How to Grow Your Brand In 2026 | Ep 958

Effective branding is the foundation that empowers businesses to command premium prices, foster long-term loyalty, and shape customer behaviors. Understanding how branding works—beyond surface-level elements—unlocks the ability to build a brand that grows, influences, and creates sustainable business success.

Branding Links a Business/Product With Desirable Outcomes for the Target Audience

Branding is not merely a logo, slogan, or ad campaign; it is the deliberate and strategic pairing of a business, product, or service with the outcomes that are most desirable to a specific target audience. This pairing process influences how customers make decisions and shapes their ongoing loyalty.

Effective Branding Aligns Product With Positive Audience Associations

A brand is fundamentally an association—a link that forms when customers connect the experience or outcome they want with the business or product providing it. For example, Coca-Cola becomes the go-to for someone seeking a "yum" outcome if their experiences with Coke have established that pairing. Nike’s association with champions like Lebron James and Tiger Woods makes the brand attractive to customers who value sports, competition, and winning; pairing the Nike brand with those figures draws in their target audience, who desire the values and experiences Nike represents. Dolce & Gabbana’s collaboration with Kim Kardashian appeals to consumers who want an association with fame, beauty, and wealth.

Branding is objective when measured by financial results—pairings that lead more of the business's ideal audience to buy and advocate for the product constitute "good branding." This occurs when the association delights, excites, or rewards the customer, and consequently the brand grows stronger and more valuable. Every successful purchase and subsequent positive experience further strengthens this association.

Bad Branding Links Business or Product With Negative Outcomes For Target Audience

Bad branding happens just as easily—if a brand is paired with something the majority of its target audience dislikes, the result is sales loss and reputational damage. The Bud Light and Dylan Mulvaney example underscores this: many core Bud Light customers disliked the pairing, resulting in negative branding and a direct hit to sales. The recovery involved pairing Bud Light with organizations and individuals the audience favored (like Shane Gillis and the UFC), restoring positive associations and profitability. The lesson is clear: branding always occurs, but it is only "good branding" when the association is positive and aligned with the preferences of the ideal customer.

For truly effective branding, the focus should always be on creating deliberate, positive associations with the highest percentage of the target audience—pairing the brand with experiences, people, or values the audience likes.

Branding Goes Beyond Logos, Colors, and Slogans, Evoking Psychological Connections and Behaviors

Branding is about shaping behavior—getting customers to notice, reach for, and talk about a product because it represents the outcomes or values they want for themselves. It isn’t just about external presentation but about forging deep psychological connections and habits.

Building a Brand: Pair Business/Product With Positive Experiences, Values, Imagery

Building a brand starts with nothing but a name or logo. Through intentional actions, the brand is repeatedly paired with positive experiences, influential people, or desirable values, so customers come to associate the brand with those attributes. Over time, a collection of these associations becomes a "bouquet"—a strong brand that draws people in and influences what they buy or recommend.

This process is deliberate. If the aim is to attract business owners, content and products are consistently tied to business success and making money, so those who want that outcome see the brand as the pathway to their goal. Each positive pairing makes the brand stronger. Customers seek to buy not just the product, but a piece of the association—desiring to align themselves with what the brand represents, like buying a Nike shirt to associate with athletic excellence.

Even intangible outcomes, like an enhanced sense of self or social stan ...

A strong brand delivers significant financial and competitive benefits, turning ordinary products into premium offerings and creating enduring advantages that competitors can't easily replicate.

Strong Brands Allow Businesses to Command Premium Pricing

Premium Pricing for Perceived High-Quality Brands

A powerful brand enables a company to charge multiples above competitors for nearly identical products. There are instances where products like a Yeti tumbler can command $40 while similar cups sell for $10, solely because of the logo or brand name. A basic $5 white t-shirt becomes a higher-value product once it’s paired with a strong brand name.

Consumers are willing to pay premium prices not just for the physical product, but for the association and outcomes the brand represents. This pricing power is the most important factor in evaluating business quality; if a company can raise prices without losing customers, it reflects a robust business model. Conversely, if price increases provoke anxiety over potential lost sales, the business lacks true leverage.

Branding also creates disproportionate returns in advertising. A generic product might see a small click-through rate or modest engagement, while the same product branded by, say, Nike, can see six times the response at a higher price point. This is because consumers recognize and value the brand, leading to higher margins and more loyal customers who keep buying over time.

Strong Brands See Better Advertising Returns and Loyalty Than Generic Brands

Good branding amplifies every interaction: advertising for premium brands is more effective, customer acquisition costs drop, and customer loyalty deepens. For example, Apple’s customer base is known for its enthusiasm; many buyers will purchase every new release without considering alternatives or waiting for reviews. Similarly, Harley-Davidson cultivates lifetime loyalty—once someone becomes a Harley owner, they often remain loyal for life.

This compounding effect means strong brands can launch new products or businesses and quickly attract sales, seen in how customers pre-order Apple products or line up for releases. Advertising is more cost-effective and its impact larger, and the brand itself incentivizes increased purchase frequency.

However, a premium brand must consistently deliver. If a brand overpromises and underdelivers—such as a Nike shirt arriving with flaws—the customer’s positive association is broken, transferring disappointment not only to the product but also to the endorsements and reputation behind it.

Strong Brand Creates Unreplicable Competitive Advantage

Reputations Take Years to Build but Can Be Quickly Damaged

A brand’s reputation takes years to establish but can be destroyed in minutes by poor pairing or negative experiences. Warren Buffett is quoted: “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.” If a customer’s actual experience conflicts with the brand’s promises, reputation collapses rapidly. A single bad experience can taint not only the product but the entire brand’s aura, undermining customer trust and future sales—just as a rotten flower spoils an otherwise perfect bouquet.

This reality makes consistency vital: businesses must ...

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Building a Brand Begins By Identifying Desired Customer Outcomes, Values, and Imagery

Building a brand is akin to curating a garden: you want some flowers to grow, and you need to pull out the weeds. The process begins by identifying the desired outcomes you want for your customers, the core values your brand stands for, and the visual or emotional imagery you want associated with your business. At the start, a brand may only have a couple of positive "flowers," since there haven’t yet been many chances to pair your brand with experiences important to customers. It’s necessary to continuously add positive elements and actively remove negative associations to assemble the ideal brand and ensure it fits your intended image.

Curating a "Bouquet" of Brand Elements to Create the Desired Image

Assembling the desired brand is a continuous process of curating: adding positive brand elements while discarding harmful or undesirable ones. Each element or association with your brand is like a flower in the garden, contributing to the overall bouquet that customers perceive. At the outset, every association is new, and over time, positive experiences and successful pairings create a fuller brand image.

Avoid Negative Pairings; They Can Damage a Brand Like Bad Associations Do

The curation process involves not only adding positive associations but also avoiding negative pairings, which can be damaging. Just as unwanted plants can overtake a garden, irrelevant or harmful associations can weaken a brand. For example, if you want to expand what your brand is known for and start talking about tangential subjects—moving from tacos to quesadillas to burritos and then to topics like alcohol, restaurants, or even more distant concepts—these wider and random pairings can dilute the brand. Distant, hard-to-associate pairings hurt by making it harder for customers to know what your brand stands for and can result in confusion or negative impressions.

Growing a Brand Requires Reinforcing Brand Associations Through Marketing, Quality, and Interactions

To grow a brand, you must reinforce desirable associations through consistent marketing, delivery of quality products and services, and positive interactions with customers. Every time you pair something new with your brand, especially in the early stages, you take a risk. There's always the possibility that a new pairing may cause some existing customers to leave—some might say "he sold out" ...