The nine elements
In the version used in MAPS, the elements are these, from the outside in:
- External — the value proposition (what you offer and why choose you), the position (where you sit in the market), the relationships (what kind of bond you build with customers and stakeholders).
- In between — mission and vision, the brand core (its essence, the underlying promise) and the personality.
- Internal — the competences (what the company does best), the culture (how people work and what’s valued) and the expression (how the brand presents itself: signs, style, tone).
The matrix can also be read along the axes that run through the center: every internal element has an external counterpart. Competences must support the value proposition; mission and vision the position; culture the personality; expression the relationships. Where a pair doesn’t hold, there’s a promise the company can’t keep, or a strength it isn’t communicating.
How to use it
1. Fill in the core first
In a few words, what’s left of the brand if you strip everything else away. If the core can’t be written in one sentence, the rest of the matrix will be inconsistent.
2. Then internal and external, separately
For the internal side you need the company’s people and documents; for the external side, the voice of the market: customers, reviews, competitors. Filling them in together leads you to write what you’d like to be, not what is.
3. Check the pairs
For each axis, one question: does this internal element really support the external one? Mark the alignments and the gaps.
4. Turn the gaps into recommendations
Every gap can be closed in two ways: by changing the external promise or by strengthening the internal side. Choosing which is a strategic decision, not a stylistic one.
The most common mistakes
- Filling the boxes with generic values. “Quality” and “passion” fit any brand, so they say nothing.
- Only the internal point of view. The whole point of the matrix is to compare it with the market’s.
- Reading the boxes one by one. The value is in the relationships between the elements, not in the elements.
- Stopping at the diagnosis. A gap without a choice about how to close it just stays there.
