We forget that marketing is about the customer even though we preach it all the time.

We instead talk about storytelling.

We instead talk about brand identity.

We instead talk about viral, influence and performance marketing.

But we always fail to talk about marketing in the terms of what an ordinary person on the street would care about.

The mind can only hold a certain number a things. After a while the rest has to be forced in.

And in most cases, “the rest” blocked out or not heard.

Because once that simple core idea is set, the frame, the rest is built around it.

Remember, simple ideas over complex ones.

When we talk about the colors or symbols of a brand, sometimes it can feel like the conversation can get rather elementary.

Should this be blue or red? Should this symbol be this shape or this shape? Where should we place the logo? How should it look?

In a lot of ways, all of this seems rather pointless but when you realize you are dealing with associations not design – it’s easier to think about it – and the tremendous importance of it.

It’s hard for people to remember complex things or concepts by themselves. When we think of one thing, we think of the next thing. It’s like a web. When I say chair, you may think dinner. You then may think house. Then you may think community. Or you maybe you didn’t think of any of those things and simply thought of an experience you had or a chair you have.

The point is no thought lives in isolation, it’s connected to other thoughts.

So it may seem insignificant changing the colors or deciding where the logo should go but it’s one of the most important decisions you can make.

Because once you decide, it determines how people will think about your brand, what it will remind them of and what it will be associated with for the years to come.