What Feeling Do You Sell?

Your brand is not just what you sell. Your brand is how you make people FEEL. So, what feeling are you selling??

Here’s how to look at it… you’re out of toilet paper and you need to go pick up a new pack! Where do you head? Target. Why? You just as easily could swing by the local convenience store! But you choose Target because of the way Target makes you feel. You crave that feeling of browsing the aisles, leaving with 10 more items than what you went for, admiring the new home decor, and that’s a win for Target! Target sells comfort, familiarity, and escape and is getting your money because of the feeling it sells. It’s literally not even about the product!

Another example… Louis Vuitton. Louis Vuitton sells handbags for freaking thousands of dollars. HOW?! Target sells handbags too! And we’ve already established that people love Target. BUT, a Target handbag doesn’t give you the same feeling of luxury and power that a Louis Vuitton does. People purchase these luxury bags from Louis Vuitton for the feelings.

Is this making sense? You need to figure out what feeling you sell! What do you want to evoke in your potential customers to draw them to you and in your current customers to keep them coming back!

Understand the Feeling You Sell

Here’s an exercise that can lead you to a better understanding of the feeling YOU sell with your business (or want to)!

Sit down and do a brain dump of alllll the words that come to your mind to describe your brand and also the words that you would like for people to use to describe your brand. Is your brand luxurious, fun, edgy, whimsical, etc.? Just write, write, write – seriously anything that comes to mind! Nothing is off limits.

Ok, you’ve written down all those words! Now, I want you to circle the ones that jump out at you on the page.

Finally, go back and really circle, star, underline, highlight the 3 to 5 words that you feel are your soul words. These are the words that you feel in your gut that you want to guide the feeling of your brand.

Take me for example, I would describe my brand as joyful, colorful, academic, fun, and light. These words clue me in to the feelings that I hope to sell with my brand! You have to let your soul words guide you as you develop your brand and work to evoke these feelings in your customers! With these words, you should be able to have a starting point to develop your colors, visual imagery, verbal imagery, tone of voice, etc. They are a guide for the feeling that you sell and every aspect of your brand should be described as such and evoke those feelings!

People Pay for a Feeling

People pay more for a feeling, for significance, for that identity – than they will for the product. SO being extremely clear in your brand feeling is everything.