Our thinking on business and brand, and what makes them grow
The patterns of brand building
Brand building involves piecing together how different parts of your brand work together, from what it stands for to content. Image: Adobe Stock
By Sue Ann Ho, Founder
19 July 2025 • 4 min read
For many business owners, the hardest part of brand building is the constant, nagging question of "what to do next?"
TAKEAWAYS
- Brand building is about creating a coherent theme that runs through what you stand for and how you express it.
- It can help you create a content roadmap so that content creation doesn’t feel so much like guesswork.
- Brand building often feels messy in reality but understanding how the pieces connect can help us create that coherent theme.
Staring at a blank social media post, cursor blinking, wondering “what do we share next?” If this feels familiar, you’re not alone.
The constant struggle with content is not your typical case of a creative block. (And why should it be when you’re not even a content creator?) It’s more likely happening because you’re working without a content roadmap. This roadmap isn’t a posting schedule you feel obliged to follow. Nor is it the latest trendjacking fad. It’s something much closer to your business—your brand.
Brand building to before content building
Consider how Sheng Siong does content. The supermarket projects the brand vision of “a world where neighbours still take care of neighbours”. The way it takes care of its neighbours is by promising “一拔即中 百倍奉还” (it means something like win with one phone call, 100-fold returns) through its branded lucky draw show on TV. The show is presented by two highly popular TV show hosts and it features song-and-dance contest segments for teens and tweens. Variety show content that’s a sure-hit in the heartland neighbourhoods of Singapore.
So popular is The Sheng Siong Show that it’s been running for 18 years and counting. But to the point we’re making today, see how the theme of neighbourliness runs from brand audience to brand purpose to brand content?
One theme to connect it all
What’s happening at Sheng Siong is brand clarity. The content (The Sheng Siong Show) flows naturally because it knows exactly who it serves (neighbours), what it stands for (neighbourliness) and how to express it consistently (a content format well-loved by its heartlander neighbours).
When we start to see the connection between the different building blocks of our brands, content creation stops feeling like guesswork and starts to feel more like strategy.
Trial with purpose, error with strategy
Even with this clarity, we should be prepared that brand building still involves experimentation. It’s actually pretty common for brands to discover work works through trial and error. For example, brand content that our audiences love might reveal an insight we haven’t noticed before. We can use it to reverse-engineer a brand message.
Brand building doesn’t always follow a neat formula. It’s more often messy and that’s perfectly fine. The goal isn’t perfection from day one. It’s about making sure that eventually, every piece of your brand lines up coherently from purpose to identity, message, content and experience.
Whether you’re Sheng Siong connecting with heartland neighbours or the local clinic that built its reputation around “caring like family,” the principle remains the same. Everything should connect back to what you stand for. When it does, your brand building becomes purposeful rather than random.
Brand building isn’t hidden theory. It’s all around us. By noticing how successful brands connect with people, we can take the guesswork out of building brands that stand out and grow.
