It’s easy to fall in love with the aesthetics of a brand — bold colors, clever messaging, and a shiny new website.
But for Lauryn Warnick, Founder & CEO at Villain Branding, the real work is to bring a brand to life across every customer touchpoint and see measurable brand value as a result.
“A brand is a relationship.” And, like any good relationship, it thrives on an emotional connection and a mutual exchange of trust. To build that relationship, Lauryn believes every brand needs to have three core elements: differentiation, relevance, and credibility. “You can build something that looks different, but if it doesn’t matter to your audience, or if you don’t deliver on it, it fails.”
Here’s how Lauryn helps clients create brand experiences that are not only distinctive but also connected and scalable.
- Lead with Credibility
Being bold isn’t enough — your brand also has to be believable. True credibility comes when your messaging matches the experience your customers actually have.
“A brand is a promise you keep. You can have the best message in the world, but if you can’t operationalize it, you’re breaking trust with your audience,” she says.
Those operationalized gaps can appear anywhere: in the product, the go-to-market approach, or even the internal culture. Building trust means consistently delivering on that brand promise across every part of the business — from sales and marketing to product, finance, and customer success.
“A lot of startups forget this,” she says. “They lead with a bold message, but the product isn’t ready. Customers feel like they’ve been sold a great idea that doesn’t actually exist.” And when that happens, not only do you lose the sale — you lose trust, which is a lot harder to get back.
- Audit Your Brand Like It’s Alive
Most companies treat branding as a one-time launch. But Lauryn sees it as a system that constantly evolves. “Your brand is never done. It’s alive in every touchpoint and across every channel. Your core brand elements from messaging to voice to visual to campaign should be audited and refreshed regularly — ideally quarterly, at minimum annually — to assess how it’s performing across touchpoints.”
She often brings in cross-functional teams — salespeople, product owners, creatives, and execs — to run what she calls “live crits,” collaborative reviews of what’s working and where the brand is breaking. “If we keep seeing issues — like sales scripts that miss the brand voice — we create targeted tutorials to fix that. Maybe it’s a refresh on UX copy, maybe it’s storytelling training.” These micro-audits allow teams to address specific issues without overwhelming the organization with broad, generic guidance.
- Make the Brand Everyone’s Job
Too often, brand lives in the marketing silo, and as smart marketers know a brand is a relationship internally as much as externally. When the leadership team, sales, marketing, HR, and product all co-own the brand, it becomes real. “Everyone should feel like they know what’s sacred and what they can evolve to make the brand hyper-relevant to their audience,” Lauryn noted. With shared understanding comes shared accountability — and ultimately, stronger execution.
In Lauryn’s view, the most successful brands aren’t just crafted — they’re lived. Brand isn’t just a marketing asset. It’s a business asset. And like any economic asset, it should make money for your business.