You caught me staring at my bike again. I’m trying to sort out some weird fit issues. And before you ask, yes, it’s still very much bike season here. The roads and trails are bone dry, even if the ski resorts finally have a little snow.
Anyway, this bike is set up almost exactly like my others … but something about it just feels off.
And that got me thinking about a conversation I had with a founder last week.
He told me his brand felt the same way.
Not broken. Not in crisis. Just…off.
So I walked him through the three questions I always go to when a brand starts drifting. And no matter where your brand is currently, these are some of the best brand-alignment questions that you can ask yourself.
So real quick, here goes:
1. What are you actually trying to build?
Not “grow DTC” or “fix retention.”
What world are you building that people want to be a part of? It’s as simple as that. If this is fuzzy, everything else gets fuzzier and reactive.
2. What do you want people to feel with your brand?
Not “trusted”. Not “authentic.”
A real human feeling—something that makes their head-nod or that little spark that makes someone say “these are my people.” Without this, your creative slides straight into that generic stuff that all of your competitors are doing.
3. What’s the one thing you believe that your competitors don’t?
This is the one that kinda snaps everything back into focus. If you can articulate your hill—your actual POV—your strategy and creative get a whole lot clearer, and whole lot more meaningful.
Brand drift isn’t failure. It’s probably just a sign you’ve had your focus on other things, which happens to all of us.
But these three questions?
They’ll get you out of the weeds and back on track every time.
Too bad they won’t help me figure out the fit on this bike. Oh well.
We’ll see you out there.