Establishing a strong brand involves more than customer research. It's critical that the internal team and key partners are aligned on the brand's vision and messaging. This internal clarity serves as the stable foundation for all external marketing efforts.
Not every brand has a compelling, authentic founder story. Instead of fabricating one, successful brands should build a strong philosophy and make the customer the hero of the narrative. This shifts the focus from the founder's journey to the customer's transformation.
In a market saturated with "we're for everyone" messaging, brands must adopt a more exclusive and provocative stance to stand out. True brand love requires polarity; if nobody dislikes your brand, it's unlikely anyone truly loves it.
In the 2020-2022 era of cheap capital, brands could afford to "move fast and break things." Now, with tighter funding and a more complicated marketing mix, a solid brand strategy is a foundational requirement for survival, not a later-stage luxury.
Many founders conflate their brand with their first product. A successful company requires a broader brand positioning that can accommodate future products. This prevents the business from getting stuck as a single-product entity and enables long-term growth and category expansion.
Companies like Hintwater can grow rapidly on the strength of a single beloved product. This creates a "product business," not a "brand business," making it difficult to carry brand equity into new categories without a distinct, overarching brand identity.
On a shoestring budget, the highest-leverage branding activity is achieving clarity on the business vision, target audience, and differentiation. Investing in a brand strategist to define this foundation is more critical than spending money on visual assets that may need to be redone later.
Founders often adopt jargon and framing that appeals to VCs (e.g., market size, TAM). This narrative rarely resonates with consumers. Brands must maintain two distinct stories: one for investors focused on market opportunity and another for customers focused on personal value.
AG1 strategically evolved from an athlete-focused product to a science-backed wellness brand. Dropping "Athletic" from the name was a key decision to broaden its appeal and shift the narrative from a founder's tool to a consumer's daily ritual, making the customer the hero.