Forget Problems and Solutions. In Branding, There Are Winners & Losers

Ever come across an idea, message, or approach that makes you go, "whoa".

That's what happened the other day when I came across the writings of one Andy Raskin.

Andy, for those who don't know, is considered by many in Silicon Valley to be the go-to guy for developing effective strategic narratives to power their sales, marketing, fundraising, product and recruiting efforts.

He's worked with companies backed by Andreessen Horowitz, First Round Capital, and GV. He's regularly consulted by companies like Uber, Yelp, and Salesforce.

Suffice it to say, this dude knows what he's talking about.

Anyway, I stumbled upon Andy's Medium page (I've since bookmarked it, and you should too), and started reading his pinned article, entitled "The Greatest Sales Deck I've Ever Seen".

The post itself is pure gold, and the deck itself is jaw-dropping.

But I wanted to focus on one point that really hit home with me.

When forming your strategic narrative, stop framing your brand and product in the context of Problems and Solutions.

Instead, frame it as Winners and Losers.

What does this mean?

Most companies formulate the messaging surrounding their product in the Problem-Solution context. "Here's the problem you the consumer are facing, and here's how we solve it."

There's a couple of glaring issues with this:

1. Most people don't think they actually have a problem, and really don't like change. If you tell them they have a problem, chances are they will resist your pitch.

2. Your brand comes off as more arrogant than helpful, which is another major turnoff for potential customers.

Instead, says Raskin, you need to reframe the messaging within a Winners-Losers context.

This means the following:

1. State an undeniable change or reality that's taking place in the world

When you start with a change or a reality, as opposed to talking about "problems", you position yourself as more of a partner in helping your prospect navigate this new shift taking place.

2. Show that there will be winners and losers.

All prospects - every last one of 'em - suffer from loss aversion. In simpler terms, this means they prefer to avoid a possible loss by sticking to the status quo, rather than risk a possible gain by opting for change.

To overcome loss aversion, you need to show how this undeniable change/reality is too big to ignore. In other words, you need to show them that those that hop on board and adapt to this change/reality will come out as winners, and those that don't will end up losing.

Now, you're not talking to prospects about how their status quo sucks and your company is the messiah to their troubles. Instead, you've deflected focus onto something undeniable, something that everyone in the room can understand and relate to.

We've all seen countless examples of companies who adapted to undeniable changes, as well as their counterparts. Winners and losers, like Netflix and Blockbuster. Google and Yahoo. Apple and Blackberry.

And no one, regardless of the size of their company, wants to be a loser.

The next step, Andy recommends, is to introduce The Promised Land. Showing what the path to the future looks like.

But that's for a different post.

Getting back to the Winners-Losers proposition...

This idea really got me thinking about how I can improve the brands I work on.

I'll be honest, I've always considered myself pretty adept at brand development. I've worked on quite a few over the last number of years.

And as forward-thinking as I tried to be, I still operated within the context of Problem-Solution when developing any branding, marketing or sales-related material.

But the world is changing.

You can't develop brands in the context of "Us vs Them" or "Our Product vs Their Product".

In today's day and age, it's so easy for a competitor to copy a product and bring it to market. Customers, for the most part, don't give two craps about "Us vs. Them". They care about themselves and how they want to be perceived. They don't care about your inferiority complex.

Winners and Losers.

If that's the new context for brand messaging, then that should be the new context for brand development.

Our brand will help you be a winner, and here's how.

Andy, you've definitely given me something to think about...