George Blogs!

Today, I came across a very interesting concept in marketing that you can often use as a rule of the thumb to determine whether you’ve gotten your marketing sorted out or if your brand still needs extra tweaking and positioning. The concept I am talking about is that of brand mantra.

What’s a brand mantra, you ask? Put simply, it’s a 3-5 word statement that described your brand, its unique characteristics and points of difference. If it sounds like no small task to accomplish in just 5 words, then you’re right. However, let me ask you the following question - if you, as the owner of the product, cannot explain in five words what your product is all about and what separates it from the competition, how can you expect your customers to know the difference?

To clarify a little bit what I mean, let’s look at some of the more successful out there. For example, Nike’s is as follows:

“Authentic Athletic Footwear”

It’s simply, concise and direct to the point. It doesn’t wander into the realm of complicated mission statements that need a dictionary to interpret, and it is not ridden with corporate buzzwords that sound lovely but, when taken together, don’t mean a thing.

And yet, when you drill down to it, this is what Nike is all about - authentic athletic footwear. Or let’s take another example - Disney’s brand mantra of “Fun Family Entertainment.” This is what Disney stands for, this is what its products are all about, this is how the brand is positioned. You don’t need a 10-page sales copy to explain it - it’s essence can be distilled into three words which perfectly capture the essence of the offering.

Now, let me ask you this question. If you have any info products, for how many of them can you come up with a brand mantra? And if the answer is “none”, then you are probably not doing your marketing right.

Make your opinion heard - do you have a brand mantra? If so what, is it? Post in the comments below - inquiring minds want to know!