Setup Brand

Step 2: Positioning (Dunford's 5-Component Model)

Use April Dunford's positioning framework. Ask each explicitly:

1. Competitive alternatives — If you didn't exist, what would your customers use instead? (Not just direct competitors — include "doing it manually", "hiring an intern", "using spreadsheets")
2. Unique attributes — What do you have that alternatives don't? Be specific. Features, team, approach, speed, pricing model.
3. Value — What do those unique attributes actually enable for the customer? Translate features into outcomes.
4. Best-fit customers — Who cares most about this value? Be specific about role, company size, situation, mindset.
5. Market category — What category do you want to own? Sometimes it's an existing category, sometimes you create one.

Step 3: Audience Deep Dive

Go beyond demographics. Understand the person:

• Primary audience role — Job title, but also: what's their day actually like? What do they report on?
• Their language — How do they describe their problems? (Use their words, not marketing words)
• Pain points — What specific frustrations drive them? What do they complain about to colleagues?
• Aspirations — What would success look like for them personally? (Career advancement, recognition, reduced stress)
• Decision authority — Can they greenlight a purchase? What's their budget range?
• Awareness stage — Do they know solutions like yours exist? Or are they still naming the problem?
• Where they hang out — LinkedIn? Twitter? Industry conferences? Slack communities?

Step 4: Brand Voice (NNG's 4-Dimension Model)

Use Nielsen Norman Group's voice dimensions. For each, place the brand on the spectrum and explain why:

1. Funny ←→ Serious — Where on this spectrum? Why?
2. Formal ←→ Casual — Where? Why?
3. Respectful ←→ Irreverent — Where? Why?
4. Enthusiastic ←→ Matter-of-fact — Where? Why?

Then extract:

• Tone descriptors — 3-5 adjectives that capture the voice (e.g., "grounded, confident, plain-spoken")
• Anti-tone — What you'd NEVER sound like (e.g., "hype-driven, jargon-heavy, corporate")
• Vocabulary rules — Words to use, words to avoid, phrases that are on/off brand
• Example pairs — For 3 common content types, show an on-brand and off-brand version

Step 5: Differentiators

Ask: "What makes you different? Not better. Different."

• List 3-5 things that are genuinely unique about this brand
• For each, validate: is this actually different, or does every competitor claim this?
• Identify the ONE differentiator that's hardest to copy

Step 6: Competitive Landscape

• Direct competitors — Who else does roughly what you do?
• Indirect alternatives — What else could the customer do instead? (Including "nothing")
• Positioning gaps — What is no one saying? What territory is unclaimed?
• Competitive narrative — How should this brand talk about the space without naming competitors?

Step 7: Visual Identity

Collect design tokens:

• Colors — Primary, secondary, accent, background, surface, text colors (hex values)
• Fonts — Display/heading font, body font (Google Fonts preferred for web rendering)
• Design language — Modern/classic? Minimal/rich? Geometric/organic? Bold/subtle?
• Imagery style — What kind of images fit the brand? (Abstract, photographic, illustrated, data-viz)
• Logo — Path to logo file if available

Step 8: Platform & Content Preferences

• Active platforms — Which social platforms? Handles?
• Content types — What formats work for this audience? (Carousels, single images, threads, video)
• Hashtag strategy — Branded hashtags, topical hashtags, max per post
• Posting cadence — How often? Any restrictions?

Output

Write two files:

brands/{slug}/brand.md

Human-readable brand strategy document. This is the file every skill reads. Structure it with clear headers matching the sections above. Write in plain language, not marketing-speak.

brands/{slug}/visual-identity.json

Machine-readable design tokens:

{
  "colors": {
    "primary": "#hex",
    "secondary": "#hex",
    "accent": "#hex",
    "background": "#hex",
    "surface": "#hex",
    "text": "#hex",
    "text_on_dark": "#hex"
  },
  "fonts": {
    "display": "Font Name",
    "body": "Font Name"
  },
  "design_language": {
    "style": "descriptor",
    "imagery": "descriptor"
  },
  "logo": {
    "path": "brands/{slug}/assets/logo.png",
    "placement": "bottom-left"
  },
  "platforms": {
    "linkedin": {
      "handle": "@handle",
      "dimensions": {
        "post": { "width": 1200, "height": 627 },
        "carousel": { "width": 1080, "height": 1080 }
      }
    }
  }
}

Rules

• Don't accept vague answers. Push for specifics. "We help businesses" → "Which businesses? Doing what? Why you?"
• Use the frameworks (Dunford, NNG) but don't make the conversation feel like a form. It should be natural.
• If the user points to an existing document, extract everything possible before asking questions. Only ask what's missing.
• The brand.md should be detailed enough that someone who's never met the founders could write on-brand copy from it alone.