My LinkedIn feed is a daily reminder that most “experts” have no idea what they’re talking about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But instead of just ranting, let me show you why they’re wrong and what you should do instead:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“You need to build your brand!” “As a CMO, I own our brand strategy!” “Our brand positioning needs work\u2026” “B2B is completely different from B2C!” “Let me tell you about our unique value proposition\u2026” Want to know if your positioning actually works?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Quick test: If you get five different answers, you don’t have positioning. The truth is, unlike doctors bound by biology or athletes bound by physics, positioning has no physical limits. It’s pure perception. (Stop pretending to be fucking doctors and rocket scientists.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Your job isn’t to be better. Stop describing features. What concept could your business fundamentally own if you weren’t bound by conventional thinking?<\/p>\n\n\n\n P.S. Share this with someone who needs to stop playing the “better than” game and start playing the “different from” game.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" My LinkedIn feed is a daily reminder that most “experts” have no idea what they’re talking about. But instead of just ranting, let me show you why they’re wrong and what you should do instead: “You need to build your brand!”Wrong: Your business IS your brand.Right: Focus on owning a concept in people’s minds. Every […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2258,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feature"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulsyng.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulsyng.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulsyng.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulsyng.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulsyng.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2257"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/paulsyng.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2257\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2259,"href":"https:\/\/paulsyng.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2257\/revisions\/2259"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulsyng.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulsyng.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulsyng.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulsyng.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<\/strong>Wrong: <\/em>Your business IS your brand.
Right:<\/em> Focus on owning a concept in people’s minds. Every business decision either reinforces or undermines this position.
Example:<\/em> Volvo doesn’t “build a brand.” Every decision reinforces their ownership of SAFETY.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/strong>Wrong:<\/em> Positioning is business strategy, not marketing.
Right: <\/em>CEOs must own positioning because it’s your business’s atomic core.
Example: <\/em>Tesla’s position as “the future of transportation” drives everything from product development to retail strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/strong>Wrong: <\/em>You either own a concept, or you don’t.
Right: <\/em>Focus on claiming and defending mental territory.
Example:<\/em> Mercedes doesn’t “work on” luxury. They OWN status itself.
Note: Also, WTF is ‘brand positioning?’ It’s just positioning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/strong>Wrong:<\/em> All decisions are made by humans.
Right:<\/em> Understand fundamental human psychology and desires.
Example:<\/em> Salesforce doesn’t sell “B2B software” – they own business transformation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/strong>Wrong:<\/em> Features and benefits aren’t positioning.
Right:<\/em> Own a concept (noun), don’t describe attributes (adjectives).
Example:<\/em> BMW doesn’t sell “fast cars” – they own PERFORMANCE.
“We need to improve our brand marketing!”
<\/strong>Wrong:<\/em> Marketing is marketing. Adding “brand” is meaningless jargon.
Right:<\/em> Focus on what your business fundamentally is, not what you say about it.
Example:<\/em> Red Bull doesn’t market “energy drinks” – they own HUMAN PERFORMANCE.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
<\/strong>Ask five people in your company what concept your business owns.
– Not what you sell.
– Not what you do.
– What fundamental concept you ARE.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You have confusion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Your job is to own mental territory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Start owning concepts.
That’s how you win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n