Brands.

As marketers, it’s easy to get wrapped up in them. They’re our creation, so we set the rules. We just have to tell consumers about them.

But brands don’t exist in isolation. They don’t stand alone. Rather, they only thrive through connection.

Brands are based on shared meaning

Brands act as shortcuts to save us time and energy in making decisions, because we know what to expect. They also allow us to signal something about ourselves to other people. But this relies on all of us sharing a similar understanding of the brand. If it means something completely different to each of us, there is no brand.

Brands are intertwined with the culture of the business

Brands are no longer images created through advertising. They’re defined by our experience of the brand, and the sharing of that experience. But delivering a positive experience isn’t just a job for the Marketing department, it involves the whole business. And since delivery depends on the behavior of employees as much as the policies and processes of the business, the brand inevitably reflects the culture of the company.

Brands only exist if people find them of Value

We hire a brand to help us achieve a goal. And we weigh that against the cost in money and effort to determine whether it’s worth it. But we don’t assess a brand in isolation. Rather, we compare it to other brands that can help us or to what we’ve learned from experience. If we then decide it’s not of value, the brand has no place in our lives.

3 keys for connecting brands

So, rather than a mechanism for selling to customers, I’ve always found it helpful to view a brand as a vessel for shared connection. Three key steps then follow from this.

Center the Brand on improving people’s lives

Focusing the business on helping people can unite employees and customers around a shared agenda, and provide a foundation upon which the culture, brand experience, and products and services are built.

This has to be more than some generic pledge to do good or save the world, however well-intentioned. To really resonate with people, it needs to feel related to the core job that the brand does, while reaching beyond it to something greater. For example, REI seeks to “…inspire, educate and outfit for a lifetime of outdoor adventure and stewardship”, Chobani strives “to provide better food to more people”. These are both meaningful to employees and customers, and connected to the brand.

This then needs to flow through everything that the business does, so that employees, customers and the brand are aligned.

Apple stores demonstrate what can be achieved. The employees are engaged, helping customers with products that enrich their lives. The store environment and processes such as mobile checkout encourage interaction. They feel more like community centers than just stores, with everybody living the brand.

Focus on goals people want to achieve

Rather than obsess about target consumers, focus instead on the jobs people want to get done. Then work out where and how the brand can outperform its competitors in delivering it.

This is hardly a new idea, but it is fundamental to a brand earning the right to exist in people’s lives.

Take Liquid Death. It may be celebrated for its edgy, entertaining social content. But it realized that some people wanted to drink water and stay sober at bars and music festivals, while blending in with the crowd. So rather than traditional plastic bottles, it sells water in a can that looks like a beer or energy drink and feels part of the scene.

Lean in to Your best customers

Find out what your best customers really like and how they use your brand, and then give them more of it.

This may feel at odds with the current marketing orthodoxy of attracting light users. However, when people hear about the brand from people they trust, they’re far likelier to adopt it than from any communication directly from the brand. If you inspire your best customers, they will connect others for you.

Liquid Death again demonstrates this, leaning into their super fans love of alternative music, culture, and lifestyle, with sponsored music festivals, celebrity tie-ups, and even original rock albums.

But it’s not just for start-ups and niche brands. Take McDonald’s. After years spent trying to persuade people that it wasn’t as unhealthy as they believed, it finally turned its attention to the regular customers it already had. What followed was a series of marketing moves, most notably its Famous Orders campaign, that tapped into what they really loved about McDonalds. These customers felt recognized, that McDonalds really got them, and were inspired to spread the word on behalf of the brand.

A different perspective

Doing all this requires a fundamental change of perspective.

Let go of the notion that your brand is what you say it is. Put aside the language of consumers, positioning, and the like.

A brand only has life if it connects with people.

So why not start there…?