Every brand wants momentum. We want to feel like people value what we have to offer. And are willing supporters of what we do.

How do we get there? Well, It starts with the useful features of a quality offering. You got to have these. But that’s not what really fuels momentum. In today’s world, they are simply the price to play. You don’t have to go any further than Amazon to see that a meaningful set of features is a must-have if you want to get on somebody’s shortlist (as opposed to being relegated to page 5 of the search results).

But we want more than the shortlist, right? We want to be chosen. No, better yet, we want to be preferred.

When you become preferred, that’s when the momentum kicks in. You get referred and recommended. Not to mention all the repeat business it generates.

Two sides of your brand

Your brand has two sides. It has a rational side that is defined by all those meaningful features. As I said, this is important to have, but it’s not what fuels momentum. That catalyst can be found in the emotional side of your brand. Or, what I call your thrust.

One definition of thrust is “the principal purpose or theme” of something. Think about that. What is the thrust of your brand story? What is its meaning?

A funny thing happens when you capture your brand’s thrust. It creates a propulsion for your brand. It creates thrust that drives momentum.

Finding your thrust

Your thrust – or meaning – lies in the difference your brand makes in the lives of those you hope to serve.

That thrust should be at the core of your brand story. In other words, your brand story should be more than just a narrative about your offering. It should be a means for talking about those you hope to serve. To recognize what’s important to them. To recognize their idealized self that they are working towards. And to show them how your brand can help them along the journey.

That’s getting kind of deep, right? But if we want to create real momentum for a brand, then we need to get to what matters to those who are going to help fuel that momentum.

I know this all can be heady stuff if past brand efforts have equated to shuffling features around and hoping someone cares. But it shouldn’t feel out of reach.

Every brand has a thrust. Maybe it’s buried. Maybe it just needs a little dusting off and shining up. Here’s how to begin:

• Think about what really matters to your customers and prospects. Not the superficial stuff like, “I need to find a reliable widget at a fair price”. Think about the idealized self she or he is working toward. Understand that aspiration. This will help you get a grasp on the deeper motivations that drive their thinking

• Think about how your brand can serve that aspiration. Make it not about you (and your offering), but about those you hope to serve.

Here is a simple example. I was working with a minerals company. One of its products was salt used to melt snow on streets. Everyone thought of it as a commodity. They believed there was nothing special about the brand. It was just salt.

We went through the two steps I detailed above. And we discovered something pretty compelling about the people buying that salt. And that helped reveal the thrust of the brand.

Prior to our discovery, the brand talked about how it cleared snow from streets (there is that rational side of the brand that I mentioned before).

After our work, the brand started talking about its thrust. How it helped those public works directors do what really mattered. To get everyone in the community safely home to their loved ones.

This changed everything for the brand. Including creating that thrust that fueled momentum.

Spend some time exploring what your brand is really all about. And how that connects to what’s really important to those you hope to serve. Then work on your meaning. It can be the catalyst you’ve been searching for.

Your brand can ignite the momentum. It starts with a thrust.