Short, Sweet and Straight to the Point – Communicating Your Brand Position Quickly and Efficiently

“If you can’t state your position in eight words or less, you don’t have a position” – Seth Godin

I’m the first to admit that my writing will most likely never be described as “concise.” While I don’t always mean to, I’ve definitely fallen victim to the “why you one word when you can use 10″ school of writing now and again.

However, when it comes to defining and communicating your brand’s core mission, you would be wise to follow the words of Mr. Godin – shorter is definitely better.

Short, sweet and straight to the point is not only a good piece of advice for your every day communication, but it should also be a building block to keep in mind when creating a brand position or defining brand values. We’ve all heard of the elevator speech used to quickly sell yourself to someone in the length of an elevator ride, and in brand strategy development, a brand elevator speech can get your name to the top of the consumer’s mind quickly.

Highlighting the impact of efficient communications when discussing who your brand is and what it stands for serves a number of positive purposes, including ensuring that the audience knows that you actually know what those values are. When you start to ramble on and speak in circles, a doubt begins to surface regarding how sure about that topic the speaker is, and in the case of discussing your brand position, that doubt can be the difference between a strong successful brand and a brand that falls flat.

Additionally, having the ability to quickly and succinctly communicate this aspect of your brand shows a sense of buy-in to what you’re speaking about. You don’t need to add filler words to try and justify the positioning to yourself – each of the words used serve a purpose to the greater quote and each spot is valuable.

Additionally, your consumers are attenuated with countless brands and an abundance of brand messaging – so much, that it often gets overwhelming and the consumer begins to shut out the noise, looking for the one brand that can get their message across in the shortest amount of time. If your brand starts its strategy with the mindset of efficient communications, it will most likely translate that same concept into all aspect of your brand – from a quick and easy to remember brand name to a tagline that follows the same principles.

Eight words to sum up what your entire brand stands for – eight words to encompass the emotional foundation for your brand strategy. That’s not a lot, but it’s definitely something to shoot for.

Addison Whitney is a global branding firm with a passion for building strong brands.
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