If I’m an objective CEO I’m looking around and seeing a lot of change.

First, I’m noticing that my competitors—even the really small ones—are catching up in terms of products, features, and capabilities. This is a direct influence of AI and vibe coding. It’s never been easier to concept, build, and launch a product especially when you have the right guidance. R&D budgets used to rule but the playing field has been leveled.

Second, I’m seeing that ROAS isn’t going up no matter how much we’re investing in paid. This is happening because most businesses are running the exact same growth playbook while targeting the exact same audience. It’s all becoming more expensive with a much smaller return—and no focus on awareness building.

Third, SEO isn’t SEO-ing. Your customers are relying on lots of different sources for info these days including Youtube, Reddit, and AI. The way you get found today is different so the days of casting a super wide content net are over because it’s just inefficient. You need to create content around what you’re good at.

This is why we’re (thankfully!) seeing more of a focus on brand again. It’s not that everyone’s come around all of a sudden, it’s just that the 2010s digital marketing playbook has stopped working and leaders are desperate to stay ahead.

If you happen to work for a leader who doesn’t know how to pivot, here are the 3 things I’d do to get started on the foundation for a long lasting and successful brand.

It’s a starting line, you know like a race…

0. I’m bringing them in

Before getting started on anything, you need to bring your CEO in, especially if you work for a leader who is maybe a bit resistant to brand building—this is doubly true if your CEO is the founder/co-founder.

And if you work at a company that’s anything like the ones I’ve worked at then your boss is already inserting themselves into this work anyway so just welcome them with open arms, but make sure you set up a DACI so it’s clear what everyone’s role is (including theirs).

1. I'm defining my unique POV

There's a very real reason your company exists. Maybe your competitors are doing it wrong, maybe your approach to solving the problem is more modern, maybe the solution to problem doesn’t even exist yet, whatever it is, lean into that insight.

Too many companies play it safe with their point of view which is why you see the same “all-in-one”, “generate revenue”, or “we make it easy” nonsense out there. It’s safer to fall back on something generic than to take an opinionated stance. And to be clear I’m not talking about politics or major issues (although I think you should have opinions here too), I’m talking about your reason for being—it wasn’t to “build a better CRM”.

When we think back to the problems above, the root cause for all of them isn’t budget or headcount, it’s the fact that you’re not thinking or saying anything different from your competition. When that happens you just become another company that does the exact same thing in a very busy crowd.

As you start thinking about what your brand looks like in the months and years ahead, you need a real point of view that no one else can own. And if you happen to piss someone off with it then you’re doing something right because strong opinions don’t have 100% support.

You should be able to boil it down into one sentence that everyone in your company can articulate and understand.

As an example, my unique POV is that Brand is bigger than Marketing and shouldn’t be held back by it. I built my consultancy around that POV. I built my agency around that thinking. I create content around that thinking. Everything comes back to creating space for brand and creativity to thrive. And when I’m wondering what to post or launch next, I check it against the POV.

Best part of building a POV is it’s free. You can literally do this today.

2. I'm building my brand from that POV

With your POV in hand, you can start defining your brand strategy—your brand story, mission, vision, values, and creative direction will all come from your POV which is why it's so important.

Notice I’m not leading with logos or colors or typography. Those are important but those are tools that support your strategy. Jumping straight into branding and messaging without taking the time to build your strategy is the quickest path to blending in because everyone wants a “cool” or “bold” brand but those words should mean something different for every company. You don’t want generic “cool.”

Notice also that I’m not talking about brand marketing here. That whole brand vs brand marketing thing confuses a lot of leaders which makes this work harder. We’re not talking billboards or TV commercials right now—maybe one day, but not today.

Once your brand strategy is ready you can move into visual identity, systems, tools, and processes. As you’re doing this, you need come back to your POV. You should be pressure testing against it every step of the way.

When I think about my brand strategy and POV, it’s

1. counter B2B culture - I pull inspiration from hip-hop, sports, media, and video games, not boring-martech.com which means I’m not gonna talk about sailing or golf or glorify B2B when it’s usually pretty lacking in creativity

2. somewhat rebellious - my whole career in B2B has been a fight against leadership that doesn’t value Creative but that doesn’t mean I’m a rebel all the way around, just on this topic

That clarity makes things much easier for me when creating content or deciding where to invest budget/energy because that POV drives my thinking and leads to consistent outputs.

Best part of defining your brand is that it creates the guardrails your team needs to be creative. Blank pages are scary, having a brand strategy and visual identity gives everyone a starting point that they could explore from and build on top of.

3. I'm making my brand as easily accessibly to everyone at the company as possible

Your brand should be the underlying operating system for every employee and department. Everyone should have easy access to all of the documentation, assets, and tools.

This feels like a waste of time to a lot of leaders because the assumption is that only marketing talks to customers. Well guess what… sales is creating decks, CS is sending emails, product is writing in-app messaging while engineering is writing developer docs, and the people team is building careers sites. Every one of those touch points is a brand experience—good or bad—and if they feel disjointed, you're going to have a customer trust problem.

So what do we do? Build a brand you believe in then create all of the enablement and training tools your company needs to embrace it. Your customers will love it because their journey is consistent, your team will love it because they have the tools they need to succeed, and your CEO will love it because the whole company is showing up looking way more polished.

How do we do it? This is where things like a Brand HQ and self-service really come into play to enable everyone to get their work done. The major side effect of this is that by opening up and democratizing the low lift creative work, you’re freeing up your creatives to really shoot for the moon—something they can’t do when pumping out endless paid ads.

Best part of making your brand accessible is that you get to pressure test it with every team and customer segment which allows it to evolve. None of this stuff is all or nothing. It can and should be built over time.

How does this help with product, ads, or SEO?

The short answer is focus.

Instead of trying to be everything to everyone, your team gets the permission to focus on the right work for your audience. That means sharper messaging, better ideas, and a focused product roadmap. Rather than building or creating content that blends in, you’re taking your sharp POV to market and actively focusing on the people who believe what you believe (or at least are curious about a different way to do things or who hate it but need to see more).

Product - you stop building every feature under the sun and instead focus on the pieces that support your vision. In my opinion, this is one of the primary reasons we’re seeing so many amazing point solutions emerge as the all-in-ones become more bloated, overpriced, and mediocre.

Ads - your ads become less generic and more direct. This makes the creative better which is proven to get more clicks and eyeballs. You’ll be surprised to see how much more attention “Your brand isn’t good enough” gets over “Reduce your overhead with an updated brand.”

SEO - everything is changing with the rise in AEO (AI Engine Optimization) but the takeaways are the same. With your POV and brand strategy in place you’re going to stop trying to rank for every keyword under the sun and start ranking for the keywords that solve your audience’s problems.

This is the kind of approach that creates differentiation. It’s not different just for the sake of it but because being different is what started your company in the first place. At some point we all become a bit less weird and maybe a bit more pragmatic but leaning into our differences is what makes us stand apart and when it comes to B2B—whether it’s today or five years from now—that’s the only way to survive.

If you read the first part of this newsletter and started to squirm a bit, it’s probably time to rethink how you show up in market. If “your brand isn’t good enough” made you wonder if I was talking about yours, it might be time to rethink your brand. If the idea of enabling everyone to use your brand felt foreign, buddy, do I have a mind blowing idea for you…

Seriously though, this is how we build brands at OhSnap! Start with the POV, build and design the brand, enable it with a powerful brand stack that includes all of our favorite tools (Canva, Air, Capsule, Zapier, etc.). The game is changing and it’s not too late to jump out into the lead.