Matt Ryder argues that businesses need a clear, quickly articulable brand differentiation — a concise feeling or promise — to generate organic leads and referrals rather than relying solely on paid advertising. He uses Nike's "Just do it" as an example of brand-as-feeling and warns that firms that cannot explain why they are different risk rapid failure.
I want to have referrals, I want to have organic leads, I want to have multiple channels coming in. They don't need to have like an organic presence, like, say what I would, but they need to have some sort of, like the brand needs to stand and mean for something, you know, like Nikes. Just do it. When you think of Nikes, you think of that. Now the just do it is like not just a phrase, it's like, that's Nike, you know, I mean, it's like, just do it, man. Just go out and do it. And so all their advertising espouses that. And so you get. There's a feeling attached to it. Brand, I think, is like a feeling. Now, it can be hard to do that, but it can be small and then it can grow out. But if they're just relying on paid advertising channels, I think they're going to be in a bit of trouble. And if you can't really sit down and see what's different about these guys and why would a client choose them over somebody else? If you can't clearly and articulately espouse that, I think easily and with a gut feeling, I think chances are that business is going to be here today, gone tomorrow.
