Why branding starts with questions, not design.

People are often surprised when our first meeting doesn’t involve looking at logos.

In fact, it rarely involves design at all.

Instead, I ask questions.

Lots of them.

Not because I don’t have ideas, but because the best ideas come from understanding your business properly.

The interesting thing is that you already know all the answers. You’ve lived them. You’ve built the business, made the mistakes, celebrated the wins and dealt with the setbacks.

The challenge is that you’re so close to it that it’s difficult to see the wood from the trees.

Over the years I’ve developed a discovery process that’s really just a structured conversation. The questions are designed to help you think about your business from a different perspective.

Who are you really trying to help?

Why do customers choose you?

What do they value most?

What would they miss if you disappeared tomorrow?

I’ve lost count of the number of times someone has stopped halfway through a conversation and said, “I’ve never thought about it like that.”

Those moments are gold.

Because once you’ve answered the right questions, the branding becomes so much easier.

Great branding doesn’t begin with creativity.

It begins with curiosity.

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This blog is the second of a five part series on the branding process and was taken from the Valhalla Branding email newsletter Fjord Focus. To ensure that you don’t miss out on the next part, you can subscribe here. Over the next few newsletters, I’ll take you behind the scenes and explain each stage in a little more detail.