Which came first: The chicken (business) or the egg (brand)? 🐓🐣
Debating the ideal starting point for a business’s beginnings
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Which comes first: the business or the brand?
We were on a call with a potential client this week, and he asked, “When is the best time to think about my brand?”
My default answer: At the very beginning!
It’s kind of like that old proverb: “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.” You want to start with your brand as early as possible, from Day One. And in a lot of ways, whether you know it or not, you really are starting your brand from Day One, because brand is intimately connected with your reasons for creating your business in the first place.
But it probably goes without saying: Few companies actually do sit down and think about the importance of brand foundations before they, you know, create a product or pick out a logo or find a customer.
As a brand marketing agency, we are biased, but we have seen the fruits of early investment in brand across the companies that we’ve helped scale. Being early with brand will create consistency of your message, set expectations from your audience, and build that all-important flywheel as soon as possible.
The question popped up again in our Campout community from Siobhan Hayes, Director of Marketing at Float. In Siobhan’s words, “Brand is what keeps your connected strategies in lockstep.” She found an interesting post on LinkedIn that addressed the ambiguity of brand marketing—a topic we’ve plumbed in depth before, too—by placing brand strategy at the center of everything:
Our Bonfire definition of brand differs slightly from the one above. We define brand as the sum of all experiences that someone has with your company.
The definition from the Venn diagram poses an interesting question, though:
Do you create your business strategy, positioning, and identity first, then build a brand that connects them all?
Or do you come up with a brand strategy, then identify the relevant business strategy, positioning, and identity that flow from your brand?
Are you working outside-in, or inside-out?
For a lot of us, the ship has sailed to be creating brand strategies at the very onset of a business. We are often hired long after a founding team has started the company. But there are many moments across a company’s trajectory where you have a chance to revisit business strategy, to build (or rebuild) brand foundations, and to open a new chapter in the company’s story.
To that end, here is what we see as the ideal chicken-or-egg answer to brand-first or business-first:
Start with brand. Specifically, start with your brand foundations of purpose, mission, and values.
Your purpose is why you exist.
Your mission is what you’re doing.
Your values are how you’re doing it.
Then build a business strategy around these foundations.
Your business strategy should inform your go-to-market strategy, which will contain notes on how you sell and to whom you’re selling.
Your go-to-market strategy—in particular your decisions on audience and personae—will inform how you build a marketing strategy, complete with a brand marketing plan, to reach the right people (awareness) and get new customers (acquisition)
(If you're intrigued and want to learn more about how this process works, you can join us in Campout—free for 7 days—to try out an entire course on brand foundations, a series of interactive Figjam templates, and events to walk you through it all.)
And there you have it. A business-building roadmap in four short steps (easier said than done).
A roadmap that very few businesses actually follow from the very beginning.
But a roadmap that hopefully you can introduce and co-create with your team if you’ve never done this before or if you’re due for a refresh.
Notable links, convos, and events
The following are all pulled from the Campout community.
We’re holding a brand purpose workshop for community members this Wednesday, April 9. Attend the live workshop, and we will craft your company’s brand purpose LIVE on the call! You can RSVP here.
Interesting conversation here about what your boss means when they tell you to do more of whatever is working “best.” How is someone to know what “best” means? Have you been asked this question before?
Cool music alert! We have a little jazz coterie in Campout, so we’ve been jamming to this tune for the past few days:
And speaking of catchy jingles, what is one from your childhood that you just can’t get out of your head? If you want to refresh yourself on some favorite earworms, here’s a thread with some greatest hits. Content warning: Catchy.
But wait! There’s more…
Wanna be friends?
If you love this newsletter and wish it were more interactive, you’re in luck! Join us over in Campout, our digital community for creative marketers and the creative curious.
Wanna work with us?
If you need help with brand strategy and storytelling, fractional brand and marketing leadership, and bringing your brand strategy to life in impactful ways, send us an email at hello@aroundthebonfire.com to get in touch.
As always, you can find us on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Threads.
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