Volvo. Safety. FedEx. Overnight.

Say the brand and the word arrives on its own. That pairing isn't an accident, and it's the idea behind one of the better-known chapters in marketing writing.

The Law of Focus

In 1993, Al Ries and Jack Trout published The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing. It built on their earlier book, Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind, from 1981. (Wikipedia)

One of those laws is the Law of Focus. Their line: "The most powerful concept in marketing is owning a word in the prospect's mind." Their examples are the ones above. Volvo owns safety. FedEx owns overnight. (Graham Mann's book notes)

The idea is simple. When someone needs the thing your word describes, your name should be the one that comes up. If you want a car that keeps your family safe, one brand jumps the queue. If a parcel has to arrive tomorrow, another one does.

Why it's harder than it sounds

Picking the word is the easy part, honestly. Saying no to everything else you could be known for is the painful bit.

Small businesses feel this hard. You can do lots of things well, and each one feels like money you'd be turning away. So the website lists eight services, the bio says "creative, strategic, reliable, affordable", and a visitor leaves without remembering any of it.

This next line is our opinion, not a study: if a brand tries to own five words, people tend to remember none of them.

Think of the friend you call when your car breaks down. You don't call them for recipes. They might cook brilliantly, but that's not why you have their number. You call them for that one thing.

We try to practise this ourselves. Our website opens with: "We fix positioning first, then build the identity and website that make the outside of your business match the inside." (daministudio.com)

That's on purpose. We do design identities and build websites, but we lead with positioning because it's what we want to be known for, and because the design work goes better once it's settled.

The counterpoint

Ries and Trout have their critics. Byron Sharp, in How Brands Grow, argues that being distinctive and easy to recall matters more than owning one differentiating word.

We think both views are useful. Owning a word helps people remember why to choose you. Being distinctive, with consistent colours, a recognisable look and a name that's easy to say, helps them notice and recall you at all. A small brand can work on both at the same time. Just don't use "distinctiveness" as an excuse to stay vague about what you actually do.

One thing to do this week

Find out what your word is right now, not what you wish it was.

Ask a few clients, past customers or followers: "When you think of us, what's the first word that comes to mind?" One word only. Don't give them options to pick from, or you'll just hear your own words back.

Write the answers down. If the same word keeps coming back and you're happy with it, that's your word. Put it in your homepage headline, your bio and your email signature, and keep saying it until people say it for you.

If the answers are all over the place, that's useful too. Choose the one word you'd be proud to own and that you can genuinely deliver on every single time. Then look at your website and cut or move anything that pulls attention away from it. That might mean a services page gets shorter. It's meant to.

So what's your word? Tell us, we're curious.

Branding is perceived value. Let’s raise yours.

We fix positioning first, then build the identity and website. Let’s work