The Principle of Focus in Creating Brand Alignment

You’re an ambitious entrepreneur with grand dreams for your business. You can see paths to success in many directions, and you’re trying to pursue as many of them as possible. The result: your head is spinning with all the tasks you need to do, and the quality of your work is suffering, all while you feel overwhelmed and overworked. 

You’re not alone, but there’s something that can turn it around in an instant: the principle of focus. Another way to look at focus is through the acronym:

Follow One Course Until Success

The Principle of Focus 

In his book Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less, Greg McKeown explains how to whittle down your to-do list to the core essentials and give them your full attention — a concept he refers to as essentialism. You’re distributing your time and energy across fewer specialties, but because of this, you’re able to do those specialties very well. 

Think of it as a great piece of nigiri sushi. It has only two components: a ball of rice and a slice of fish. When those two components are paired exceptionally well, though, it’s utterly fantastic. 

Using that same concept in your business is an excellent way to strengthen your brand. You can give customers a clear picture of your core brand rather than trying to be all things to all people and falling short in all regards.

The principle of focus can be a game-changer for your brand and your professional life. It gives you a stronger, more memorable brand while also simplifying the way you work. Here’s how: 

Developing a Well-Defined Brand 

We’ve all been to a restaurant that offers dishes from just about every culture, cuisine, and course you could imagine. These restaurants are difficult for the average person to compartmentalize. It’s hard to feel loyalty toward a business when you can’t quite put your finger on who it is or what it does. 

When you’re advertising a scattered mixture of services and products for your business, your customers feel the same way. They can’t figure out your place in their worldview, so they don’t know how to define you. As a result, they don’t develop a sense of familiarity that turns them into loyal customers. 

Creating More Appeal for Your Audience 

Take a look at these two emails and decide which one would make a better impression on you. 

Email 1

“Hi, Janet. I saw that you recently moved into the neighborhood. I’d like to extend a welcome to you in the form of a discount on my housekeeping services. I specialize in single-family homes, so give me a call if you’d like to learn more.”

Email 2

“Dear sir or madam, would you like help cleaning your home or business? Do you need help with your routine building maintenance? Would you like a professional to improve your landscaping? Our team is here to help with an introductory discount.” 

You’d probably prefer the first email. It’s personalized and suits your specific needs. It also tells you this person has a distinct specialty, so you know that they can handle the job. 

When you have more direct, specific branding, you’re more appealing to your customers. They feel seen and understood, so they’re more likely to become loyal fans. In the above example, you could offer commercial cleaning and landscaping as extra add-ons, but you want to focus your branding on one specialty: cleaning single-family homes. 

Giving You More Control Over Your Brand 

There are only so many hours in each day, no matter how you slice them. If you have eight hours to focus on your branding, how should you spend your time? Is it better to rush through 20 different tasks or give your undivided energy to three or four tasks? 

It’s likely that focusing more and doing less will get you better results for your branding. When you have the time you need for each task, you can slow down and truly think through your messaging, imagery, and strategies. 

If you’re scrambling to produce social media posts, emails, direct mail pieces, billboards, blogs, and other outlets to flex your brand, you won’t have that kind of time or focus. You’ll end up with a disjointed, scattered collection of messages that don’t create a cohesive and identifiable image. 

Using the principle of focus in your branding is easier said than done.

When you narrow your branding focus, you need to consider your audience, your business’s offerings, the market outlook, and countless other elements.

That’s why it’s beneficial to bring in a professional. Brand strategists can help you find the exact, straightforward, focused brand parameters you need. Better yet, we can develop a comprehensive branding strategy to help you put that brand into action.

Build a Better Brand

If you’re ready to create and enjoy brand alignment in your business and you want clarity around focus, reach out to our strategy team to help.