Break the Industry Template

Brands must innovate. Even small ones.

Srini Rao, Jennifer Lee, Julia Church – these are some entrepreneurs that I had the pleasure of interviewing early in my branding career. I was guesting for an online publication and digging into what makes their respective brands so undeniably compelling. And that process gave me one of the critical pieces at the center of my Substantial Branding methodology. 

The common thread I found across all of these individual stories?

The brand lives in the innovation.

Srini favoured a long and conversational interview style for his podcast when others were getting shorter, punchier, and more digestible.

Jennifer brought creativity and right-brain thinking into business planning in a way nobody had before. 

And Julia Church of Nettle’s Tale was one of the first (at least in Canada) to base bathing suit designs on real women, and have those women model them for her brand.

Every brand that catches attention breaks away from what’s expected in both big and small ways. (It gives people something to talk about. ) Yours should, too.

It’s so easy to fall in line with what everybody else is doing in the industry, and every industry has its tried-and-true template.

What’s that template in your industry?

Have you followed the template more than you intended to? It’s totally normal. 

What’s one step you can take today to break away from the expected?

The expected offers.
The expected process.
The expected format.
The expected price.

This is how you start to make your brand incomparable. Deeply different. And way easier to market and sell.

Reach out and let me know the industry rules you want to break (or are already breaking). I’d love to cheer you on!

To shaking things up!
Lisa

PS:  If you need somebody to lovingly coax that rebel and industry changer up and out of you, start the conversation with me here. I’ll step in as your Brand Co-Director – extracting the most compelling pieces of who you are and weaving it into the brand that you’ll become known for. Brilliant clarity. Substantial strategy. Incomparable offerings. And bespoke sales assets that bring it all to life – that’s the Unrepeatable Brand Intensive. If a brand evolution is on your radar for the coming year, let’s chat.