Why Brand is the Only Long-Term Strategy

Consider the business of brand, moving beyond metrics to build stories that stick.

I've been alive long enough that I have worked as: a salesperson, graphic designer, web designer, social media marketer, PR person, event producer, creative director, content strategist, copywriter, and other stuff, too.

There are a billion job titles but at some point I stopped paying much attention to them because no matter what I do, regardless of tactical outputs, the work is the business of brand.

You can sell stuff without a brand, but if you don’t have a brand, how much and how long will anyone care about your stuff? How loyal will anyone be to you and your purportedly wonderful stuff? Not very.

It doesn’t actually matter what your product is, beyond a certain point. Like, sure, yes, it “matters” but in the very long term sense of maximum value creation and customer capture and engagement — not really, no, the product isn’t the point.

A brand is a narrative system.

A brand is a story from which your products, services, and all communications flow. To be super simplistic about it, no one is buying Nike tee shirts for the technical function of cotton to keep their bodies warm; they are buying a signifier supported by stories told by a brand that makes them feel a certain way and helps them indicate certain things about their beliefs, lifestyle, self image, social and economic classes, etc. to others.

I do this for a living because I continue to find this phenomenon fascinating. The human hunger for good stories truly never ends.

Over time, with a strong brand, you can successfully offer anything: consumer goods, experiences, software, ideas.

If people know who you are and believe what you say, you earn the right to take up space in their brain, and then…sure, also sell them stuff, if you want.

Data-informed marketing is important, but if you are only focused on individual metrics like clicks, visits, shares, email opens, etc. etc. you can miss the big picture. You aren’t just grabbing attention. You are creating a compelling place your users want to be.