When Your Brand Lacks Definition, It Lacks Direction

Hard to believe, but research shows that most leadership teams struggle to articulate what their business stands for — and why customers should care. Without definition, your brand loses direction, leading to mixed messages and missed opportunities. That’s where the elevator pitch — or more formally, your value proposition — comes in.

The elevator pitch was born out of necessity. The only time you might catch a senior decision-maker was in the lift, so you had thirty seconds to make your case. That discipline of clarity remains invaluable today — because whether a LinkedIn summary, a social media post, or the headline on your exhibition stand, you have seconds to define your brand and set its direction.

Yet fewer than 10% of leadership teams can clearly define their company’s value proposition — and if they can’t, how will the customer?

A great value proposition is built around three simple ideas:

o   Identify the customer problem — show you understand their biggest challenge; it tells them you’re relevant.

o   Explain how you solve it — highlight the most significant solution you offer.

o   Show what makes you different — explain why they should choose you, and what’s unique they can’t get elsewhere.

It’s deceptively simple but done well it can transform how your brand is seen — by your customers and your team — and give it the clarity and direction it needs to grow.

When you get it right, everything starts to click. Your team aligns around a shared understanding of what the brand stands for. Research shows that aligned teams are 57% more likely to deliver on objectives, 50% more likely to finish on time, and 45% more likely to stay within budget.

Clarity also helps you stand out — Kantar’s BrandZ study found that brands with meaningful differentiation capture nine times more market share, can charge double the price, and are four times more likely to grow.

And with attention spans now just eight seconds, that clarity becomes your compass — keeping your brand pointed in the right direction.

And while we’re all familiar with the big-budget brands like Apple, Nike and Tesla, it’s smaller businesses that have the most to gain — especially when budgets are tight. A clear, focused brand doesn’t just help you sell; it shapes how you recruit, partner and grow. It keeps you relevant to your audience (because without relevance, there’s no audience) and distinct from competitors (because without difference, there’s no reason to choose you).

Most of all, it gives you definition — and with definition comes direction.

That’s why I developed the Brand Arrow® — a framework to help companies make the right choices, because no one knows the brand better than the people who own it. Here are four truths about the value brand strategy delivers:

o   One, it’s for the whole company, not just marketing — shaping HR, sales, finance and leadership.

o   Two, it drives alignment — when everyone understands what the brand stands for, resources are used more effectively.

o   Three, the first audience is always the team — if they ‘get’ the brand, the customer will too.

o   Four, it focuses on what customers share, not what separates them — your brand must unite them around a common need.

As Interbrand’s Best Global Brands 2024 report notes, “A business, its brand and its leadership are increasingly inextricable… businesses are about trust and relationships, not just delivery.”Clarity isn’t cosmetic — it’s commercial. A well-defined brand has direction, and direction drives momentum, alignment and measurable growth.

If you like to take up the challenge and define your brand in 3 sentences, drop me a line bruce@thebrandarrow.com and we can run through it together.

I’m now celebrating my 17th year running my Brand Strategy consultancy, as well as regularly speaking at conferences and lecturing at business schools, I teach brand management on the Chartered Institute of Marketing’s diploma course and am an accredited speaker with the Vistage CEO network. My expertise has helped hundreds of small businesses stand out, grow, and thrive.  

If you’d like to explore how The Brand Arrow can help grow your business, reach out to me directly at bruce@thebrandarrow.com. 

Sources:

Project Management Institute, Pulse of the Profession Report (2017): pmi.org/learning/thought-leadership/pulse

Kantar BrandZ Global Study (2023), The Power of Meaningful Difference: kantar.com/campaigns/brandz

Microsoft Canada, Attention Spans Research Report (2015): advertising.microsoft.com/en/blog/post/attention-spans-research-report

Media Dynamics Inc., Advertising Exposure Studies (2014–2017): mediadynamicsinc.com

Bain & Company, The Value of Clarity in Strategy and Messaging (2016): bain.com/insights

Interbrand, Best Global Brands Report 2024: interbrand.com/best-global-brands