🧠 50 Ways to Leave Your Guidelines (And Actually Build a Brand)
💡 A tactical list for brand builders who want to show up everywhere, on purpose
This is The Case for Brand, where brand meets business. I’m Amanda Gordon—brand strategist, fractional marketer, and former Division 1 runner who still likes to move fast (but with purpose). Every week, I break down how brand actually drives growth—from building it, to operationalizing it, to proving it works.
This is Note to Self—a series of tactical tools for brand builders who want less theory, more traction. These are pocket-sized playbooks designed to help you move smart and fast—from naming to onboarding, tone of voice to brand architecture. Keep them up your sleeve. Pull them out when you’re stuck. Use them to turn “what we stand for” into “what we do next.”
Who will love this
Brand folks tired of explaining that “brand ≠ logo”
Leaders who want their teams to live the brand—not just parrot the tagline
CMOs and founders doing a rebrand and asking, “Now what?”
People who get irrationally excited about branded error pages and email sign-offs
Today
G’day & happy whatever-day-you’re-reading-this.
Let’s talk about something I’ve been noodling on: the myth that “brand” lives in your fonts, your logo, or that fancy deck collecting dust in someone’s Notion folder. Brand is not a veneer.
It’s not your guidelines doc. It’s not a tagline. Brand is how you do things. All the things. I know, it’s so big, and at times, vague. That’s why I’m writing what I’m writing today.
👉 I’ve worked with brands that were pre-revenue, post-funding, and everything in between. And I’ve sat inside agencies and businesses where the brief was: “figure out what we stand for—and then make it show up everywhere.”
Here’s what I’ve learned: A strong brand doesn’t just tell the world who you are. It tells your team how to act. It helps your customers recognize you. It guides your decisions. It shows up well beyond your website or ads.
So in the spirit of this classic bop here’s a riff for the brand builders: 50 Ways to Operationalize Your Brand.
Because when your brand is well-defined, you don’t just have a brand. You use it to operate and get where you need to go.
In this issue, you’ll get:
✅ A list of 50 real-life brand touchpoints (with examples)
⚠️ What most teams miss when they talk “brand”
🧠 How to shift your thinking from guidelines to operating system
🔧 A framework to triage and activate your top brand levers
Let’s dive in.
✌️
🙋♀️ What Is Brand, Really?
In my experience, “brand” starts showing up in conversations when a business is trying to get serious—about scale, about culture, about standing out. But too often, it gets flattened into surface-level stuff: a logo refresh, a new site, maybe a cheeky tone of voice.
That’s not brand. That’s decoration.
Brand is how you make decisions. It’s what tells your team how to act when no one’s looking. It’s what creates memory in the market. Like culture, it can be guided—but never fully controlled. You shape it in every touchpoint, every policy, every Slack message and out-of-office reply.
It’s not what you say you stand for—it’s how that shows up in the real world.
✨ Choose your path:
Most businesses seem to choose one of two paths 👇
Path 1: Brand is the deck. The logo. Maybe a vibe-y website. You play it safe, stick to “we need a rebrand” moments, and mostly talk about fonts.
Path 2: Brand is the operating system. It guides decisions, trains people, and creates memory in the market. It’s how your company moves—everywhere.
If you’re reading this, I already know which path you’re on.
🛠️ Why This List Exists
Most teams think “brand” lives in marketing. But when you treat it like an operating system, you start seeing it everywhere. From onboarding flows to job ads to Slack emojis—these are all moments to reinforce what you stand for.
If you’ve worked in a company where everyone gets it? You know how rare—and powerful—that is. So here it is: my non-exhaustive rolodex of brand. 50 real, practical, and weird places your brand shows up—and how to start using them.
🧭 Core Brand Touchpoints
Where people first meet your brand—and form a lasting impression.
Website – Your most visible brand surface—and often your first impression. It’s not just design; it’s the way you frame your story, what you prioritize, and how you guide people through your world.
About page – I know it’s a subset of website, but I’m making the rules here - about us pages are a missed opportunity. They’re where mission meets voice. I love Mountain Gazette’s about us page. Editor Mike Rogge clearly articulates the magazine's perspective on outdoor media being "broken" and social media being "sort of trash.”
Site navigation – What gets top billing says everything.
Partnership strategy – Who you link arms with. Example: Starface partnering with Sesame Street, SpongeBob SquarePants, and Hello Kitty to release limited drops of themed pimple patches.
Performance ads – All performance ads are brand ads. (and all brand ads should perform.
