TL;DR:
- A true strategy isn’t a long to-do list; it’s a focused solution to a single, well-defined problem, and it requires the courage to say “no” to everything else.
- Your brand isn’t as important to your customers as it is to you. They see a tiny speck, not the star you see. The first step is to accept this reality.
- The goal of great marketing isn’t just to sell; it’s to move your brand from the forgettable list of ‘and others’ into a category of one.
- To reach millions, you must stop talking to the masses. Instead, define one single, specific person and create everything exclusively for them.
In every industry, for every product, a silent categorization happens in the mind of the customer. There is the one brand that feels like the default, the right choice, the North Star. And then there is a vast, blurry category simply called ‘and others’.
Annually, billions are spent on advertising and marketing efforts that do little more than sustain this background noise—campaigns that are seen but not felt, heard but not remembered. An astonishing 89% of advertising goes completely unnoticed. Why? Because most brands are fighting to be the loudest voice in the ‘and others’ category, believing that passion for their own product is enough to make others care.
It isn’t. People don’t care about your brand or your product nearly as much as you do. They have their own lives to live.
The path to becoming a North Star brand isn’t about a bigger budget. It’s about a radical shift in perspective.
The Telescope Problem: Why They Don’t See What You See
One of the most profound mistakes in marketing is the assumption that people see your brand as you do. As founders and creators, we look at our brand through a powerful telescope, making it appear enormous, detailed, and critically important.
Your customer, however, is looking through the other end of that same telescope. To them, your brand is a tiny, barely perceptible speck—one of thousands.
Now, imagine that tiny speck is talking about itself—about its “innovative approach,” “traditional quality,” or “unique service.” Even if all of it is true, it’s just a speck whispering in a hurricane of noise. This is why listing features fails. It doesn’t make the speck any bigger or more relevant in their world. Your job isn’t to describe the speck; it’s to make them feel its gravity.
Stop Selling a Product. Start Sharing a World.
Imagine a Hollywood executive receives a movie script: a young couple falls in love, has kids, gets a dog, the kids grow up, and the couple retires peacefully. End of story. Would it get funded? Never. It’s safe, predictable, and utterly boring. A story needs something more to be compelling.
Yet, in advertising, this is the exact script used every day: a happy family uses a product, smiles, and the logo appears. This approach is a styrofoam boat: it will never sink, but it will never build speed or go anywhere meaningful.
To break free, you have to stop talking about your product and start talking about the world of the person you serve. No one is truly interested in another cool product, but they are deeply interested in the person they can become. The most effective marketing helps people imagine a better version of their own life, with your brand playing a small but vital role.
The Litmus Test: Who is Your ‘Alex’?
To get the attention of many, you must hold a conversation with one. Not a demographic, not a target market, but one single, specific human. Let’s call him Alex.
A weak creative brief—the document that kicks off a marketing campaign—is a list of vague demands: “Target people 18-25,” “create a viral video,” “be trendy.” This forces a creative team to guess and ultimately copy what others have done before.
A powerful brief, the kind that builds North Star brands, tells a story. It might look something like this:
Meet Alex.
He’s 19, lives with his parents, and is about to start university. He has two best friends and spends most of his time making music on his computer, convinced he’s going to be famous. He sees himself as an adult, but his only income is a small weekly allowance from his parents.
For Alex, the most important thing is to be different from the ‘mainstream’ (mostly adults who don’t get it), but exactly like his friends. He’s navigating that delicate space between youthful rebellion and the need for belonging.
Define His World & Your Opening
- The Category: Most snack brands in his world talk about “great flavor,” “perfect for parties,” or “extreme crunch.” It’s a sea of generic messages.
- The Competitor: The leading brand positions itself as a silly court jester, using absurd humor that tries to appeal to everyone and, as a result, truly connects with no one.
- The Enemy: The real enemy isn’t another snack. The enemy is the “adult world”—the world of boring rules, lectures, and people who don’t understand him.
- The Opportunity: The position of a knowing accomplice, a friend who gets it, is completely vacant.
- The Danger: The biggest risk is to act like an adult trying to speak the language of youth. It’s inauthentic and instantly rejected.
Craft Your Core Message
With this deep understanding, the strategic task is no longer “sell more snacks.” It becomes a clear, inspiring challenge: “Show Alex we get him by making our snack a small act of rebellion against the boring adult world.”
The resulting message isn’t about flavor. It’s about being an accomplice. It’s the snack you eat to avoid going home for dinner for just one more hour.
From a Vague Wishlist to a Sharp Strategy
A long list of goals—increase sales, build loyalty, raise awareness—is not a strategy. It’s a list of hopes.
A true strategy is a focused, often difficult choice. It is the deliberate decision to say “no” to a thousand good ideas to pursue one great one. It identifies the single most critical challenge and dedicates all its energy to solving it. It’s the difference between a shotgun blast that scatters everywhere and a single, sharp arrow that hits the bullseye.
To become a North Star, you must first choose which star to be. You cannot be all things to all people. You must choose your one person, define their one core problem, and become their one undeniable answer.
The journey from an anonymous speck to a guiding star has little to do with volume and everything to do with clarity. It’s a quiet confidence that comes from knowing exactly who you are for, what you are fighting against, and the small, human truth you are here to share.
What is the one truth only your brand can tell?