Have you seen the ABC program Shark Tank?  If you are interested in business, marketing and branding you will enjoy the Shark Tank.  Each program has ideas pitched to five investors (Sharks) and they question the entrepreneur’s strategy, tactics, focus and a variety of other factors to decide if they want to invest in the entrepreneur’s company.   I love it. It’s the best business show on TV http://abc.go.com/shows/shark-tank/episode-guide   (although The Profit is a very close second).

Quite often the ‘Sharks’ have to point out to the entrepreneur that they have lost focus and they need to get back on track. Focusing on your brand is the first step in brand development.  It reminded me of a story about selling cheese.  It started in 1941 with Admiral Nimitz in the South Pacific.

Admiral Nimitz took command on December 31, 1941. Every battleship in Pearl Harbor had been either sunk or damaged.  Assuming command at the most critical period of the war in the Pacific, Admiral Nimitz successfully organized his forces to halt the Japanese advance despite the losses from the attack on Pearl Harbor and the shortage of ships, planes and supplies.

Creative brands ask strategic questions. Admiral Nimitz had a strategic question to focus his command on his goal of victory over Japan. Of every plan or suggestion he asked, “Will it get us to Tokyo?” Tom Daniels served under Admiral Nimitz and heard the question very often and took note of how it focused the staff.

After the war Tom Daniels got a job with Kraft Foods and remembered the impact the question had on his thinking. He modified the question to “Will it sell cheese?” Kraft Foods is grateful.

This is a strategic thinking question. It communicates and focuses on the goal and it makes the listener consider how his actions align with that goal.  Brand development has many facets but the most important is focus.

When you are communicating, simplicity and repetition are powerful forces–combined they are overwhelming. Asking the question makes you and the listener think. And this question is applicable to any business. If you sell products—“Will it sell more brakes?” If you are in the service business—“Will it help the patient to better health?” or “Will it help our client be more profitable?”

Communicating effectively is challenge number one for most businesses. Our messages are often too complex to be repeated often enough to be make an impression. That is the magic of this question. It’s simple and direct. It focuses on the goal and it’s easy to bring in the conversation.

Try it. Will it sell…

Advertise.  It pays.

About Ken Gasque

Ken Gasque is a brand developer—a professional marketer with a design background. Ken works with small companies and Fortune 500 companies who recognize the need to differentiate their products and services in a cluttered market. Ken is a highly visual, outside-the-box-thinker on advertising, branding and marketing. Ken writes a blog and lectures on brand and brand development. To learn more, visit www.Gasque.com