Working with a small Italian fashion brand last year. Founder kept describing the brand as “contemporary Italian womenswear”. Every piece of marketing was beautiful and generic.
We ran a 3-week positioning sprint and pushed her to make one decision: who is this NOT for?
The answer that came out: “it’s not for women who want to look 25. It’s for women 35+ who refuse to dress like their mother but also refuse to chase trends made for teenagers.”
We rewrote the entire brand voice around that single sentence. No new product, no new visuals, just a sharper position.
What changed in 90 days:
– Email open rate: 18% → 41% (same list, same send times)
– Site bounce rate: 71% → 48%
– Average order value: +27%
– Customer testimonials shifted from “beautiful clothes” to “finally a brand that gets me”
The lesson: “who is this not for” is a faster path to brand clarity than “who is this for.” Saying yes to everyone is the same as saying no to identity.
Anyone else here use exclusion to find their brand voice? Curious what frameworks you’ve seen work.
