Make the Customer the Hero
If your message centers you, it usually lands flat.
Customers want to feel understood and guided.
Headspace doesn’t lead with features.
It leads with the outcome people want, and it behaves like a guide.
A clean case study is Nike Run Club.
Nike could talk about shoes all day.
Instead it leads with you.
Your miles.
Your streak.
Your progress.
The product supports the hero’s journey.
Simple idea coined from: Building a StoryBrand by Donald Miller (2017).
Messages centered on yourself typically fall flat. Customers seek to feel understood and guided, not to hear about your features.
The Sub-Brand Trap
The trap looks like success. The firm is good at the thing it was named for, good enough that it has earned the right to do more. A tax practice wants to move into advisory. A product company wants a second line.
The Repositioning Window
Every brand gets one window to reposition cleanly. Most firms find out it existed only after it closed.
Becoming a Category Outlier: 3 Industries Begging for a Challenger Brand
Three industries have a problem: everyone looks exactly the same.