The Importance of Brand Strategy
In 2020, I turned 40.
I stumbled over that hill with as much grace and ease as one can in the middle of a worldwide pandemic. Birthdays and age don’t normally give me pause; however, that consequential moment in September left me reflecting on the words of Saint John Paul II: “Let us remember the past with gratitude, live the present with enthusiasm, and look forward to the future with confidence.”
I recognized that while I’m grateful for the past, I had allowed the burdens of life and its everyday distractions to affect my enthusiasm for the present. I had fallen into a rut of existence that muddled through my daily responsibilities with very little structure or recognition of the great possibilities afforded to me. This had left me feeling disoriented and sluggish.
What better way to address this recognition than to begin the new year with a diet, right? But in 2021, I’m not talking about food; I'm introducing portion control with my iPhone, establishing a better sleep/wake routine and intentionally picking up more books instead of Netflix. The true purpose for this “resolution” is meant to reinforce balance, focus and discipline into my life in order to adopt a healthier lifestyle, a better mindset, peace.
As a member of the McGrath Institute for Church Life’s inaugural Church Communications Ecology Program at University of Notre Dame, our first piece of reading was A Mind at Peace: Reclaiming an Ordered Soul in the Age of Distraction. In its opening pages, it states “... the enjoyment of interior peace was the reward of virtuous living, a healthy and appropriately restrained sensory life, a clear mind able steadily to consider the causes of things in our changing world, and a heart often lifted to God.”
It’s the same reason we budget our finances; it can be difficult to manage our spending adequately when we have little to no recognition for what is coming in or going out. Or, why we map out our destination in advance of a road trip. Living without intentionality can leave us imbalanced, unfocused and with little discipline. Without some sort of structure, plan, or set of goals, what are we truly working towards other than chaos?
Stated differently, A Mind at Peace tells us, “We have agency, the power to act, and the responsibility to order our actions towards a known purpose… The power to choose and to act, is the key to achieving peace.”
I’m finding after just a couple short weeks that this added focus to my daily routine is renewing my purpose. Each day, I’m working toward a set of goals to be better than I was yesterday. I approach each day with a clear plan, I hold myself accountable and I am recovering a better level of enthusiasm. And I’m praying more, because I’m not falling down the rabbit hole of distraction or mindless boredom.
I can feel the slow shift from maintenance mode to mission. This interior renewal is awakening the hunger to be better, to learn more, to try.
I share this as our first post of 2021 because the goal at KPC is to help your ministry
#awakenthehunger. Just as the quality of my personal character is hopefully improving in this new year, our goal is to bring a similar order and strategy to the perceptions about your organization, or more simply stated, to your brand.
In fact, the reason I felt drawn to create better structure in my personal life was rooted in the work we do at KPC. I have seen this process of reinforcing a brand through calculated strategy and intentionality help organizations thrive.
Pope Benedict XVI stated in his Encyclical Letter Spe Salvi, “The Christian message was not only “informative” but “performative.” That means: the Gospel is not merely a communication of things that can be known - it is one that makes things happen and is life-changing.”
So, I propose we “make things happen” by working toward a path that will help us communicate the Gospel message with the zeal and passion – the enthusiasm – we are called to in our Baptism.
How best to do this from a brand strategy standpoint is to reinforce your own work around three guiding principles: balance, focus and discipline.
