I’ve had it. I can’t stand to see another killer product ignored by the press, investors, and customers because its founders had no clue about branding. Because they didn’t have the time, resources, and knowledge to turn the right heads around, at the right time. Maybe that product is an app, a service, a combination of both...maybe that product is you!

Good products shouldn’t have to die because we failed to send their message across.

To say that Lean Branding is an important skill in this chaotic marketplace of ours is a massive understatement. Barriers to entry are as low as ever, competition is fierce, and everyone I know has a severe inbox problem. People’s attention has never been this divided, their demands as sophisticated, or their access to information as easy.

That being said, here’s the killer tool that I’ve been preparing for you:

A brand is your impression in consumers’ minds, and the strategy with which you build it together. Your brand doesn’t compete with product: it is the product, and its price, and the first business card that I get from you, your ultralight, superfast interface...and the (hopefully) soothing voice of whoever takes your customer service calls. Whether you’re creating a new product, a new service, or a new you, or you’re just looking for inspiration, this book is here to guide you into turning outsiders into customers with a high-conversion brand.

Early-stage, unfunded startups can’t afford to hire multimillion-dollar agencies. This toolkit is here to tell you that’s OK. Actually, it’s more than OK. It will allow you to embark on a fascinating journey: an expedition to find which combination of brand symbols, story, and strategy gets you the customer traction that your product needs.

Lean Branding sheds light on the traditionally obscure process of brand development, showing you how to create, communicate, and sell a meaningful brand by measuring its performance continuously. With over 100 DIY branding tactics and inspiring case studies, these are tools you need under your belt.

Newsflash: nobody buys “a bunch of features.” People buy from meaningful brands that help them go from point A to point B in their life. Propulsive brands. And that, my friends, is the very reason why you bought this book. So let’s get to work. Your high-conversion brand is officially in the making.

I’ll be honest: I believe that many of the world’s problems could be solved if those who actually know how to solve them spent more time sharing and less time making their knowledge sound like nonsense. It’s hard to learn about great branding when even the best branding practitioners make it seem mysterious. I wish all the best to my colleagues, but Lean Branding is no such book. If you’re also sick of hearing fuzzy terms and useless acronyms and would like to understand how to build a dynamic brand that gets, keeps, and grows customers: welcome, I’ve been expecting you for months!

At this point you probably have an idea that keeps you up at night: coding, writing, planning, hustling...putting in the extra hour (or eight). I’ve been there: I’ve been the sleep-deprived, passionate dreamer wanting to put a product in everyone’s hands. I’ve also been there for others like us: between 2012 and 2015, I was a mentor in the Colombian government’s Apps.co program. I looked more than 300 entrepreneurs in the eye as we built brands for their 90+ startups. Let me tell you something: those eyes were full of the passion required to disrupt this world.

If only the world knew them.

Maybe you’re reading this and thinking, “If only they knew me!” Has it ever crossed your mind that you could be your own agency? What if I told you that there is a way for you to start building a powerful brand today? The type of brand that opens hearts and wallets. A type of brand that also iterates, learns from customers, and offers ever-evolving shortcuts to their self-realization.

As a marketing consultant, I’m approached by people expecting to find a magic phrase that will absolutely, positively, for sure guarantee success. Let me address this straightaway: that is not what I do for a living. I do not have special powers,^[1] and brand development is not witchcraft. Brand development is (or should be) an evidence-based process where you deduce a combination of symbols, story, and strategy that will represent your offer in an increasingly chaotic marketplace.

(Please slowly repeat that word to yourself: chaotic.)

But I can’t blame you. We marketers have kept brand development strategies a secret for too long, and, as much as I’d like to tell you that there’s a simple checklist behind the whole process, that’s just not true. We’re also obsessed with saying that brand development takes forever. I learned the hard way that this is not how startups roll.

What would you do if you only had eight weeks to go from zero to saleable brand? This is the challenge that I faced with over 90 startups between 2012 and 2015. Lean Branding contains the lessons I learned along the way. Fast forward: it can be done.

Lean Branding is a guide for fast-growth companies and the teams that build them. It introduces concepts that are familiar to brand managers and chief marketing officers, in a way that does not intimidate product managers, developers, or cofounders—no matter what their background is. If you are building a brand, no matter what your business card says, this book is for you.

