There is a balance that must be struck when trying to fit into a persons mind.

On one side is the known. It’s the part of your brand that are familiar to me. Things I have seen before and concepts that I understand.

On the other side is the unknown. It’s the unique style that your brand brings. It’s the voice. The value. The true nature and value proposition of it.

If you are to far on the familiar side – you are generic and you are practically a commodity. I will only buy from you based on convenience and or price.

If you are to far on the unknown side – I don’t know where you fit and it scares me. If it’s so new, I won’t know what to do so I end up not taking action.

Somewhere in the middle, based on where your brand is in space and time – is what allows the brand to fit into the customers mind.

You can’t make your customers overthink happiness but that is what in fact brands do all the time.

They introduce redundancies. Clutter. Friction. Data. Noise.

People use all of these different tactics, points and systems to making a customer happy.

They overthink what happiness is for a customer and block it from happening.

The brand really has one objective – to make the customer happy in someway. So happy that they tell their friends. So happy that they start a movement. So happy that they buy a product.

When a persons happiness is overthought, it’s hard for it to ever truly happen until the tension is released.

Brands aren’t formed through uninspired, stock filled “mood boards”.

They are built through the day to day actions that your brand takes.

And each day your brand has a fundamental decision and question to ask itself:

Will we steal attention today or will we give attention today?

There is a lot of focus on brand storytelling and on “purpose brands” but not enough on Brand Style.

Brand Style is not the way a brand looks or even feels. It’s not really about the product or even the problem you are solving – it goes deeper then that.

The Brand Style is the unmistakable qualities of your brand. It’s the parts that people can see and feel with a blindfold on.

It’s these brand elements of true distinction that come from this authenticity and transparency. It’s this certain way of being in the world that no one else can copy because it is coming from the true heart of a company.

Humans buy from other humans. As soon as you understand that, you realize that the more human you make your own company – the more luck you will have with influencing them with your brand.