It’s easy to spend a lot of time thinking about how you can help people better understand your brand and recognize the functional value it can offer them. It’s fair to say that this occupies the lion’s share of most marketers’ time. Need proof? Just look out into the market.

Brands spend an inordinate amount of time talking to us about themselves. We’re assailed with messages about the functionality of the offering and the occasional rational benefit. These aspects are undoubtedly important. And they need to be communicated. But if you start and stop here, you are leaving 50% of your brand’s potential untapped.

Why and how people buy

People are not the rational creatures that most branding and marketing seem to assume they are. No, people are mercurial. They make seemingly irrational decisions. Check out Dan Ariely’s excellent book Predictably Irrational to take a deeper dive.

You can try to fight it or you can accept the fact that we don’t make rational buying decisions. They are emotional. And it doesn’t matter if you’re an engineer or an accountant. You’re still a human being. This means that you are going to make decisions with the part of your brain that is responsible for emotions.

This fact has become more pronounced these days. People aren’t just buying a brand’s products or services. They are buying into a brand. It’s values and, most importantly, it’s purpose. Needless to say, these are highly emotional drivers.

Unleashing that untapped potential

To truly stand out and resonate with people on a deeper level, brands must rise above the functional benefit to find the "benefit of the benefit". This is how the brand goes beyond the surface-level features of your product or service and begins to connect with the deeper, underlying need or desire that it fulfills. For example, a car may provide the functional benefit of transportation, but the emotional benefit could be a sense of freedom and adventure. Similarly, a skincare product may offer the functional benefit of improving skin health, but the emotional benefit could be increased confidence and self-esteem.

These emotional benefits speak to our desires and aspirations, transcending mere rational and functional messages to forge powerful connections. Whether it's building a sense of belonging, empowerment, joy, or nostalgia, these emotional benefits are what truly resonate with people, driving engagement and long-term loyalty.

Most importantly, focusing on these emotional benefits is how you begin to unlock the brand's full potential.

Going full throttle

One of the most powerful ways to express the emotional benefit is through a brand's purpose. A brand's purpose expresses the difference it hopes to make in a life, a community, or even the world.

Take the example of Dove. Dove's purpose is to champion self-esteem and self-confidence (or as Dove calls it – real beauty). While Dove's products certainly provide functional benefits in terms of skincare, its real power lies in its ability to make a difference in the lives of those it serves. As Dove says on its website, “We're dismantling toxic beauty standards and creating a truly inclusive vision of beauty.”

By focusing on this purpose, Dove has been able to create a highly emotional connection with those it serves. A connection that has helped them build a strong and loyal following.

By uncovering the benefit of the benefit and connecting with your purpose, you can start to create a brand that resonates with those you hope to serve on a deeper level. Better yet, you’ll discover a powerful catalyst. A catalyst that can help you unlock the full potential of your brand.