Lean Branding is your “Phone-a-Friend” lifeline. This book is here to help you wrap that killer product you’re building with a robust yet flexible DIY branding strategy that gets you traction. Please know that this is not something you get over with...ever. As long as your company is alive, so is your brand. And as a living being, it breathes, eats, reproduces, and gets haircuts. Lean Branding is here to show you how to make these important decisions:

There is a method to the madness. Great branding execution doesn’t come out of wizardry books, but if you focus enough, it will come out of customer interaction, a coherent action plan, and constant measurement. Lean Branding is such an action plan, and in case you’re wondering, it does include checklists.

We’ll be working from the inside out and around the build-measure-loop cycle. Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 outline what will be our action plan, and Chapter 3 is where the actual building begins. Chapter 3, Chapter 4, and Chapter 5 feature step-by-step instructions for creating the 25+ ingredients of your brand story, symbols, and strategy. Chapter 6, Chapter 7, and Chapter 8 cover how to measure if they actually trigger conversion—that is, take visitors down an action path that you’ve created for them (e.g., buying from you or subscribing to your updates). Finally, Chapter 9, Chapter 10, and Chapter 11 will show you how to iterate: redesigning, repositioning, and rechanneling whenever necessary.

However, there are at least three other ways in which you can navigate through Lean Branding:

Being unable to hire an agency can be oddly enlightening. Interviewing over 90 startups following the Lean Startup approach, I realized that having no intermediary between product development and brand creation resulted in surprisingly genuine insights. Brand development, of course, goes well beyond simple insights. And that’s where I believe agencies truly add value: execution. Lean Branding is here to give you the tools to become an execution rock star.

On that train of thought, I understand rock stars don’t necessarily read 250 pages from 1 to 250. And that’s OK. Please make sure that you read Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 before diving into the topics you’re most interested in. Also remember that Lean Branding involves a Build-Measure-Learn loop, meaning this is not the kind of book you put on the back of a shelf.

This is bedside table material.

Look out for Lean Branding Cases: short case studies where you get to see how others have succeeded at creating lean brands. Also make sure that you read the “Dig Deeper,” “Get on It,” and “Branding on Steroids” sidebars to get an idea of how the topics affect the bottom line and how to act on them immediately.

I’ve tried to strip away all of the marketing lingo so that you can focus on the action, but there’s a list of terms at the end of this book in case you do see any fancy words. Visit www.leanbranding.com for more book features, news, videos, and inspiration. If any of the quotes in this book can help someone you know, share them by tagging @leanbranding (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Google+). Finally, if you get stuck, feel free to ask anything @leanbranding (Twitter). And yes, rants are OK, too.

You can build a brand without wasting time and money. You can measure to see if it converts. You can learn and change what doesn’t. You can hack its growth. You can do this.

(Gavel hits the base.)

March 2019

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Two years ago I set out to write the book that I would love to read.

Little did I know that books are not written by capable individuals, but by talented teams. What you are now holding is the result of countless workshops, interviews, and brainstorming sessions. Through it all, I was fortunate enough to be surrounded (and often encouraged) by exceptional institutions, colleagues, and friends.

I’d like to thank:

The supportive editorial staff at O’Reilly Media, specifically Mary Treseler and Amy Jollymore, for their invaluable input;

The inspiring faculty at American University’s Kogod School of Business, the Savannah College of Art and Design, and Universidad del Norte, who taught me everything I know about business, design, psychology, and how they intersect;

My amazing colleagues and startup teams at Apps.co and the IT Ministry of Colombia, whose revolutionary entrepreneurship program is making waves in Latin America and beyond;

IT Minister Diego Molano (2010-2015) and President Santos (2010-2018), for being brave enough to launch the above-mentioned revolution;

Colciencias—Colombia’s Administrative Department for Innovation, Science, and Technology—for sponsoring my doctoral studies and research projects, which have added a much-needed psychological perspective to this book;

My incomparable family and friends, without whom I’d probably be sick, depressed, and/or underfed at this point;

God. Always, everywhere, and for everything.