Create a list of words your brand avoids.

Just as brands should know how they want to be understood, they should also know how they don’t want to be perceived.

Create a list of words that your brand should avoid using. For instance, does your brand offer value? If so, what kind?

Does it offer prestige value in terms of quality, merit, and scarcity?

Or does it offer cost-effective value in terms of price, utility, and quality-for-cost?

Words matter. This sort of associative ambiguity can harm brands by disrupting customers’ interpretation of everything from market positioning to product quality.

Work through these types of questions by writing down exactly how you want your brand to be talked about – and why.