Billionaire Brand Wisdom #4

Elon Musk has a view on brand, as he does on most things. And of course, true to form, the way he expresses it is a tad dismissive:

“Brand is just a perception, and perception will match reality over time. Sometimes it will be ahead, other times it will be behind. But brand is simply a collective impression some have about a product.”

In fact, where brand is concerned, perception is reality. Because as we all know, brand only truly exists in the mind of the consumer.

But he’s basically not wrong (on this at least).

And the fact that perception is everything when it comes to brand definition is what really interests me.

To get beyond the functional benefits of “a product” (or service), and to start defining and articulating the brand, one must first understand how it makes people feel.

What people?

Well, everyone who handles the brand, and engages with it.

The people who first came up with the business idea, the people who run the company and make the business decisions, the people who actually sell the products or deliver the service, the people who deal with customers, who listen to complaints and receive praise.

And of course the customers themselves, and the people we would like to have as customers.

You might think you should really just focus on the customer here, but the view from the inside is as important as the view from the outside, because brand is also a promise, and that promise needs to be built on strong foundations: real beliefs, attitudes and behaviours.

You need to properly unearth, define and articulate your brand personality and genuine, demonstrable values.

Align this with what your customers value about you, how they feel about you and what sets you apart from the competition, and (with a bit of work!) you’ve got yourself a genuinely ownable brand proposition. Or brand promise, if you prefer.

And so we come full circle: by listening to people, by getting beyond the purely rational, by exploring more emotive territories, we can set brand expectations based on brand truths.

And by looking after our brand through our behaviours, we live up to our promise, and ensure that perception is indeed reality.

Or better still, from Elon’s point of view, that perception is always ahead of reality.