Rise abovethe status quo.

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By breaking those rules with insight,intelligence and innovation,

you get heard

(in a world that's too damn busy to listen).

We know there are thousands of waysto solve any problem and that the only

valuable solutions

are the effective ones...2

Doing something ineffective in half the time — or "more efficiently” — isn't progress, but is instead bad business.

Social media isn’ta brand strategy.

Social media is a channel.

While it’s important for a brand to develop something to say,it’s more important to create something

that will be heard.

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4History is filled with

inferior productsoutselling superior ones thanks to better branding.

Only superior branding has the powerto overcome and reverse this.

Superior products deserve superior branding.

5Consumers and clients have

a first momentwhen they discover a brand.

5Consumers and clients have

a first momentwhen they discover a brand.

It’s this

defining momentthat establishes expectation and perceived value.

(Delivering on that valuewill determine

whether your company thrivesor merely stumbles along.)

6 People never got passionate about

mediocre& average.

This is why there is no aisle in a grocery or department in a store or menu on a website for “average stuff” or “beige products.”

While consumers and clients can find“best deals” or “natural foods” or “artisan goods,”

one doesn’t find an aisle or a website menu tab for“average stuff” which explains this:

while vanilla is necessary forthe ice cream sundae,it’s the hot fudge we allcrave (and talk about).

7Brands that use clichés to promote their

brand end up promoting their category, not their brand.

8Growth and brand dominance

is created by havingthe highest brand value,

not the lowest price tag.One can always sell something by offering the lowest price.

price does not create loyalty to your brand.

Never did and never will.

It only creates "loyalty" to that price point. As soon as your customer is offered a better price, he or she will jump ship, leaving you like

a scorned lover in the middle of the night.

9Brands are built on either

reruns orcoming attractions.

The future has no road map while the past clearly does.

Creating a brand that blazes new trails can sometimes be bumpy but will also allow you to be the first to discover something new,something meaningful and something that makes others ask,

“Why didn’t we think of that?”

Design, copy and art direction: David Brier

use these 9 points to outsmart, outperform and

outmaneuver your competition

follow him on twitter here:David Brier

“cookie cutters are for baking, not

branding” copyright: david brier

learn more about

branding here:

rising above the noise.com