If it’s to be the most admired or leading or respected or blah blah blah in our industry, you’ve missed the point.

Seriously ask yourself, in the end, what do you want people to really think about your company? What do you want to be known for?

Positioning your brand in an uncontested space in the competitive landscape is all fine and good. Increasing awareness and preference is important. Identifying a singular value proposition, which is communicated consistently is a best practice. And establishing a platform for your brand architecture can be very beneficial to large corporations.

But after all is said and done, why should people care about your brand?

It’s an important question because it’s easy to get wrapped up in the industry jargon and providing complex strategies of how to win in the marketplace. But if your brand doesn’t really mean anything significant to someone, what’s the point?

The end goal for Apple isn’t to be the leading manufacturer of personal electronics. Virgin isn’t trying to be the largest conglomerate with consistently sustainable returns. Nor is Tesla simply striving to provide cutting edge technology in electric vehicles. All of their brands mean something much more. And that is why they succeed.

Simon Sinek says that people don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it.

What we do, as marketers, should be more than just creating positioning statements or developing more effective ads. Why we do it, why we should matter to people is the end goal. We have the opportunity to make a significant difference in people’s lives. Ask the question.