Stop trying to build brand

Every founder wants to build brand. The usual answer is brand video, in-person events, community, storytelling. A lot of buzzwords.

I think most of that misses the point.

Brand is an aggregate experience

Think about brand like a person.

You meet someone through a mutual friend. They tell a joke you like, then you watch them slam a door on someone intentionally. Next time you see them, they pay for someone's meal.

You can't pin this person down. One interaction says one thing, the next says something else. It's inconsistent and hard to trust.

That's how customers experience your brand, and one or a few pieces of content won't change that.

So how do you actually build brand?

The same way you build a reputation or a friendship. Do the small things consistently well and treat people the way you want to be treated. Over time, you build trust. You can't force it.

Asking how to build brand is like asking how to have a successful marriage. Anyone who's married knows that question doesn't have a clean answer. You just keep showing up, and it's a million little things combined.

The brands that blow up overnight

It's never overnight. Bare Performance Nutrition is a good example. If you're in the fitness space you see them everywhere now. People literally have their slogan tattooed on their body. What you didn't see was their founder showing up the same way, saying the same things, for years. Most founders don't have the patience for that. All anyone sees is the after.

A bunch of other brands have done similar things. The question is whether they got big because of their brand content or whether their scale gave them the ability to make it.

If you ask people about a brand they love, the answer is usually simpler than you'd think. Brand loyalty is often times is driven because they like the product and customer service is great.

Stop chasing brand

A lot of founders lose focus on distribution, retention, LTV, and customer experience because they're treating brand as a separate initiative. They want hockey stick growth. They want the shortcut.

There isn't one. Brand gets built slowly, through consistency, over years.

If your brand isn't edgy, don't be edgy. I've heard so many people say they want to be like Liquid Death. They pour all this effort into being something they're not and the customer doesn't even notice, or worse, sees right through it.

Get honest with yourself

Look at your organic comments, Google reviews, and anything else you can't control or curate. That's your real brand.

Ask someone who uses your product what they think. Don't tell them you're connected to the company. If you lead with being the CEO, most people will be nice and tell you what you want to hear. Act like you don't know anything. Very different answer.

Then ask yourself whether you're obsessing over brand because you care about the customer or because you're trying to skip the hard parts of growing the business.

Do the harder thing

Is it harder to make a nice brand video or an exceptional product? Is it harder to say you treat customers well or to actually fulfill a warranty request when it costs you money?

Brand videos aren't bad, but you're probably not there yet. Product and experience are what people actually remember and talk about. The brand video can come later… for now, do the little things right and don't lose focus on what got you here.