Imagine your neighborhood has six Italian restaurants.

​

Menus? Basically the same.

Prices? Within a few bucks.

Location? All equally convenient.

​

Some you’ll try once and forget about. Others become your ride-or-die spots where you celebrate birthdays, bring friends, and crave their bolognese on random Tuesdays.

​

Why?

​

It’s not the food. It’s not the price. It’s not the parking (okay, sometimes it's the parking 😂).

​

It’s the experience.

​

And I know you’ve felt this before. You fall in love with a restaurant (like, genuinely obsessed) but then one day, you get takeout from that same restaurant. Same pasta. Same sauce. Same “favorite place” you’re always raving about.

​

Yet somehow... it just doesn’t hit. 🤨

​

Surprise! What you were craving wasn’t just the meal. It was the context. The mood. The energy of the entire experience that the restaurant so carefully created.

​

The moody lighting. The playlist that always hits. The waiter who remembers your name and little preferences.

​

None of that is accidental or “extra.”

​

It’s brand strategy in action. And the absolute kicker of it all... is that the restaurant might not even call it brand strategy.

​

They might think of it as ambiance, hospitality, or design.

​

But those thoughtful little details? The ones that make you feel something, remember the experience, and come back for more?

​

That’s exactly what gets mapped out when you build a brand on purpose.

​

Brand strategy is what turns your business into an experience. It’s how you craft an emotional journey from the second someone finds you, to the moment they buy, to long after they’ve left the "table".

​

And here’s where this ties back to you:

​

You might be delivering nearly identical results as your competitors (we'll call this the “pasta” of your industry).

​

But people don’t fall in love with deliverables.

​

They fall in love with experiences.

​

And when you focus only on the deliverable—assuming your work will speak for itself—you leave too much to chance.

​

Because if the entire experience isn’t intentionally crafted, from the moment someone first “walks through your door” on social media/your website, to how you onboard your clients, communicate, and deliver… there are a hundred tiny places where the energy can feel off.

​

Where something doesn’t land. Where trust slips.

​

That’s what makes the difference between “that was fine” and “I’d tell everyone I know to work with her.”

​

So no, brand strategy isn’t a luxury, or fluff, or something you can "figure out later."

​

It’s the container that holds your entire business.

​

It’s what creates resonance, loyalty, referrals, demand.

​

It’s what turns your work from something people try and say "it was good"…into something they obsess over.

​

So if you’ve been wondering why some people in your space seem to effortlessly attract dreamy, loyal, ready-to-buy clients while others spin their wheels...

​

Just remember: It’s rarely about the "pasta" and it’s always about the brand.

​

Until next time,

Marissa

​

PS: Have you tuned into my podcast yet? New episodes of Your Brand Is Showing drop every Thursday! 🎧