Products get someone through the door, but who keeps them coming?

Products exist to satisfy a need or want. They are the functional solution to a problem, offering a certain value. Brands, though, exceed function. Brands create meaning, build trust, and offer an emotional connection that no product alone can accomplish.

Think of it this way:

• Product: Offers the function, solves the problem, offers the immediate value.

• Brand: Creates the trust, feeling, and identity that makes people care enough to return.

You can get someone into the door with a product, but it's the brand that gets them returning.

You can sell a product. Selling relationships, feelings, and commitment are more challenging. A brand transforms a transaction into a relationship, a first-timer a repeat buyer.

This is where brand equity resides...not in the product, but in the relationship and trust you build around it. That relationship is the competitive advantage others can't easily replicate.

Products fulfill needs. Brands assign meaning. Both drive growth. If the product makes them try, the brand keeps them around.