Lean Branding

Part III. Measure

I’m a huge Socrates fan. The thought of someone actually looking at the world and saying, “You know, though I’ve been learning all these years, I declare myself absolutely ignorant.”

Brilliant.

(His actual words: I know one thing: that I know nothing.)

We have been working on building a brand in the last few chapters, but it’s time to wear the Socrates hat. Let’s detach ourselves from the work that we just created and start grinding it to the core—no strings attached.

So far, we’ve empathized with our consumers (see Research, in Chapter 4) and drawn from our team’s creative input to build the brand components that will represent us in the marketplace. But the reality is that until these “brand building blocks” are tested, they remain assumptions.

From now on, we will make use of the following Brand Learning Log to capture the process of testing each of our components. At this point, let’s focus on the “To Measure” and “Measuring” sections (Part IV will deal with “Measured”).

This tool will help you keep track of what you’ve assumed, measured, and learned during this Lean Branding process. Eric Ries introduced the term validated learning in The Lean Startup, claiming that startups “exist to learn how to build a sustainable business. This learning can be validated scientifically by running frequent experiments that allow entrepreneurs to test each element of their vision.” ...