YOUR BUSINESS DOESN’T NEED AN AD, IT NEEDS A STORY. By Annie Liao Jones

Have you ever noticed that the biggest, baddest brands on the market never actually sell their product?

Jeep doesn’t sell the horsepower or the leather quality of their seats. I mean, they hardly even sell the off-roading capabilities.

They sell freedom.

They sell the feeling we all want of wind blowing through our hair as we speed down a dirt road or the Pacific Coast Highway. They sell the adrenaline of being able to go where no other car can follow. They sell a life you don’t have, by making you think buying their product is the one missing thing.

Or, take Nike for example. Have you ever heard of a Nike ad that focused on the grip of the shoe? Or how long they’ll last you if you’re a long distance runner? No — they sell you self-esteem. They talk about everything you could do, or do better, whether or not you’re an athlete. They sell you the feeling of sweating your way up to new achievements. They sell you a story of kids fulfilling their dreams on basketball courts and parents erupting with pride on the sidelines. They sell stories — and the emotions that come with them.

Even when selling their Flyknits and how the fabric feels like socks — they’re not selling the fabric or the shoe. They’re selling you a feeling they think you are lacking or a goal you’ve yet to meet.

Not every Austin branding agency (or any growth hacking agency for that matter) will make this clear. In fact, we don’t think any of them will hold your brand in the light and look for the deeper meaning — they’ll just throw you into a template and call it a day.

For either of these brands (or any brand that’s doing things the right way), sure, you could look into their website and find all the info you want on offroading capabilities, where the leather is sourced from, how each Nike is engineered for different purposes. 

But the selling point — now that’s a story. The selling point, as I’m sure you’ve heard before, is a missing emotion of a prospect.

So how can you find what you’re ACTUALLY selling?

How can you look at your business, product or service, and translate it from literal to figurative selling points?

You focus on the Why. And then you dig deeper.

What: Your product

How: Your method of production

Why: The gap in the market, the need for your product

Digging Deeper: The gap in the average human psyche of your target audience/ prospects. The story they crave that can be fulfilled by adding your product to their lives.

Get away from sales. Get away from ads. What your business is missing is framing your product as what a human craves (sometimes even unconsciously).

Because here’s what we’ll tell you as the only #antitemplate creative-focused digital marketing agency in Austin, TX.

Jeep doesn’t sell cars. They sell freedom.

Nike doesn’t sell shoes, they sell heart-wrenching human stories of accomplishment and pushing the limits.

Local coffee shops don’t sell organic coffee, they sell community.

REI doesn’t sell gear for outdoorsmen. They sell the experience of fresh air, new heights, and the reasons to #OptOutside.

Tesla doesn’t sell FEVs, they sell luxury.

Echo Show doesn’t sell screen size or AI capabilities, it sells how love and relationships can be maintained across distance (check it out).

Kid-tracking apps for parents don’t sell iPhone and Android technology, they sell peace of mind.

Now. What are you selling?

Are you a workhorse, dumping cash into a branding agency that makes you look like everyone else, calling themselves white-hat growth hackers without anything to back it up?

Have you built a brand, target demographic, and business based on basics, or based on psychology and human emotional storytelling?

If you’re unsure, or need fresh eyes on your brand and what you’re truly trying to bring forth in the world, you can sit down with me, the person who is personally vested because I respect the hustle. I’ve put in the sweat equity and bootstrapped. The firm I envisioned, Rock Candy Media, is celebrating its 10 year anniversary as one of the top 25 branding agencies in the world.

And I won’t sell my business to you. I’ll sell everything yours could be.