Claire Suellentrop: Brand Sprints – Talk recap from FemtoConf 2018

The FemtoConf 2018 Notes and recaps can be found on the central hub page.

Full title: Why even the tiniest companies should think about their “brand” – and how to get it over with in 3 hours or less
Website: Userlist.io
Twitter: @ClaireSuellen
Slide deck & brand sprint templates: bit.ly/brand-sprint-femtoconf

• I’m not an expert on “brand”, but I had to become “okay” at it
  • “brand” stuff makes me uncomfortable
  • Original idea for brand sprints comes from https://library.gv.com/the-three-hour-brand-sprint-3ccabf4b768a
• Brand or Brand Development
  • Brand is a promise you make to your customers
  • Makes your life easier and your company more attractive
• branding 
  • Messaging & positioning
  • voice & tone
  • color palette
  • website & product design
• Brand Marketing
  • Efforts to build top-of-funnel awareness of your brand, sometimes in ways that are difficult to quantify – e.g. billboards
• Brand dev challenges you to think more holistically
  • Where will my company be in 5 or 10 years? 
    • Lets you make smarter marketing and pricing decisions
  • Your company will keep growing. That’s what successful companies do. They don’t stop. – Jason Cohen, MicroConf 2014
• Brand development simplifies all the “squishy” decisions
  • How do we describe our features? 
  • How do we tell people how awesome our software is? 
  • What should the logo look like? 
• a consistent experience makes your company feel trustworthy
  • Imagine meeting a person in t-shirt and jeans one day and a tuxedo the next day. Which of the two versions “are” they?
  • It’s confusing, same goes with the brand
  • Brand development lets you outsource work – without worrying about losing consistency
    • How should a page on the website look? 
    • How do we write copy? 
    • What’s our tone when we do customer support? 
• Brand Development helps your employees, customers, and potential strategic partners (3 target audiences – not just customers!)
• Slide deck & brand sprint templates: bit.ly/brand-sprint-femtoconf

How to run a Brand Sprint

• Do it. Takes 3 hours
• The 6 brand sprint exercises
  • Your company’s motivation
    • 20-year roadmap
    • What, How, Why
  • Your unique details
    • Top 3 values
    • Top 3 audiences
  • Your brand relative to others
    • Personality sliders
    • Competitive landscape
• Before you sprint, prepare – it makes the actual sprint faster
  • Make sure there are no phones

Step 1: The 20 years roadmap (15 Minutes)

• Write down your predictions for your company for 5, 10, 15, and 20 years
• Share with your team members and discuss
  • What do you do after you get acquired (if that is the plan)? 
• It was great for Benedikt, Jane, and I to learn about each other’s visions
• If you’re doing it in a group, have a decision maker. At the end of the 15 minutes discussion he/she highlights the most important vision in 5,10,15,20 years
• Do we want to raise money or not? 
• Are we going to be part-timers on Userlist forever? 
• Are we going to grow it to 100+ employees?

Step 2: What, How, Why (30 Minutes)

• What we do
• How we do it better than anyone else
• Why we do it
  • We enjoy to work with founders and want to make their lives better (Great video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4ZoJKF_VuA)
  • Why are we making money with this exact product? 

Step 3: Top Three Values (30 Minutes)

• Write a list of 5-10 company values, these should help make why (above) more specific
• Start with a long list, narrow down in first round, then select the Final Top 3
• e.g. “honesty” will be a great guiding light in dark times

Step 4: Top 3 Audiences  (30 Minutes)

• Same process as Step 3

Step 5: Personality Sliders (30 Minutes)

• Pick your stand point on each of these scales
  • Casual – Formal
  • Young – Experienced
  • Modern – Classic
  • Simple – Complex
  • Friend – Authority
  • Quiet – Loud
  • Feminine – Masculine
• With Benedikt, Jane & I there was a lot of discussion about “Quiet – Loud”

Step 6: Competitive Landscape (30 Minutes) 

• place competitors on two-dimensional matrix relative to their brand personality:
  • Classic – Modern
  • Expressive – Reserved

-Christoph