Brand Positioning | Selling Your Soul The Visionary Chronicles

The Visionary Chronicles Podcast
CHRONICLE: January 11th, 2022
 
"I put my heart and my soul into my work and have lost my mind in the process.."
                                                                                                     Vincent Van Gogh
 
Brand Product Positioning | Selling Your Soul
 
Over the years, we have seen brands come and go, each with a different reason for not surviving. But most, if not all, have made the crucial mistake of Selling their Soul.
This happens when a brand has carefully crafted a premium positioning in their respective marketplace and then decided to sell out and move into a channel their loyal customers did not expect or create a product not up to the brand's standards, much less the customer. So you end up Selling Your Soul for either short-term gain in exchange for long-term pain. Being a brand is much a lifestyle translation as it is a product. When you understand this, you know why you alienate your loyal community by cutting corners or putting your product where it does not belong.
The fear of failure can sometimes outweigh common sense, which is devastating when it happens. I am sure there are many times when you ask yourself, "whatever happened to that brand?". Often, Selling Your Soul is a fatal mistake. You are selling your Soul to make a quarter in revenue, move excess inventory, or find a new distribution channel. There is a way for a brand to navigate these waters successfully, but you must not drown in the process.
So what are the Rules for not Selling Your Soul?
Never go somewhere you do not belong. If you are premium, stay premium.
Never make an inferior product. If you are best in class, stay best in style.
Never let someone else out-innovate you. Always out-innovate yourself, not the competition.
 
Each of these points is meant to stop you from losing your Soul as a brand. This is something not given, but it is earned. The trust of your loyal customer, never break this bond.
 
Stay True, Stay Authentic, be Different, and be Great!
Enjoy the Journey!
 
Bryan Smeltzer, President
 LiquidMind Inc.
 
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 © All rights reserved, Bryan Smeltzer, 2023
 

 
Bryan Smeltzer is a consumer products business executive and entrepreneur. He has held executive-level roles in business development, product, and marketing with some of the world's most prestigious brands, including; Oakley, TaylorMade, Adidas, K-Swiss, Schutt Sports, among other international brands. He also founded a men’s apparel brand, successfully running a profitable business for ten years, eventually selling to a VC firm.
 
He also hosts a Podcast called The Visionary Chronicles, and recently finished his first bestselling book, The Visionary Brand, The Success Formula Behind the World’s Most Visionary Brands, and recently received the prestigious Readers Favorite Award for BEST Non-fiction, Marketing Genre book.

He is also a member of the Board of Advisors at UCI’s BCIE along with their New Venture Program, an Innovation Advisor at the UCI’s Applied Innovation program at the Cove, a Mentor/Advisor to UCLA’s Price Center Venture Accelerator Program, and a Mentor/Advisor at the San Diego Sports Innovators Accelerator (SDSI) center.

Bryan currently oversees LiquidMind Inc., a global brand strategy firm that partners with both start-ups and established, mid to large-cap consumer brands to empower their businesses to think different, be different, drive a passionate culture, and execute relentlessly.
You can contact or  follow him at;
 
 bryan@LiquidMindsite.com
  @bryansmeltzer33
 @bryan_smeltzer
 @bryansmeltzer
 linkedin.com/in/bryansmeltzer/