Great brands make people feel something. They're created from the heart. They draw people in and make lives better. They are not just businesses. Well-designed brands become beacons of attraction.

Fact is, when people feel emotionally connected to a brand, they are 52% more valuable to that brand than people who are simply highly satisfied (Harvard Business Review).  This is because their emotional connection to the brand stimulates a significantly higher level of engagement and loyalty - thus, more purchases and more referrals. Conversely, 42% of people will abandon a brand if the experience is poor, impersonal or frustrating (CMO Council/SAP).

Therefore, it’s important to be sure that your brand - all it stands for and how it comes to life - is meticulously crafted so that it is desirable at an emotional level.

No matter what stage of life your brand is in, here are three ways to ensure people keep coming back for more. 

Design from the Heart (Focus)

Focusing on what your brand uniquely stands for is an incredibly important challenge. It not only needs to be accurate, it also needs to answer the question: why should anyone care? 

The first area I focus on when working with brands is to understand their core purpose and motivation. What are the brand's leaders emotionally driven to do for people?  What unmet needs can their brand solve in a unique way? How do they want people to feel after a brand experience?  

Great brands are not simply about serving rational benefits or table-stakes needs. The passion that drives brands to serve people should emanate out of how it comes to life through offerings, experiences and communications. Your brand should be designed to evoke reciprocal passion and inspire people to want more. 

Seek Design Inspiration (Connect)

In order to create desire, to truly connect, another important step is to focus on truly understanding what makes people tick. If your goal is to serve people, it’s important to identify their needs, and more importantly, their underlying motivations. Once you understand what’s motivating them, and what's frustrating them about existing solutions, you’ll have a much better idea for how your brand can improve their lives in a meaningful way.  

Research consistently proves that emotion is the largest driver of brand loyalty. Thus, our emotional reactions, which are initiated instinctively and subconsciously, have an incredible impact on our feelings and future behavior. When designing something for people, there’s no substitute for understanding what they need, and nothing more impactful than how you make them feel. 

The best way to create desire for your brand is to get inspired by what people care deeply about and would find most motivating.  Once you know that, you’ll be able to align your brand offering, expression and experiences to feed that desire.

Keep Moving Forward (Evolve)

I believe that if you’re standing still, you’re probably falling behind. We live in a world where everything changes fast. People change, motivations evolve, and new solutions are emerging constantly. Therefore, it’s unrealistic to think that a great plan for serving unmet needs now, will still be a great plan a year or two from now. 

This is why it’s super important to build perpetual evolution into your brand plan. It forces you to stay aware of what’s going on around you, to monitor your competitors and to keep a close eye on your customers. Are they still feeling like you make their life better, or are they longing for more? Do they still perceive your brand to be their first choice, or have they begun to explore alternatives? Do they leave an experience with your brand happy or frustrated? Do they still care?

A Few Concluding Thoughts

Brand evolution is inevitable, but it doesn’t need to be radical. The more you understand the people that you want to serve, and nurture your brand to do it well, the better off you’ll be. My favorite question, and one question that you can always ask to stay on track is:  How do you want people to feel?  Let the answer be your guide.

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