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You Can't Read the Label from Within the Jar

7/20/2023

In his book “The Business of Expertise,” Author and Entrepreneurial Advisor David C Baker describes the inability we have to “read the label from within the jar.” Basically, what he means is that it's impossible for us to truly see what our outward-facing messaging is because we are looking at our environment from a completely different point of view. In our day-to-day cycle of “doing the work”, we lose the ability to shift our perspective and see what we’re producing from an outsider’s view. In branding, we call this “Brand Position.” When it comes to your community or town, you could think of this as the reputation or “vibe” that your city exudes. Examining brand positioning is a crucial first step in diagnosing misalignment between what we think we are saying about ourselves, our business, or our town and what is actually being portrayed to the public. You tend to see this disconnect more often in municipalities because there is a tendency to look inward to solve communication problems. It takes a decent amount of courage and trust to ask the questions that are needed to truly diagnose and identify what message we are sending. To get the true picture of your current brand identity, it will take more than looking within or even looking in the mirror. It's essential that we step outside our comfort level and relinquish some control to allow for unique perspectives. This can be done by creating an advisory board, inviting public input, hosting walking tours, hiring consultants and branding professionals, having candid discussions with entry-level staff, talking to investors who DON'T come to town, or customers who AREN'T engaging with your business.
Step outside of your jar. Does the label fit the contents? If not, it may be time to adjust your brand position to accurately reflect the direction that your business or community would like to be heading.

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Becoming AUTHENTIC

7/14/2023

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When I returned to consulting and strategizing full-time, I took a long look at what I wanted to do and an even longer look at what I didn't want to do. As we gain experience and expertise in life, this task seems easier to do.

I knew that I didn't want to be merely known for logos and end product design. I knew my talents lay in analyzing my clients' needs and sifting through the noise to identify the heart and soul of their brand. Initially, I cast a wide net in order to be open to new ideas and concepts. It is incredibly difficult for creative entrepreneurs to hone in and specialize because we love variety and waking up to new jobs and learning opportunities every day. So, the hard work for me was to take my years of experience and the vast variety of careers and meld those into one brand position that truly identified the type of work that A: I'm very good at and that B: I really enjoy doing.

One thing I know I'm really good at is recognizing patterns. This trait is something that I knew I had a unique ability to do. If you’re thinking that would make me a better fashion designer than brand strategist, let me explain. Creative people tend to be obsessed with taking a collection, (whether that be data points, imagery, or problems) and identifying patterns, commonalities and outliers and then envisioning solutions to problems based off of that insight. This is where inspiration and innovation comes from.

Another thing I knew I wanted my new venture to be identified by was my sincere commitment to effectively evolving my clients' brands. I was tired of simply providing logos without doing the thinking, research, and diagnosis that goes behind truly developing a useful brand. I wanted to help my clients peel back the layers of noise, to reach inward and identify what makes them tick, what drives them, and what the soul of their business is, just as I was doing in developing my own firm’s brand position.

From my brainstorming, I realized that another thing I'm pretty good at is identifying core values and stories that resonate with all of us, and helping my clients tell those stories in a way that truly connects them with their customers or community members. In my brainstorming about what shape I want this new firm to take, the word "authentic" kept coming up. If I were to create a word cloud based on the most often referred-to words defining my vision and my goals for this new firm, authenticity would be large in front and center.

As I started looking into the depth of my knowledge and where I wanted to focus primarily my work in downtown development and helping towns tell their stories that unite their community and engage investment is something I'm most proud of and enjoy thoroughly. The overlap between branding and marketing strategies and downtown development strategies is something that fascinates me, and I love analyzing it and coming up with new ways that it can be applied and cross-pollinated. The fact that the word "authenticity" ends in "city" just made it even more inevitable that it needs to be used in the naming of our firm.

You Can't Read the Label from Within the Jar

Becoming AUTHENTIC

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