3 Reasons Buying into Your Brand Beats Buying Your Product

Sales are the lifeblood of every business, but looking at your customer relationships as transactions is shortsighted. Ideally, you don’t want your customers to feel like they are buying a product or service but buying into your brand. Why? Because if they’re just after a product or service, they have many choices besides you. But suppose you’ve differentiated your business by truly understanding what you do better than anyone else and how you meet customers’ emotional and functional needs. In that case, you can turn prospects into lifelong advocates.

Differentiating yourself is not always easy, but is critical in helping your business reach its fullest potential. It begins with explaining why you do what you do – what problem in your industry do you solve better than anyone else? What unique perspective do you bring? What unmet market need have you identified? What drives you? (If you think you’re driven by money, read this)

Businesses that have built their brand around why they exist have distinct advantages over competitors:

The ability to command a higher price

Businesses that do a better job of communicating their value proposition are perceived to be able to deliver better performance than someone with a generic or undefined message. As people, we are predisposed to trust those who share our values and experiences. If a brand can’t communicate its values, it takes extra work for customers to connect with them. Much of this connection happens unconsciously, so if you’ve ever decided not to do business with someone but can’t explain why, you’ve experienced this. Someone who shares values with you is worth more to you.

Brands with a look and feel that is “put together” can create effective marketing that reaches more customers and makes a lasting impression – making it easier to win new business. Businesses that have developed an authentic brand can also create connections that create repeat business. More demand for your service allows you to charge a premium. You can see the proof with the products and services you buy daily.

Consistency built on a clear purpose

By grounding what you do and how you do it with why you do it provides the compass to help you use your roadmap effectively. From your marketing communications to your employee’s actions, knowing your purpose guides every decision you have to make. As people, we tend to appreciate and respect consistency among our friends. When people are unpredictable, it dilutes trust. The same goes for brands. Your customers deserve consistent, positive experiences each time they interact with you, your employees, or your product. It all comes down to you establishing what you stand for and consistently delivering it. And that eliminates decision friction for your customers, allowing them to choose you over competitors confidently.

In addition to predictability for your customers, by aligning your actions with your purpose, you streamline your own decision-making. When making significant choices for your business, you can more quickly know which option brings you closer to your end goal and which aligns better with your purpose. With that knowledge, you move forward more confidently, more quickly, and with conviction.

Connect with your audience

While creating a brand, you’ll narrow down your target audience and be able to focus your marketing on the right customers. Trying to be all things to everyone is expensive, and the inauthenticity it creates strips your brand of trust. The branding process helps you refine your message and appearance to tap into customer needs and preferences. From there, you have a way into their hearts.

The reality is that finding and winning new customers is one of your business’s largest expenses in terms of time and financial investment. By understanding what you stand for and what you do better than anyone else, you can go beyond creating transitions with customers and start creating deep, mutually rewarding relationships that go way beyond your product or service. When people believe in your business and share your values and purpose, they are more likely to become advocates for you, customers for life who will always choose you, even if you’re the more expensive option, and even when new competitors appear.

Ready to build a brand customers love? Contact us to unlock the 3 reasons & discover how we can help!