I was sitting in a café recently, just having a coffee with a friend.
It was a decent enough place. The owner was clearly working hard and busy behind the counter, focused and keeping things moving. Yet, four doors down the road, a competitor was absolutely packed and buzzing with energy. The kind of place people choose on purpose.
So what was the difference?
It wasn’t the coffee. I’d been in the other café and I’m sure they both had the same supplier. It certainly wasn’t the prices. It wasn’t even the location as they were on the same street and literally less than 100 meters away from each other.
What it was, was everything else. The small things that the owner walked past every single day without noticing.
The Details Your Customers Notice (Even When You Don’t)
Here’s what I saw in that café that most people would have walked straight past:
The windows were dark tinted windows, more than likely done that way to protect the clientele from the afternoon sun or maybe, the previous tenants needed tinted windows for their business. A thoughtful idea but one that meant that anyone passing by couldn’t see in. No sense of life inside and no reason to push the door open.
The staff were on their phones when there were no customers at the counter. Not exactly a crime but it sends a message and customers read it.
The cake shelf was half empty. Not because it was late in the day, but probably more than likely, a cost cutting measure.
The music was playing but it didn’t match up to the clientele that the café served. A lot of the clientele were well into their 60’s, they don’t want to be yelling at each other over the latest music.
Now, none of these things individually would sink a business and, to most people, these things aren’t even considered a problem. But put them all together and you start to see cracks forming. They paint a picture and that picture is being read by every single person who walks through the door, or doesn’t.
Why Business Owners Stop Seeing Their Own Brand.
This isn’t a criticism of hard-working business owners. It’s actually one of the most human things in the world. When you’re inside something every single day, running it, building it, worrying about it, you stop seeing it the way your customers do. Your brain fills in the gaps and you see what’s supposed to be there, not what actually is.
It’s the same reason you can proof read your own writing ten times and still miss the typo that jumps out to everyone else.
Your customers though, they see everything. First impressions are formed in seconds and, once an impression is made, it’s very hard to undo.
The business four doors away wasn’t necessarily doing something revolutionary. They’d just made sure that every small detail added up to the right feeling and that feeling was: this is the place I want to be.
How Small Changes Can Create an Extraordinary Impact on Your Business.
Here’s the good news. You don’t need a rebrand, you certainly don’t need a six-figure refurbishment and you don’t need to throw everything out and start again.
Most of the improvements that genuinely move the needle for a business are small, inexpensive, and entirely fixable, but only once you can see them.
For this café, it was as simple as filling the shelves, explaining to the team that phones shouldn’t be used during work time and updating the play-list to suit their clientele. But, what about those windows? Well, that’s an expensive fix and not one that’s easily done. So let’s think outside the box here. A simple A-Frame on the street announcing that the café is open would do the trick. Another simple trick that’s commonly used by bakeries is allowing the smell of bread (or in this case, coffee) to drift onto the street. If that means attaching some sort of ventilation that extracts the smell from the coffee maker to the street, then do it. Appealing to one of our senses is the best form of advertising any business can do.
These aren’t big asks, but the combined effect on how a customer feels when they walk in, and whether they come back, or tell a friend, can be significant.Research shows that 78% of consumers now prioritise brands that align with their values and create the right feeling over price alone. What that means in plain English is this: people will pay more and travel further for a business that makes them feel something. At the same time, they’ll walk straight past a cheaper option if it doesn’t feel right.
The question is: what are people feeling when they walk into your business?
What a Fresh Pair of Eyes Can Actually Do For You.
I’ve been a photographer for 35 years. In that time, I’ve trained myself to notice what most people walk straight past. The detail that changes everything and the things that are hiding in plain sight.
A photographer doesn’t just look, they see. The light, the composition, the feeling a space creates, the story it tells. That same eye, applied to a business, reveals things the owner simply can’t see from the inside.
That’s the thinking behind The Brand Lens.
I work with business owners who know something isn’t quite right, but can’t put their finger on what it is. I come in from the outside, look at everything from the pavement to the people to the atmosphere, and tell them honestly and clearly what I find.
Not a 40-page corporate report. Not a list of generic recommendations. A sharp, practical assessment of what’s working, what isn’t, and, most importantly, how to fix it.
Sometimes, the smallest adjustment, create the biggest shift.
Is Your Business Being Seen the Way You Think It Is?
Does any of this sound familiar to you? Have you ever wondered why a competitor always seems busier, but you can’t understand why? Or maybe you feel that something about your brand isn’t quite right, but you’re just unsure what it is.
Chances are that you’re looking for the answers to your issues in all the wrong places. A new logo, a refurbishment or wasting money on paid ads don’t fix the problems, they merely put a band-aid over them.
The Brand Lens exists for exactly that reason.
Focus Changes Everything.
Are you ready to see your business through fresh eyes? Find out more about The Brand Lens and how a single session could change the way you see, and grow, your business.
The Brand Lens — Sharpen Your Brand. How small changes can create an extraordinary impact on your business. Follow The Brand Lens on LinkedIn for regular updates.