I covered a vitally important strategy in Brand Intervention: that in every brand, there exist 2 sides every brand needs to master if it wishes to grow, sustain that growth, and maintain its relevance.
It has to do with expectations which I have covered a lot in previous articles and videos.
But more importantly, it has to do with two sides of user experience, and it’s the focus of today’s One Minute Wednesday. (If you don’t already subscribe to my YouTube channel, do that here and be the first to get notified as soon as the video goes live every Wednesday morning.)
2 Sides Every Brand Needs to Embrace
When you and I shop for business or personal items or services, there are two factors that determine whether that experience is a positive one, or a lousy, unsatisfying one.
Those two factors are the positive aspects of:
- What is known (expected and predictable) vs.
- What is unknown (or unexpected).
I clarify that here:
2 Sides Every Brand Needs to Refine
To flesh the concept out even further:
- What’s known is a point of reliability. We can rely on that product, detail, or service being there.
- What’s unknown provides us some positive discovery (or a pleasant surprise).
Too little of what is expected and we feel dissatisfied.
Too little of something unexpected as part of the mix and we go on autopilot. Too much of this and you deflate in value to become a commodity, a “vendor” that carries stuff or offers a service. Highly dispensible.
2 Sides Every Brand Needs to Master
As a brand, you need to give what’s expected.
Meet those expectations. Do not celebrate that—just do it.
With that done, that means only this: You’re in the game.
To make a lasting impression, you now need to exceed “the expected” with pleasant surprises, the kind of unexpected details that convey “we understand you enough to have taken the time to find this other item, or take this extra step that you didn’t ask for, but we knew you’d appreciate.”
You do that, and you and your brand will win.
