Branding Kung Fu: How to Create a Vision Scroll

Let's step into the dojo of branding.

In this article, I am going to lay out a specific process to create a Vision Scroll for your business, which will have your customers resonating with your company like you just whacked a gong.

I'll even provide a free template so you can whip up your own Vision Scroll, which you can refer back to anytime you need inspiration or guidance when making marketing or branding decisions.

But I have a logo! That’s branding, right?

Slapping a logo and a tagline on a website? That's not branding. Aesthetics are like your martial arts uniform: but it's the skill of the one who wears it that makes the real difference.

It doesn't matter how pretty the Gi is if it's worn by a flabby, untrained fighter.

The journey to build your brand is like mastering the ancient art of Kung Fu. It takes a lifetime of patience, dedication, and persistence. The secret sauce? Admitting that you don't know what you don't know - then the real learning begins.

That's where we start today. All of us can improve our branding, and it's best to learn together, so let's dive in.

It'll be as powerful as the ancient Shaolin scrolls of yore for your business.

Those who know do not speak. Those who speak do not know. - Lao Tzu

Wise words by Lao Tzu - much to consider here.

But in practical terms, branding starts with words. We must articulate in clear, precise language:

• What our deliverables are

• Who we love to work with

• What feeling or impression we want to give to our prospective customers

These are essential to drill down first before even thinking about visual design.

Imagine you're a Kung Fu master assessing a new student. You want to know their strengths, who they enjoy training with, and their style on the mat. This is the groundwork for your Vision Scroll. It's this foundation that turns a good design into a truly powerful one.

Translating these concepts to something practical that your company can use? That is the Vision Scroll.

It's like a one-page battle plan that everyone in your company can use to remember the principles driving your mission.

Nine Key Principles of the Vision Scroll

1. Battle Cry: Your brand's battle cry. Put this at the top of your Vision Scroll, but it might take some time to really nail down and perfect. Like the final move in a kata, it often comes after you've established the fundamentals of your brand.

2. Who Am I? How you present yourself to your clients. Are you a motley crew of Kung Fu fighters, or do you share the same training and skills? This is your business's creed. Speak more about how your background and skills help your clients, and less about your own ego.

3. Our Skills? What's in your arsenal of techniques to serve your customers? What do you bring to the fight, or the deal? And just as important, what don’t you bring? Make this as specific as possible. Protip: use sensory language.

4. Vision This is where you want to dream big. Imagine: you've climbed to the top of Wuru Peak, what do you see? This is your chance to write down your biggest business goals. Some people call this BHAG: Big Hairy Audacious Goal.

5. Best Clients By this step, you've already nailed: who you are, what you do, and your vision. Now, envision who you want to work with and why. What do they look like? Why do you like working with them? Understanding who these ideal clients are helps you focus your outreach and content marketing efforts.

6. Pain Points These are the gaps in your client's skills. Anything you offer should aim to solve a specific pain point of your best clients. In our case, we found that many of our clients don't have the time or inclination to write - even though they know they need content. So, that's what we do for them. List as many pain points as possible, you might be surprised at what you find. Protip: ask your clients directly!

7. Your Dojo's Mission This should be a one-line statement of intent. It will be a lodestar for all of the content you create for your business. For example: "Our podcast and blog will educate our best clients in the legal tech industry with insights and case studies that can't be found anywhere else." You should detail the mediums you will publish on, what value you will provide, who you will provide it to, and how it will help them. You can always refer back to your Dojo Mission when creating content or brainstorming ideas. This makes sure all of your content efforts are cohesive and aligned in the right direction.

8. Your Battlefields OK, you're pumping out Shaolin-level content: now, where does it go? The most direct way to answer this question is: where are your best clients? Where do they hang out? Is it Reddit, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram? Do they hate social media and prefer phone calls? Or do they go to conferences?

9. SEO Kung Fu If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? I'll let the real Zen masters answer that. For the rest of us, we need practical ways to find out what our best clients are searching for. This is why SEO tools like Ahrefs to find the most common search terms they are using around the pain points that you can solve.

Wrapping Up

Creating your business's Vision Scroll should be exciting. It's a method of unlocking your own inner potential so that you can go out in the world and sell with more confidence and skill.

What's not to love about that?

And to help with your Vision Scroll quest, I've put together a template that you can copy for your business. You can find it for free below:

Want more scrolls like this? Like the cut of our jib? Subscribe below. Always free. Always punchy. Always packed with value.

Let’s kick ass with content. Together.