Brand Discovery Phase – The Most Important First Step Toward a Strong Brand Foundation

In the last few weeks, I had been productively busy participating in the preparation for a brand discovery presentation to a panel of corporate clients. As I was helping to prepare for this presentation, I took note of some things that I wanted to share with you about this important phase in the development of your brand. Many of the exercises and principles for corporate groups, I also apply when working with consultants, trainers, nutritionist, and other small business owners and entrepreneurs.

First, let me give you a little more information about preparing for this brand-changing presentation. As part of this presentation, the preparatory materials included: a PowerPoint presentation, written report outlining the results from the brand discovery, and initial logo identity comprehensive designs.

So, what goes into the brand discovery phase and how can it benefit you to explore this phase in depth for your own business?

Brand Discovery

• Exploration and Finalization of Core Values – Your core values are the core principles that guide you in your business. In everything that you do in your business and everything that you express in your marketing must always link back to this ‘backbone’ of your brand and what you stand for in simplest terms.

• Identification of your short and long-term goals – Know who you (your business) are today, compare it to where you were, and form a vision of what tomorrow (and the coming years) holds. What is your vision for your business in one, five, and ten years?

• Get clear about both your strengths and your weaknesses – To accomplish excellence and stand out, you must understand what your strengths are in your business and what can potentially be holding you back from achieving your goals.

• Ensure that the external perceptions of your business align with the inner perceptions – You may know what you stand for in your business and what you do to bring results to your clients, but are you clearly conveying it? As part of the brand discovery phase, it is important to acquire feedback from your ideal audience, often referred to as your target market. There are multiple ways to do this; as with the brand development of the corporate client I mentioned above, a extensive phone survey was conducted. Other ways of doing this include: online surveys and customized and anonymous email surveys.

• Collect internal and external feedback to create a positioning statement – Also known as your mission statement, your positioning statement is meant to clearly express who are you, what you offer, and for whom in a compelling way.

These are just a few of the main steps you must take within the brand discovery phase. This phase leads you to the next phase in your brand development, the Brand Expression phase. The discovery phase must happen before you can successfully market your business. This phase acts as the foundation for all that you do in your business and the basis of your brand expression.


Prepare to effectively brand your business in 2010. The Brand Development Phase for Networkers, Coaches, Trainers, Solopreneurs, Consultants, Representatives, and other entrepreneurs and small business owners is available beginning in January 2010 through the Unearth Your Brand Excellence Program. The Unearth Your Brand Excellence is a powerful preparatory course to building a brand foundation for your business to set yourself apart from other businesses who seemingly offer the same products and services. In addition, the program is specifically designed to give you the tools to effectively communicate your unique brand promise. Are you ready for brand excellence? Information coming soon at www.lisahromada.com