Signal Detection

When a business owner says, “The brand just doesn’t feel like us yet,” what they’re usually reacting to isn’t bad copy, or even good copy that’s mysteriously “off” somehow. What they’re reacting to  is misalignment between what’s true and what’s being said. In other words, it’s a signal issue.

See, the real work—the seed that becomes a living thing, or the spark that becomes a blaze—happens before any writing gets done. It happens through deep listening. That means listening for the emotional core of the message as well as the messenger, noticing any contradictions, hearing what is carefully not being said, and sensing what matters and what’s just noise. It requires attunement: a type of readiness and openness required for clarity.

You have to be able to detect what’s alive in the work before you can try to name it. And what’s alive in the work includes all of it; good, bad, ugly. The reason the very concept of branding triggers a gag reflex in so many people is that much of it requires a suspension of disbelief. I’m thinking of aspirational brands (“I can drive this car even though I can’t afford it because I have excellent taste!”) as well as what I think of as murky brands (“I don’t really know what value this has but everyone has one so I need it!”). I’m convinced that this dynamic lands as misalignment in the mind and in the body, despite how generally unaware we are about those types of things.

Which is why, when you find a product or service or place that really resonates with you, that gives you a modicum of comfort, or a tiny feeling of safety, or just a slight boost in your self-belief, it’s a big deal. That only happens when the emotional core has been witnessed, clearly and completely, and then translated into words. At that point the language becomes pretty close to obvious. (Sometimes I can see lists of potential words falling off a page, in my mind, when my work is at this point. Options narrow, cleanly and dramatically.)

At the opposite end of this spectrum is, of course, the messaging that no amount of clever phrasing will fix. And that’s why some messages feel inevitable and others feel strained, even when they’re technically well written.

It's about the signal.

This kind of work is what I do with founders and creative leaders inside a private engagement called The Resonance. It’s a space for clarifying what’s actually true and shaping language that can finally hold it. Curious? Learn more here.