Your competitors aren’t your biggest branding problem.✌️ I’ve been thinking about this lately … I...Your competitors aren’t your biggest branding problem.✌️ I’ve been thinking about this lately … I...
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Robert Ban's avatar
Robert Ban Bebek
pro
• 18h
Your competitors aren’t your biggest branding problem.✌️
I’ve been thinking about this lately …
I had a conversation with the owner of a restaurant I sometimes go to.
They serve traditional Dalmatian food and, honestly, I think they have some of the best food in town. Everything is fresh, the place looks great, and the atmosphere is really nice.
We somehow got into talking about branding and visual identity. The cost of ingredients had gone up, and he was thinking about raising the prices, but he was worried that people might stop coming.
So I asked him:🤔
“Why would someone choose your restaurant over another good restaurant 200 metres away?”
He said:
“Because we have the best food in town.”
And I don't disagree.
But that alone doesn't give me much to connect with emotionally. Another restaurant can say exactly the same thing.
Then, later in the conversation, he mentioned that they have local fishermen who fish specifically for them.
“Aha. There it is!”🧐😮
That's the story!
That's the little piece of meaning that makes the restaurant more than just “a place with really good food.”
Now I know that the fish I'm eating isn't just fresh. I know where it comes from. I know it's connected to local fishermen, the sea, the place, and the people behind it.
And suddenly, the price can mean something different.
This is where I think a lot of businesses miss the point of branding.
They focus on proving that their product is better.
But “better” is incredibly easy to compete with.
Your competitor can say they're better too.
The real question is:
What makes you meaningful?
Because people don't always pay more simply because something is objectively better.
Sometimes they pay more because it means more to them.
And as a designer, I think that's one of the most interesting parts of branding:
Not inventing a story.
Finding the story that's already there — and making people see it.
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