I've been a long-distance runner since high school. I love road races, trail runs and marathons. I even ran the NYC Marathon twice many years ago, and it’s still my favorite sporting event to watch.

Long-distance running has always been my passion, whereas sprints were never my thing. I appreciate sprinters for their incredible training and strength, but to me sprints are all about flying off the blocks and going as fast as you can on a track, in your lane, for a short period of time. 

Long-distance running, on the other hand, is more strategic. You must pace yourself, and plan when and where in the race you'll make your move. You must navigate and respond to course, which is always is always different. You must discover smart ways to gain a competitive advantage with every step. 

It's also important to build techniques into how you run that become muscle-memory and improve performance, such as lengthening your stride to run more distance with every step, or learning to love and power up hills when most others are struggling. 

The cumulative impact of adapting to nuances of the course and smart techniques always adds up to a greater competitive edge.

I've come to realize that the things I love about long-distance running are similar to the things I love about brand strategy and development.

→ You can always learn more about the landscape

→ You can always build more effective techniques into your approach

→ You can always find ways to fine-tune strategy and tactics, by focusing on the things that will have the most impact

Many brand leaders I speak with are just starting to realize that how their brand makes people feel, has the most impact on future engagement and loyalty. Also, that instinctive responses from the Limbic part of our brain, guide most of our behaviors. 

What I love so much about the work I do, is that I'm helping brand leaders get even better at attracting and retaining customers through the application of more effective brand strategy and neuromarketing.

As you think ahead about brand development and growing your business, here are some approaches that you can apply to gain a competitive advantage:

FOCUS 

→ Clarify the motivating purpose that makes your brand unique & desirable.

CONNECT 

→ Strengthen connections by understanding people’s emotional needs & desires, and how they want to feel. 

EVOLVE 

→ Create evolved communications, experiences and offerings that address what people care about most.

If nothing else, remember that understanding what makes people tick and addressing the things that they care most about, is biggest and most under-leveraged way to gain a competitive advantage. 

Brand development is a marathon, not a sprint. 

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