Nothing is everything.
We tend to want to believe there is one thing that’s going to do it – that will deliver complete and final success. As I journey forward, I have come to see that there’s no big-bang breakthrough that solves it all. To think that a new CRM system, incorporating blockchain, or using A.I. is EVERYTHING, or that a great website alone will ramp business to new heights once and for all, just isn’t true. One of these will help within the greater scheme of things for sure, but if someone is trying to convince you ‘This is it!’ then they are simply selling something or selling someone else’s something cause they bought in.
Why am I writing about this? Because placing your hope on the one magic website, the one amazing new product feature or the one re-engineering session becomes exhausting, for you and those you work with. We so badly want things to work and take off, we can keep working on things feeling, hoping, wishing that ‘this is it’, ‘this is the piece I was missing’ and ‘now things are going to move’. While certain things may serve as a catalyst or really boost the business hugely, they are still somewhat one brick in the amazing wall you’re building.
Sure, there are such things as ‘major breakthroughs’ but even these require tons of follow-up work – the diligence therein helps realise or lose the value of the breakthrough. There’s far more behind every overnight success story. Don’t be fooled.
Imagine a team of actual brick layers kept believing their job was done at every brick they laid. Or stood in awe for hours at how perfectly the last brick was placed. Sounds crazy, but this is what happens when it comes to building a brand, too bad it is not as instantly observable otherwise it would be more quickly avoided.
Everything contributes. Everything builds on what is – either negatively or positively. But everything is just a brick in the building. I am not disregarding the positive impact on awareness a feature spot on a major content distributor might bring – but ask anyone who got a spot on a big show, there’s more work afterwards needed to capitalise on it, or adapt because of it, and it brings its own set of challenges which means the bricklaying continues. That’s why people need to mention in their credentials where they have been featured, cause generally speaking tomorrow no one cares.
To elevate above mere survival in a crowded market place two things are crucial when it comes to building a brand or business (is there a difference?):
- Your understanding of building
- Quality of the bricks and mortar
Your understanding of building
There is no finished building in the brand game. This does not mean it is incomplete, but we can’t accept ‘we have arrived’ as far as the overall picture goes, and neither can we believe one aspect we develop is the big thing. As soon as we believe we have arrived, we relax. It just sinks in, it’s human nature and it makes us lazy and stop looking for ways to surpass expectations. Understanding everything in isolation is only a brick in the building saves us from being sucked into the thinking this is it and then sliding into believing we must simply maintain what we have – which is a major trap for most successful businesses.
Building with this understanding helps you avoid disappointment and retain the energy to drive forward.
It’s a long road to building a solid brand. Every addition (brick) needs quality control, challenging how it’s done, re-engineering, shaping, improving where there is no problem and doing things differently with the end-user in mind to create deeper and richer value which places you in a different race to the competition. It is therefore vital to lay each brick knowing it’s only that and not the whole building. You then move out of deceiving yourself that ‘the job is done, and all will succeed’.
Building with this understanding helps you avoid disappointment and retain the energy to drive forward. It’s rewarding and needed to step back now and again and observe the progress and show gratitude to those who building alongside you, but the underlying acceptance that ‘we are not there yet’ is the safeguard against resting on your laurels. To appreciate each brick for the value it brings is good, but not blowing it out of proportion keeps a business leader grounded and prevents them from getting carried away placing all hope on one new thing to the tiring detriment of those who are looking after the other bricks in the building.
A revolutionary new way of serving clients will impact a series of things positively. However, this new method as great as it is (and should receive a proportionate amount of praise) on many levels is not the total answer for the business’s continued success and should not be treated as such. It will need to be backed by other quality bricks, and then in time, a new better brick will be needed.
Quality of the bricks and mortar
If everything, even the breakthrough stuff is just another brick in the building, are we saying just chip away day in and day out without vision and purpose at average stuff and it will develop into something over time? No, you build purposefully, using the best. Everything you do inwardly (team-minded) and outwardly (audience-minded) in a business contributes to building the brand, meaning the perception or belief about the business. Most importantly build with strategy. Strategy is not a plan, it’s knowing what the major objective is and then focusing attention on way to get there, that way consists of multiple bricks.
So yes, use the best CRM system, build the best website, deliver the most emotive video content, create and enforce an authentic brand story and positioning, partner with the best brands, work with the top influencers, and develop value-driven products. Consistently build with the best possible bricks – not the cheapest – within a strategic effort and you’ll achieve success (yes, the plural is intentional). Go well!