Lessons from the Mat #5: What Are We Standing On? How yoga reinforced what I’ve learned about building strong brands

One of the hardest conversations I have with prospective clients usually comes in the first conversation.

They want to talk about messaging.

Or marketing.

Or campaigns.

Instead, I ask them a different question.

“Before we talk about marketing, what are you actually trying to achieve?”

The conversation almost always changes.

Years later, I realized I ask the same question every time I step onto the mat. I’ve come to realize that beginning with an intention changes the entire practice, providing clarity and focus.

Root Chakra & Brand Clarity

Yoga associates the root chakra with stability and grounding. That metaphor has stayed with me because the strongest brands I’ve worked with shared those same qualities.

I think of the root chakra as the place where everything else begins:

• Why does my brand exist?
• What promise do I make to my core audience(s)?
• What feelings do I want to evoke when people encounter my brand?

When I rebuilt my own website recently, I thought I was rewriting copy. Instead, I found myself rewriting how I explained my work.

What changed wasn’t my experience.

It was my clarity.

Building the Base First

One pattern I’ve noticed is that organizations rarely struggle because they lack ideas.

More often, they execute before they’ve agreed on what they’re trying to build.

One of the biggest misconceptions I encounter is that brands are built through more marketing.

In my experience, they’re built through clarity.

I’ve found the strongest organizations return to their North Star regularly, creating time and space to reflect before they communicate.

Sometimes we have to slow down to speed up.

Your Mat Is Your Mirror

The mat doesn’t lie. When you’re off-center, it tells you. When you’re grounded, it lets you fly.

Strong brands work the same way. They reflect how well an organization understands itself.

I’ve come to believe the strongest brands don’t begin with better marketing. They begin with better understanding.

Yoga didn’t teach me that. It simply gave me another place to practice it.