Leadership

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Brand Manifesto

Purpose: To create a clear brand message that will clarify and filter out all brand and marketing decisions.

Core messaging

  • Find the core belief (the armature). Using these questions as a guide, find your company’s authentic core belief.

    • What has your company actually survived that most people in your industry haven’t?

    • Why do you really do this work — beyond making money?

    • What would you refuse to do even if it made you significantly more money?

    • What ticks you off most about your industry right now?

    • What do you believe that most of your competitors don’t believe?

    • Tell me about a specific moment when you knew this work mattered.

    • What do your best customers say about you that you wish more people understood?

    • If your company disappeared tomorrow, what would the world actually lose?

    • What’s the one thing you will never compromise on?

    • What truth about your work do you wish more people believed?

  • Create the Brand manifesto. Starting with the core belief, write out a 250-400 word manifesto that paints the picture of the meaning behind the core belief.

  • Create the purpose statement.

  • Create the core values.

Target market

  • Align on the goal. What is the business actually trying to achieve in the next 12-18 months? (Revenue, market position, category leadership, etc)

  • Review the work. What has worked in acquiring and converting customers? What has failed or been inefficient?

  • Identify the core customers. Who are the people that matter most to the business right now? Narrow it down to the 3 most important customer types.

  • Discover their obstacles. What specific obstacles stand in their way (practical, emotional, financial, informational, trust-related barriers)? Obstacles to buying? Obstacles to selling?

  • Clarify the product/service. How does the company’s actual product or service remove these obstacles? How does the core belief make the solution more compelling or differentiated?

Digital Audit

  • Review the ad performance. Current digital ad spend, channels (Google, Meta, etc.), cost-per-click, conversion rates, ROI, and which campaigns or audiences are working vs. wasting money.

  • Review the website performance. Traffic sources, conversion rates, bounce rates, key user flows, search functionality, mobile experience, and on-page issues that affect sales or lead generation.

  • SEO & technical health. Rankings, metadata, site structure, tracking/analytics setup, and overall digital infrastructure.

  • Competitor analysis. How competitors are showing up in paid and organic search, their messaging, ad creative, and any whitespace or blind spots in the category.

  • Customer journey data. Where people enter, where they drop off, and how well the site supports the obstacles identified in the Strategy Session.

Brand Audit

  • Take inventory. Take inventory of all the brand visual and digital assets.

    • Logo and logo variations

    • Colors.

    • Typography.

    • Photography and illustration style.

    • Website visual hierarchy and overall feel.

    • Social media templates and assets.

    • Print materials, packaging, and signage.

    • Sales decks and internal documents and communications.

  • Belief filter. Hold every element against the belief statement, manifesto, purpose and values.

  • Audience filter. Hold every element against the three core customer profiles. Do the visual language speak to the people that matter most or does it speak past them?

  • Recommendations. Correct any mismatches, outdated elements, inconsistencies and missed opportunities.

Marketing Strategy

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Campaign Concepts

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