Think of it this way: unless you decide who you are, who you're not, why this difference is important, and why someone should care, everything you do - from advertising to web design to PR to packaging to the next Power Point presentation you deliver to Mega Corp. - will be, at best, ad hoc. That's the good news. The bad news is it will probably be confusing, inconsistent, and off message, as well.

Call me old fashioned, but there's something to be said about getting it right the first time. Having all your stuff look like it's coming from the same company always made me happy. Your clients will thank you for it, as well.

Get everyone with a vested interest in the outcome and outputs of this process in one room. Tell them they'll be there for a few hours. Turn off the Blackberries. And pay attention. Here goes.

Defining who you are is where you start.

1. What is it that you do? Describe it to an end user who doesn't know you today. Describe it to your mother. Just bullet points for now. Everyone in the room should be commenting and one or two should be writing it down on big easels or a white board. Capture it. Put it aside.

2. Do a brain dump of every relevant word that describes your solution. Just words: adjectives and nouns. "Simple", "Easy", "Fast", "Design driven", or whatever you are in your DNA. Make a list on the board. Put these aside, too.

3. What profound problems does your solution solve? How did you just change the life of your customer? If you were at a party a year from now, talking to a customer, describe in real terms how their lives have changed because of your solution. These are sound bytes. "I can get much more done than I used to," or, "your site helped me get out of trouble with the IRS so I could get on with my life." Prioritize these. Which are the important ones?

4. Metaphors are powerful tools. They reveal more of our subconscious than our words often do. What metaphors describe your brand? Are you a lifeboat? Are you a man riding an elephant? Are you a fire alarm? Write them down, draw them, and hold onto them.

You've just wrapped up Step One. You have a pretty good idea of who you are now.

You know what you just did in Step One? You're going to do it in Step Two, but from the Dark Side - from your competitors' point of view. Very importantly, don't blow it here - don't describe your competitors from your point of view because you'll disparage them, whether you intend to or not. If you have a big group, break out here and have two or three people do one competitor each.

1. What do they do, in their words - look at their websites, collateral, analyst reports, and anything else factual you can get. Do the description, the word dump, and the metaphor.

2. What about alternatives? Forgetting head-to-head competitors for a moment, are there alternatives to your solution? An alternative to the PDA is a Day Timer. An alternative to your Bluetooth headset is one of those rubber things you glue to your handset. I know, I know, you may pooh-pooh it, but there are twenty million people who won't. Consider them all. Stretch yourself here. These overlooked alternatives are often where your biggest problems will emerge.

Got this part in hand? OK, let's move to Step Three, where we decide how we're meaningfully different.

You've decided who you are. You've described who they are. You've also described what's important to your end users. Time to mash this up.

First, identify the important issues, features, and benefits that make up the totality of your industry -- this isn't just what YOU do, but what THEY do, as well. Write this list down. Then, prioritize it, from 1 to N.

Next, map out how you meet these needs on a scale from 10 (best) to 1 (worst). Do this for your main competition, as well.

What's important here is that you have decided, with as many facts as you have at your disposal, where you solve your end users' problems better than anyone else - and where you've chosen not to play -- and where your competitors have chosen to play. Be fair to your competitors and show where they excel. You have either chosen not to compete in these areas or, even better, have uncovered an area where you need to catch up. Good for you.

You may be lighter and more stylish at the expense of battery life. You may be all about safety and security but not willing to be as entertaining. You may be much lower cost but less full service. Decide who you are and what you're willing to walk away from and live these decisions.

So, you've now got your list of differentiated solutions, maybe a graph, a bunch of sound bytes, possibly a picture of a metaphor or two. You're getting somewhere now. You've got stuff. Now it needs your discipline to hone the message. Step Four. The heavy lifting begins now.

Write this on the white board:

"________ is the ________ that ________ because ________."

Ground rules are simple -- make a statement that hits all of your most important points of differentiation so that none of your competitors or alternatives could say the same thing. Your positioning statement isn't a neat phrase that describes you and everyone else in your category - it defines who you are at the expense of everyone else. It leads your competition over the thin ice of your choosing. This is your framing. Make it count.

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SOME QUICK HINTS TO HELP REALLY MAKE THIS WORK:

"YOUR NAME / BRAND"
is the "FACTUAL DESCRIPTION"
that "CLAIM"
because "PROOF"

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If you have a large group, get into teams again and start drafting up statements. Give everyone time to get into animated discussion bordering on fistfights. It won't take long. Maybe 30 minutes, maybe an hour. Then have each group present and defend. Remember to duck. Why does this process evoke such strong emotions? I don't know, but it does. You've all steeped yourselves in this for the better part of the morning at this point, so you're all committed. No one gives up easily by now. Capture it all, massage it, compromise where possible, push into the corners, and keep questioning the meanings of the words chosen.

Just when people are starting to come to conclusions, stop them and put them back into groups. Make them write up positioning statements on your brand, but assume that you've been acquired by one of a few well chosen iconic brands. Do you sell PDA's? What would your positioning statement look like if Apple bought you? What about Nike? Maybe ESPN? Do you sell insurance? What would your positioning statement look like if your brand was purchased and re-launched by H&R Block? Or Walmart? How about Disney? Stretch. Get back together, present, and defend. Then, get back to your own positioning.

How have things just changed? Are different words chosen? Have positions clarified or disintegrated?

Now, finish the job. Word by word, go through your statement. Did we choose the right words? Are we comfortable with the emotions we've elicited? Could anyone else say this?

Going once%u2026. Going twice%u2026

You've just created a clunky statement that will never show up in a TV spot, a website, or a brochure. But you've just built the branding edifice upon which all things are now possible. You can now provide this positioning statement, and a good bit of the background from metaphors to sound bytes, to your stable of agencies for fleshing out into everything your marketing budget desires.

If you had skipped this work, you'd all be "creatives", and we know where this leads. You've shown the discipline to see the job at hand well done. Congratulations. You've defined your brand. Now get to work.