The Branding Lesson I Learned Where I Shop

This is a guest post from David Brier. His information is below. If you’d like to submit a guest post, click here.

When I am not solving clients’ branding problems, I am planning the next delicious meal for my wife and myself. I make a mean (and ridiculously succulent) Tandoori chicken breast, a mouthwatering peppercorn-marinated filet mignon and a killer cappuccino, but I digress….

The Places I Shop (and Why)
I shop at two primary places for food and cooking ingredients. One is a natural food co-op and the other is a more upscale supermarket. I have my usual routine between these two shopping venues.

But one day, I realized something. I shopped one of these 5X more than I shopped the other. Hmmmm…

I looked at why since, after all, I know my clients would enjoy a 5X increase in customer traffic. Here’s what I discovered.

Same Shit, Different Day
The supermarket provided the same stuff. In other words, I went there already knowing what I was going to buy, nothing new, just routine.

The co-op on the other hand not only sold some usual suspects I would routinely purchase but in addition, during each visit, I always went to their small floor-standing cooler that showcased the day’s salads, unique re-heatable meals, little hand-made munchies, etc. In other words, they had something new and different everyday.

Compared to my weekly visit to the local supermarket where I spent a couple hundred dollars, I would go almost everyday after work and spend between $20 to $40 each visit.

What’s This Got To Do With My Brand?
I looked at this amazing difference between these two destinations and why one was getting 5X the amount of traffic from than the other. I asked myself, “Could this principle apply to any brand?”

After a little analysis, I discovered this applied equally to online destinations as well as brick and mortar destinations.

I find I visit sites that offer something new and different, and I am not alone. Look at Copyblogger, Threadless or Mashable and you’ll find the basis of these leading online brands is “something new and different all the time.” Heck, it’s even part of the brilliance of the amazingly successful iPhone with all of its “new and different” apps.

Stagnancy is the Road to Brand Death
The days of the stagnant Web site and the stagnant brand are over. Your brand must be relevant, meaningful and—above all—fresh. The more it’s fresh and fluid (which happens to mirror the increasingly fleeting attention spans of most consumers and clients).

Mirror your clients attention span and you’ll be the next star in your industry. Stay stagnant and your brand will die a quick and sure death.

Lesson learned: Embrace your audience’s interest and attention span and you too can see a major increase in loyalty, traffic and engagement.

About the author: David Brier is Chief Gravity Defyer of DBD International and the author of branding bible for those sick and tired of average results: Defying Gravity and Rising Above the Noise. You can follow David on twitter here.