“Where Does My Brand Go?”

You’re shaking in your pantalones because you’re the rare unicorn who made the essential, yet oft-overlooked investment in your business — a brand platform. Rarer still because you’ve decided to play the long game in realizing not every action demands an immediate, profitable reaction. You’ve flushed the ROI-or-bust, hustle-speak Kool-Aid instead of drinking it.

Cue thunderous applause and wolf whistles. Feet stomp in time. Allow me to award you this trophy, which bears the inscription: you’ll fail throughout your journey, but not as hard as the kid down the street.

‍

You’re feeling fancy because you’ve built your brand essentials — positioning, benefits, story, verbal and visual identity — but now you have to kick the kid out into the world, which is sort of like dropping them off on their first day of school and making a run for it before they realize you’re gone. Before they barnacle themselves to your legs screaming, but I don’t wanna go!

Because your kid can’t stay at home forever and your brand can’t live in PowerPoint forever. You’ve got to release that fucker out into the world to survive the greatest titan of terror since the womb — your customers. The risk of venturing out is not without heartache and pain on the level of pliers cinching skin. Customers can be cold and calculating, dumping your little one when a cheaper, faster, cuter version hits Amazon. They’re fickle, discerning, and their loyalties lie solely in the palm of their hand in the form of a phantom, plastic limb that transports them anywhere but the present moment.