Two bulls fighting each other. I was thinking it could represent the old and the new way, and you forced to taking sides. But I'm afraid it didn't really work that well, so you could simply ignore it if you prefer. Photo by Richard Lee on UnsplashA brand framework from Andy Raskin
I heard a successful marketing manager recently say that they’ve had success with “Andy Raskin’s simple brand framework”. I have zero experience, but growing interest in marketing, so I thought I’d check it out. This article is a short summary of that. You might be better off reading his own words:
Summary
The essence of the framework is that
- Things are changing: The world is changing, and an important thing is happening.
- You got to pick a side: There will be losers (who can’t adapt) and winners (who do adapt).
- The winning side actually wins: The new reality makes your (the customer) life better.
- We support you: We (the company) happen to have features and help with the transition.
- You can trust us: We already have many success stories.
Why it works
Huge change is interesting
The framework sets a scene of something interesting happening. There is a big and important change going on in the world, in your field of work!
You work in support? Well, the last few years development in AI is about to radically change that. Users will be expecting instant help, personalized to their use of your product. Expect the staff to get sliced in half, if not more!
It prompts action
By painting a divide between the old + bad and the new + good, we appeal the customer to take action to avoid becoming outdated/obsolete.
You still write support articles manually? Do you still reply to support emails by hand and take pride in a 1 day respond time? It’s not 2005 anymore, you know…
You get a repeatable frame for ads and identity
“We don’t do X (the old + bad), we do Y (the new + good)” is a simple, short story that can be portrayed in so many ways.
Scene 1 (old): Stressed, tired, support person on a landline phone with several phone calls coming in simulatiously.
Scene 2 (new): Calm, happy person where phone support is handled automatically.
or…
Scene 1: Customer waiting in line on the phone. Automated voice saying they’re number 8 in line and estimated 20 minutes left.
Scene 2: Customer calling and getting immediate answer with a personal response.
Simple for customer to retell
The narrative is so simple: Our world is shifting from A to B. You want to get to B. This company helps you get to B.
- It’s easy for me to trust the story, because it is simple and makes sense.
- I’ve seen relatable content repeatedly showing the two camps, and it’s obvious to me that I want to be in the new camp.
- It’s easy for me to engage internal decision makers, because I can retell the motivation for changing (rather than recalling and explaining features + motivation for it)
- It’s easier to trust the company, because getting from A to B is the only thing they’ve ever told me that they do.
Simpler for company to align/prioritize
The framework is mainly about sementing the big, important change and how the old way is vs. the new way.
This makes it easier for the company to align internally too, because you can always ask: Is this getting our customers from the old to the new way? How is it helping them do that?
It could also help motivate employees, as they are a part of a big and important transition.