When it comes to your brand your customer hates complexity and confusion. The best way to enter the mind is through the oversimplification of your brands message. Some of the most successful brands are those that focus on a single word.

BMW: Driving

Mercedes Benz: Engineering

Volvo: Safety

Toyota: Reliability

GM: Uhhh…?

And other brands with just a few words:

Southwest Airlines: Low Price

Wall-Mart: Everyday low prices and more recently why pay more (saving money)

Apple: Ease of use and Esthetically pleasing

Charles Schwab: Discounts

Best Buy: Service “walk out working”

Nordstrom: Service

Coach: Exclusivity

The moral of the story here is to not tell your whole story, instead focus on one powerful differentiating idea and drive it into the minds of your buyer persona’s.

Many CEOs neglect to discover this point of differentiation for the brand. You have to put your mind on the tactics of the battle you want to win. You have to examine your competitors and their strengths and weaknesses in peoples minds. You must then find that one characteristic, attribute or differentiating idea that will succeed in the mental battleground. Then you must be willing to focus all your efforts to create a coherent strategy to exploit that positioning idea.