Adjectives Can't Make Decisions

Ask a business owner to describe their brand and you'll get adjectives.

Professional. Premium. Approachable. Trustworthy. Reliable.

Here's the problem...

Every single competitor claims the exact same words.

Which means they tell your customer nothing. And, even more importantly, they tell you nothing.

Because an adjective can't make a decision.

When you're sitting there at 9pm deciding whether to discount, whether to push harder in an email, whether to try a new style of content - "professional" gives you no answer at all.

A character does.

That's what archetypes are. Not a branding exercise. A decision-making shortcut.

There are twelve recognisable ones - Hero, Sage, Outlaw, Caregiver, Ruler, Magician, Explorer, Jester, and a few more. You know all of them instinctively, because they're the same characters that have run through every story humans have told for thousands of years.

And the structure I use is simple:

One dominant archetype. One or two supporting. With weightings.

Mine is Hero at 70%, Sage at 20%, Outlaw at 10%.

The Hero drives growth through challenge - calling people upward, framing struggle as necessary, believing excellence is earned.

The Sage brings calm authority and long-term systems thinking, which stops the Hero from shouting.

The Outlaw is the accent. Breaking false norms, calling out what doesn't work, used deliberately and sparingly - which is why I'll curse in an email occasionally but never constantly.

The weightings are the part people skip, and they're the most important bit.

Without them you end up being everything to everyone, which is how brands become generic. You can't be demanding and nurturing and rebellious and authoritative all at once. The percentages force a hierarchy, so when two instincts conflict, you already know which one wins.

Now here's the distinction that I uniquely teach...

Your archetypal mix is not the output. It's the input. The output is the emotional experience your audience has when they interact with you.

The archetype is what you express.
The emotional experience is what they feel as a result.

Two different things, and they sit in different places.

So you don't choose Hero because Hero sounds good. You choose it because of what you want your audience to feel - and in my case, that's capable, clear, and proud of who they're becoming.

Ask what someone should feel after reading your email, walking out of your clinic, unboxing your product. Then ask which character helps produce that feeling.

A Caregiver-led brand makes people feel safe and looked after. A Ruler-led brand makes them feel they've bought into something exclusive and controlled. A Jester-led brand makes them feel lighter and carefree.

Same business category.
Completely different experience.
Entirely because of the character behind it.

And there's a simple test for whether you've actually got one...

Your archetype should answer questions you'd otherwise have to think about.

In my case, "should I discount?" A Hero-led brand doesn't because discounting contradicts earned excellence. That's not a judgment call I make each time. It's already decided.

"Should this email be softer?" Not if the dominant archetype calls people upward.

That's the real payoff. Not a nicer brand deck.

Fewer decisions, made faster, that all point the same direction, and all lead to the same emotional experience of your brand.

Because consistency isn't a style. It's what happens when every decision comes from the same character.

This email covers one part of a bigger framework. My Core Business Model shows how brand identity, target audience, and your product or service have to align - and what sits in each overlap, including the emotional experience your archetype is meant to produce.

If you want the one-page version, reply to this email with the word MODEL and I'll send it through.

If you know someone who would benefit from reading this, please forward it to them. It may change the trajectory of their life for the better, and the catalyst could be you.