Grow beyond the boundaries of branding

When I started my company, I didn’t have a logo.

My only priority was getting my book into people’s hands, getting my message into people’s hearts and getting my name into people’s heads.

Everything else was secondary. Including design.

But about a year into my career, I noticed something pretty interesting. My brand identity started taking on a life of its own. Any time my book title, website address, company name, biography or surname showed up in the media, the editor would just go ahead and throw an image of a little nametag right next to it.

The thing is, I never asked them to do that. It just happened. The marketplace was filling in the gaps. They saw something that wasn’t there. Just like the human brain makes statistical estimates to complete the visual picture, people finished my story on their own.

Because the nametag was something that was already there. It was the universal experience. The nametag made it easy for people to tell themselves a particular narrative. It was the handle by which the brand could be lifted.

So in the end, I never had to design my logo.

Because the audience defined it for me.

And it hasn’t changed since.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
What if the market targeted you?