How to Sell More: Powerful Branding
Let’s get one thing straight. Your brand is not your logo. It’s not your color palette. It’s not your fancy font. It’s not your clever tagline.
Your brand is one word.
One word that you own in the mind of your customer.
If you have that, you have a brand. If you don’t, you have a commodity. And commodities compete on price. A race to the bottom. Good luck with that.
The “Better” Trap
Most people get this wrong. They think branding is about being “better.” Better features. Better service. Better quality.
But “better” is a trap. Why? Because “better” is subjective. It’s a matter of opinion. And it’s a game you can’t win. There will always be someone who is “better” than you in some way.
I once worked with a company that made project management software. Let’s call them ‘FeatureFlow.’ They were obsessed with being the “better” solution. Every month, they would add new features. Gantt charts. Kanban boards. Time tracking. You name it, they had it. Their software was a bloated mess. A Swiss Army knife with 100 blades, but no one knew how to use any of them.
They were competing with dozens of other companies that were all doing the same thing. All shouting about their features. All claiming to be “better.” And they were all losing. Because when everyone is “better,” no one is.
Own a Word, Not a Feature
Instead of trying to be “better,” the smartest companies try to be “different.” They don’t compete on features. They compete on positioning. They find one word. One idea. And they own it.
Think about it.
Volvo owns “safety.”
Coca-Cola owns “refreshment.”
Google owns “search.
These companies don’t have to tell you they’re “better.” They don’t have to list their features. They’ve created a mental shortcut in your brain. When you think of safety, you think of Volvo. It’s automatic. It’s effortless. It’s brilliant.
This isn’t a new idea. Al Ries and Jack Trout wrote the book on it, literally, back in 1981. It’s called Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind. If you haven’t read it, you’re already behind. The core idea is simple: it’s better to be first in the mind than it is to be first in the marketplace.
The ‘Clarity’ Story
So what happened to ‘FeatureFlow’? They were on the brink of collapse. They came to us as a last resort. We told them to stop adding features. We told them to stop trying to be “better.” We told them to find their word.
It wasn’t easy. It took weeks of painful soul-searching. They talked to their customers. They looked at their competition. They asked themselves the hard questions. What do we stand for? What do we believe in? What is the one thing we can be the best in the world at?
And then they found it. One word: “calm.”
They realized that their customers weren’t buying project management software. They were buying a feeling. A feeling of control. A feeling of peace. A feeling of calm in the midst of chaos.
So they changed everything. They changed their name to ‘Clarity.’ They redesigned their website to be minimalist and serene. They stripped out all the bloated features and focused on a simple, intuitive user interface. They rewrote their marketing copy to speak to the feeling of being overwhelmed and offered a path to tranquility.
They stopped selling project management software. They started selling calm.
The result? Their business exploded. They doubled their revenue in a year. They became the go-to solution for teams that were tired of the chaos. They owned a word. And it made all the difference.
How to Find Your Word
So how do you find your word? It’s not about brainstorming clever taglines. It’s about deep strategic thinking. It’s about answering three simple questions:
Who are you? What do you stand for? What are your core values? What is your unique perspective on the world?
Who are your customers? What are their deepest fears and desires? What are they really buying from you? (Hint: it’s not your product.)
Who is your competition? What word do they own? What is their position in the market? Where are the gaps?
This is hard work. It requires honesty. It requires courage. It requires a willingness to be different.
At Sell More Academy, we don’t just talk about this stuff. We do it. Our members get access to our ‘Brand Positioning Matrix,’ the exact tool we used to help ‘Clarity’ find their word. It’s a simple, powerful worksheet that will force you to answer the hard questions and find your unique place in the world.
If you’re tired of competing on price and features, if you’re ready to build a brand that matters, then it’s time to join Sell More Academy.
Stop being a commodity. Start owning a word.
