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Forging An Ironclad Brand: A Leader's Guide
Good brand is just good business.
Brand is the intentional leader's North Star. It helps us engage customers and employees, unleash our competitive advantage, and fuel enduring growth.
And yet, despite this power, brand is grossly underused. Few leaders leverage brand fully, believing (wrongly) that brand is squishy and elusive. But when a tool this vital is dismissed, the business suffers mightily.
The good news is that all leaders can ignite brand to create value.
Lindsay Pedersen deconstructs what brand is and why it is indispensable for leaders. Then she shares her step-by-step process to tame the infinite possibilities and pinpoint a brand positioning that is true and robust—ironclad—to unlock the most value.
In this book, learn how to…
• Leverage brand as a strategic platform for growing with purpose
• Lead more effectively with brand as your North Star
• Use brand to excite customers and employees
• Identify your Uncommon Denominator and Benefit Ladder
• Follow the principles of storytelling to generate business growth
Brand is sorely underutilized. When you ignore it or use it only superficially, you forgo your most sustainable competitive advantage. It's time to start using brand as your North Star—it's time to make your brand ironclad.
Brand is the intentional leader's North Star. It helps us engage customers and employees, unleash our competitive advantage, and fuel enduring growth.
And yet, despite this power, brand is grossly underused. Few leaders leverage brand fully, believing (wrongly) that brand is squishy and elusive. But when a tool this vital is dismissed, the business suffers mightily.
The good news is that all leaders can ignite brand to create value.
Lindsay Pedersen deconstructs what brand is and why it is indispensable for leaders. Then she shares her step-by-step process to tame the infinite possibilities and pinpoint a brand positioning that is true and robust—ironclad—to unlock the most value.
In this book, learn how to…
• Leverage brand as a strategic platform for growing with purpose
• Lead more effectively with brand as your North Star
• Use brand to excite customers and employees
• Identify your Uncommon Denominator and Benefit Ladder
• Follow the principles of storytelling to generate business growth
Brand is sorely underutilized. When you ignore it or use it only superficially, you forgo your most sustainable competitive advantage. It's time to start using brand as your North Star—it's time to make your brand ironclad.
- GenresBusiness
267 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 30, 2019
39 people are currently reading
51 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 14, 2020
This isn’t my usual 5-star review—but Lindsay is a mentor of mine, and this book is a must-read for brand marketers and business leaders. I think I highlighted something on every page! Her framework is such a valuable tool for getting clarity on what matters to your customers and how to elevate your space in their hearts and minds.
October 3, 2023
This book deeply delves into the brand strategy process and why it matters to companies. It’s packed with great quotes, insights and process tips for practitioners. I would say this is not an introduction but more of a pursuit of mastery kind of read. And, yes, while I chaw through fiction faster that a wood chipper, nonfiction takes me a looooong time to read.
May 1, 2019
Having had the pleasure of working with Lindsay Pedersen on a few iron-clad brand projects, I was skeptical that this book could live up to the delightful experience of working with Lindsay in person. Lindsay is bright, funny, cheerful; she asks great questions and is an even better listener. But reading Forging An Ironclad Brand, I was happy to be proven wrong! This book captures nearly everything.
Lindsay starts with the basics - what is brand? What is branding? Why is it important? With these terms clearly defined, Lindsay begins to demonstrate the power that a strong brand can bring to any company or organization.
The core of the book is Lindsay’s 8 step methodology for crafting a new brand or focusing your existing brand. The steps are easy to follow, with easy exercises to help bring out the nuances. While reading Lindsay’s deceptively-simple brand strategies, sometimes her guidelines and frameworks are so perfect and universal that it feels as though she's unveiling platonic ideals!
Throughout the book, Lindsay uses lovely anecdotes to demonstrate the power of a cohesive brand strategy. A story about a young Patagonia employee stood out to me. Although the employee was relatively new to the company, Patagonia has such a strong brand that this employee was able to immediately embody the company’s vision and goals. In a meeting, he was unafraid to suggest the audacious idea that all Black Friday profits be donated to charity… and this idea was so aligned with Patagonia’s brand that they adopted the idea almost immediately! This story gave me goosebumps!
For my organization, this process helped us learn things about our brand that we had never contemplated before - we even identified new audiences for our work! Even though Lindsay worked with us over two years ago, I continue to use Lindsay’s terminology and frameworks to help advocate for brand and marketing at my organization. When followed, Lindsay’s frameworks and guidelines provide a map to success for your company. This is a fantastic book!
Lindsay starts with the basics - what is brand? What is branding? Why is it important? With these terms clearly defined, Lindsay begins to demonstrate the power that a strong brand can bring to any company or organization.
The core of the book is Lindsay’s 8 step methodology for crafting a new brand or focusing your existing brand. The steps are easy to follow, with easy exercises to help bring out the nuances. While reading Lindsay’s deceptively-simple brand strategies, sometimes her guidelines and frameworks are so perfect and universal that it feels as though she's unveiling platonic ideals!
Throughout the book, Lindsay uses lovely anecdotes to demonstrate the power of a cohesive brand strategy. A story about a young Patagonia employee stood out to me. Although the employee was relatively new to the company, Patagonia has such a strong brand that this employee was able to immediately embody the company’s vision and goals. In a meeting, he was unafraid to suggest the audacious idea that all Black Friday profits be donated to charity… and this idea was so aligned with Patagonia’s brand that they adopted the idea almost immediately! This story gave me goosebumps!
For my organization, this process helped us learn things about our brand that we had never contemplated before - we even identified new audiences for our work! Even though Lindsay worked with us over two years ago, I continue to use Lindsay’s terminology and frameworks to help advocate for brand and marketing at my organization. When followed, Lindsay’s frameworks and guidelines provide a map to success for your company. This is a fantastic book!
June 27, 2024
Good review on how to think about brand and to go about finding your own.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews