The art of building legendary brands | Arielle Jackson (Google, Square, Marketer in Residence at First Round Capital)

1. Positioning Dictates Marketing

Always prioritize product positioning as it dictates much of your marketing efforts and should be completed before any significant product development begins.

2. Define Your Brand’s Purpose

Clearly articulate your brand’s purpose as ‘why you do what you do,’ focusing on the change you want to see in the world, as this serves as a long-term North Star for your company and aligns employees.

3. Define Target Audience

Start your positioning by defining your broadest customer set, then narrow it down to a specific target audience for the next 18 months, and finally create a detailed model persona representing that individual user.

4. Focus on Niche Audience

As an early-stage company, focus on acquiring a specific, niche audience that is large enough to build a significant business if dominated, rather than trying to appeal to everyone with limited resources.

5. Recognize Positioning Problems

Identify a positioning problem if your customers or employees give wildly different answers when asked what your company or product does, or if you struggle to explain your offering in a single sentence.

6. Structured Positioning Worksheet

Use a structured worksheet to define your positioning by answering key questions: who is it for, what problem do they have, how do they address it today, what do you make, how does it work, and what would a happy user tell another.

7. Use the Bar Test

Apply the ‘bar test’ to ensure your positioning language is natural and colloquial; imagine a target customer explaining your product to a friend at a bar to ensure the description is conversational and clear.

8. Define Brand Personality

Develop a distinct brand personality, as brands are like people and need a unique character to show up authentically in the world, especially on platforms like social media, informing both visual design and written copy.

9. Aaker’s Personality Dimensions

Utilize Jennifer Aaker’s five dimensions of brand personality (sincerity, excitement, competence, sophistication, ruggedness) to identify which two dimensions your brand should strongly embody, as strong brands typically excel in two.

10. Tension-Filled Personality Attributes

After identifying your core personality dimensions, define five specific brand attributes using ‘we are X, but not Y’ statements, where Y represents taking X too far, to create tension and make your brand more interesting and distinct.

11. Create a Brand Bible

Compile your brand’s purpose, positioning, personality, visual design guidelines, and tone of voice into a comprehensive ‘brand Bible’ or creative brief to ensure consistent understanding and application across all stakeholders.

12. Create a Naming Brief

Before brainstorming names, write a naming brief that clarifies what you are naming, what you want the name to communicate/avoid, competitive names, and any other specific considerations like pronounceability.

13. Evaluate Names with Criteria

Assess potential names against seven universal criteria: trademark, domain availability, distinctiveness, timelessness, reflection of messaging/emotion, sound/ease of pronunciation/spelling, appearance, and length.

14. Structured Naming Brainstorm

Conduct a one-hour naming brainstorm with 5-7 people, starting with synonyms and associations from your positioning statement, then moving to thematic brainstorms to generate a wide range of ideas.

15. Pick a Ridiculous Code Name

When incorporating a new company quickly, use a code name so ridiculous you would never launch with it, preventing attachment to a poor temporary name and allowing for a proper naming process later.

16. Brainstorm Purpose with Tensions

To define your purpose, first list cultural tensions relevant to your business, then list ways to describe your brand’s best self, and finally brainstorm ‘we exist to…’ statements, optionally starting with ’the world would be a better place if…’.

17. Get PR Story Straight

Before seeking PR, ensure your company’s story is clear and concise, ideally explainable in a single sentence, as this clarity is crucial for reporters to understand and convey your message effectively.

18. Realistic PR Expectations

Have realistic expectations about PR outlets and timelines; early-stage startups often secure exclusive coverage with a single outlet, and major publications rarely cover seed-stage funding announcements unless the story is exceptional.

19. Avoid Straight Funding PR

Do not make a straight funding announcement your sole PR hook; instead, use the funding as a news hook to tell a larger, more compelling story about your product’s availability, customer momentum, or key partnerships.

20. Make Story Relevant for PR

Frame your company’s story to be interesting and relevant to the target outlet’s readers, not just your internal team, by highlighting broader trends or making customers into heroes to increase appeal.

21. Leverage Local Press

Utilize local press if your business has a local story, customers, or impact, as local outlets are often more eager for stories than national tech publications and can provide valuable coverage.

22. Hire Marketer for Ongoing Needs

Consider hiring a full-time marketer when you have many ongoing marketing problems that freelancers/agencies can’t solve cohesively, or when you have a repeatable sales motion and need more marketing qualified leads.

23. Prioritize T-Shaped Marketers

When hiring a marketer, look for a ‘T-shaped’ individual who is deep in one marketing function (e.g., product, performance, comms, creative) but also possesses enough knowledge across other functions to be effective.

24. Interview Question: Proud Project

When interviewing marketing candidates, ask ‘Tell me about a project you’re proud of’ as an open-ended question to gain broad insights into their experience and capabilities.

25. Interview Question: Cool Campaign

Another effective interview question for marketing candidates is ‘Tell me about a campaign you recently come across that you were not involved with that you thought was cool,’ to gauge their awareness and critical thinking about external marketing.