Packaging & inserts – How does it show up in the world? What do people feel when they open it? Who Gives a Crap ace this one.
Email sign-offs – “Best” vs “Onwards” vs “Stay Brewed.” What’ll ya choose?
Nurture sequences – Drip emails with actual personality? Magic.
Transactional emails – The forgotten child of brand. They don’t have to be boring!
Social bios – Space-constrained storytelling.
Loading screens & error pages – Little moments. Big signals.
🛠️ Culture & Operational Touchpoints
How your team lives the brand day-to-day.
Internal onboarding docs – Welcome kits, handbooks, tone. Video game developer Valve’s new employee handbook is a masterclass in introducing new team members into what’s important, in a clear brand voice and tone.
Job ads – Don’t just talk about role you’re hiring for, advertise why you do it and speak to the people who will care about what you care about. I spotted this job ad from Surfer’s Journal recently which includes this lovely line “Be sure to include what surfboards are currently in your quiver.”
Team – Language shapes culture. Starbucks calls employees “partners.” Hiut Denim dubs their makers “Grandmasters.” These choices aren't fluff—they’re signals of respect, philosophy, and brand identity. What you call your team tells them (and the world) how you see them.
Out-of-office replies – Yep, this too.
Booking links – Is yours just Calendly’s default? Missed chance.
Slack channels & emoji norms – Culture shows up here.
Office design or Zoom backgrounds – Virtual vibes matter.
Team bios & LinkedIn headlines – Say it loud, say it clear.
OKRs or strategic plans – Even spreadsheets have tone.
Pitch decks & proposals – Selling through the brand.
Training materials – For customers or team—same standard.
Job titles – Titles can communicate values, tone, and what your company really thinks matters. See: David Bronner, Dr. Bronner’s CEO, is actually a Cosmic Engagement Officer.
📦 Customer Experience Moments
Where belief meets behavior.
Live chat interactions – Human? Robotic? On-brand?
Product walkthroughs or demos – Is the vibe right?
Retail experience – Store layout, staff tone, scent (!). Tracksmith’s Trackhouses, and Rapha’s clubhouses are great examples of this.
Mobile app microcopy – Do your tooltips match your tone?
Customer support follow-ups – Tone, timing, empathy.
Cancellation flows – Goodbye with grace is good branding.
Billing docs & invoices – Even this is a storytelling chance (I’m guilty of boring, standard invoices, myself).
Referral emails or rewards – Shareable and on-brand? Love it.
User onboarding guides – teach with tone.
Rejection letters or “no thanks” responses - Turning down job applicants or prospective partners, how you say no is brand. Classy? Encouraging? Dismissive? Ghosting people (don’t do it, guys!) Choose your fighter.
💸 Sales & Money Moments
Money is emotional. Your brand should guide how you talk about it.
Pricing pages – what you say and how you frame it.
Proposals – even PDFs carry a tone.
Investor decks – tell the brand story before the financials.
Billing emails – clarity is kindness.
Affiliate or influencer briefings – set the tone, not just the terms.
Legal or terms docs – surprisingly human moments (shoutout to Lemonade’s incredibly plain English privacy policy).
Partnership agreements – even the small print reflects your ethos.
Refund or complaint handling – brand is how you behave when it’s hard. Bobbie, a formula company, nailed this during the 2022 nationwide formula shortage, by prioritizing existing subscribers by closing sales to new customers to guarantee supply, turning customers into huge fans and brand advocates.
Donation / social impact messaging – walk the talk. Example: Julie, an emergency contraceptive pill, became the largest donor of emergency contraception in the nation by donating one pill for every pill sold and partnering with various community and health organizations.
Sponsorship activations – is it a logo slap, or a brand experience?
👀 The Weird, Overlooked Stuff
These are sleeper hits—low effort, high memory.
404 pages – your best chance to surprise someone.
Careers page – This is more than a list of open roles—it’s a manifesto. A window into your culture, your mission, and what you expect from (and give to) your team.
Calendar invites – even meeting titles can carry tone.
On-hold or chatbot fallback responses – When tech fails, what do you say? “Oops, something went wrong” or “Well, this is awkward. Let’s fix it”? Still brand.
Company retreats or offsites – are they aligned with what you preach?
Mugs, swag, internal posters – not cringe if they’re well done. I wrote about values a while back, and Southwest Airlines literally printed a (great!) set of leadership expectations on a mug for their management team. Why not?!
I’m sure I’ve missed something—what is it?
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Great read. Brand is so much MORE than the logo!!