Is Your Brand Really About “You”?

From the people who camp out overnight to buy the first iPads to the thousands who’d showed up to hear Barack Obama campaign, did a single person take action based on what either Apple or Obama said about themselves, or was it simply something that those brands fulfilled in each individual?

Whether it’s a company that drives us to choose their offerings over another, or an individual who drives a global movement, how much is their success of becoming influential icons really about them? While the rest of us focus on trying to differentiate ourselves from the pack, with knowledge from the design process at Apple, the culture at Google or the bestselling insights from the leaders of great causes, why is it that the success for icons seems exclusive to them? Maybe the answer is less about how they represent themselves, and more about how they make us feel about us?

Because when we look deeper at us, the fans and patrons of these brands, it becomes more and more self-evident:

It’s not about them, but about us.

Think about a product, service or individual that has moved you to join their cause, and ask yourself what is it about them that make them so attractive? When we choose these iconic examples like the ones below, are we really thinking about their “positioning” or “features” pitches, or is our inner dialogue a little closer to the following:

Apple: I believe I think different…

Google: I believe I can find everything I’m looking for online…

Obama: I have hope. I want change…

Lady Gaga: I’m cool as I am…

Harley: I am a rebel against the status quo too…

If you’ve loved the experience any of the brands above provided you, chances are you can identify why in a similar way. So why do you continue to focus on communicating what makes you/your brand so special, if the real driver is contrary to that logic? What would building that kind of brand look like? Perhaps something like this:

1. Stand for something first: Forget how you are going to be better with more clever marketing or product features. If you really want a devoted following, first answer why what you believe should matter to your audience. If your beliefs aren’t aligned, they really don’t have a compelling reason to care. However, if what you stand for matches what your audience does or aspires to stand for, they now have a reason to see themselves manifested in you.
2. There is no “target” audience: If your focus is which demographic your brand is ideal for, you’ve already lost the battle. No one wants to be told why you should be chosen; they choose you because you do something for them that they want to be a part of. When you most identify with your audience/customers and believe in the better version of the world you both share; you create a connection. Sometimes that connection is as you’d expected, and sometimes you simply don’t know. Whatever the outcome, a positive following is never about pitching to a demographic; it’s being that which means something to those who want in.
3. Give them the reason to keep coming back: Staying connected is less about your media strategy, and more about fulfilling and exceeding expectations. Your audience will stay true to you if you continue to empower them in creating a better them. When what you stand for matches their worldview, they want more reasons to validate why that is still true. Great brands to it with the services that answer those reasons over and over again and do not compromise by focusing on the immediate gain over a meaningful relationship.

If you really want to affect change in what your brand represents, don’t take my word for it, just look around. Every iconic individual and organization rises above the rest in their category by reflecting back the motivations and aspirations of their followers. It is their principle or core idea that drives action, not their positioning! This is truer today in the networked world more than ever before…as in why Twitter and why not Plurk? “Better” does not ever win over “Better for who I see myself as”! So if you’re still on the “I’m better than you because…” treadmill, maybe it’s time for a reevaluation of what really matters. Don’t you think?

Related thinking:

Simon Sinek’s Golden Circles

The Power of One

The Think Different Campaign