The View From Inside

A colleague of me recently told me that her client was “Inside the bottle and couldn’t read the label.” 

I had never heard it phrased like that before, but she’s 100% right.

Being too close to your brand, or in this case inside the bottle, makes it virtually impossible to see your company the way the public sees you. Branding decisions require an outside perspective.

Advertising and marketing professionals are particularly skilled at staying outside the bottle. It is crucial to developing a concept or strategy to look at a brand as a customer; to step back and observe. And then, you need to peel away the label to ensure what’s inside matches.

An outside perspective is achieved through a combination of analytics, market research, and fresh eyes. 3Seed collects as much data as we can get. Constantly. We talk to people who chose our client and talk to those who didn’t. We quantify website traffic and monitor social media. And then, we collect qualitative data about the competition. 

Once it’s all shaken and stirred, we have the eyes to see your brand the way the public sees you.

The process of quitting the bottle can be challenging. 

When you started your company, you undoubtedly had an idea of what you were and what your brand would ultimately be. In today’s climate however, your customers define your brand. They see you for what you really are, not what you want to be. And they tell others. With fervor. 

When you’re outside looking in, you can adjust the way things look inside. Change your messaging and respond to the market. Let me be clear, you’re aligning the message with the way you are perceived, not changing what you’re about. Lean into what people think of you – because that is who you are.