seppy

Before you start your business, before you spend a dime on marketing or hire another brand strategist, you need to consider something: You don’t have a brand. Everyone from aspiring entrepreneurs to seasoned business titans believes in the power of branding. But the truth is, most businesses, nonprofits, charities, and social movements aren’t brands. They are tattoos. Unlike market-driven brands, tattoos are mission-driven. And if you have a tattoo, approaching marketing from a brand mindset will prove–inevitably–unsuccessful.

Leonardo da Vinci created the two most famous paintings in history, The Last Supper and the Mona Lisa. But in his own mind, he was just as much a man of science and engineering. With a passion that sometimes became obsessive, he pursued innovative studies of anatomy, fossils, birds, the heart, flying machines, botany, geology, and weaponry.