What Customers Really Buy (And Why Your Branding Matters More Than You Think)
May 9, 2025
Most small businesses treat branding and marketing like tools: things you use when you need more bookings. But in reality, they’re something else entirely. They’re experiences—emotional ones.
And whether you know it or not, you’re already using them. The question is: are you using them on purpose?
Good branding and marketing aren’t just about visibility—they’re about perception. That’s what drives decisions. And perception, it turns out, has a lot more to do with psychology than pixels or ad spend.
I still remember walking into the Westin Hotel in Guangzhou. There was a specific scent in the air, elegant and calm. And I remember the Hilton not too far away had a different one: warm and sophisticated. Each scent was unique to its brand, and years later, I still remember both.
That’s perception. And it’s branding at work.
Studies show that smell is one of the most emotionally evocative senses, and it’s powerful because it works subconsciously. Westin wasn’t just selling beds, they were branding an emotion. Selling the experience. The same goes for sound. Think of the Netflix “da-dum.” You don’t need to see anything, you hear it, and you know. That’s iconic branding.
According to Louis Cheskin’s “sensation transference” theory, people’s feelings about a product are deeply influenced by the sensory experiences around it. Your website colors. The photo choices. The type of paper your brochure uses. It all adds up.
Perception drives attention. And attention shapes decisions.
Trust is built in drops—and lost in buckets.
While I don’t have a personal story for this one, the research is clear: consistent branding can increase revenue by up to 23% (Lucidpress, 2021). People trust what they recognize. That means showing up with the same tone, visuals, and voice across every touchpoint—website, socials, emails, printouts, signage.
If your Instagram is playful and modern, but your brochure is stiff and corporate… people notice. Even if they don’t say it out loud, their gut does. And they move on.
Humans are wired for stories. According to research by Kahneman and Tversky, we make most decisions emotionally first, then justify them logically.
That means your “why” matters more than your features. Not because customers want a sob story, but because narratives create context. They make people feel something.
No need to overshare. But even a simple story—why you started your business, or what you want customers to feel—helps people connect. And that connection builds trust.
And trust, as we’ve covered, leads to bookings.
People don’t believe marketing. They believe other people.
Reviews, testimonials, user photos—this is the stuff that convinces browsers to become buyers.
Oobah Butler proved this better than anyone. If you don’t know the story: he created a completely fake restaurant in London called The Shed at Dulwich. It didn’t exist. There was no food. No bookings. He staged photos with shaving cream and dog food, built up fake reviews, and within months… it became the #1 restaurant on TripAdvisor in all of London.
Thousands of people tried to book. Journalists called. Influencers begged for tables.
Why? Because the perception of popularity and quality was enough to trigger desire.
Social proof is so strong, it can sell something that doesn’t even exist.
Of course, Oobah’s stunt only worked because he wasn’t trying to run a real business. For the rest of us, we need our branding to back it up. But the principle stands: people buy what looks trusted.
Don’t underestimate what a strong review and a real photo can do.
The Shed at Dulwich also tapped into another psychological driver: scarcity.
Only one table a week. Location not revealed until the day of. No website, no contact. That mystery and exclusivity? It created hype. People believed it must be good—because it was hard to get.
Scarcity works because our brains are wired to overvalue what’s limited. It’s called loss aversion, and it’s a core concept in Kahneman’s work. We feel the pain of missing out more than the joy of gaining something.
So yes—limited-time offers, small group bookings, or “only 3 spots left” work. But use them with integrity. Scarcity should clarify value, not manipulate people.
Let’s recap:
You don’t need to be everywhere. You don’t need to be flashy.
But you do need to be intentional. Because your brand already exists.
And it’s saying something, whether you meant it to or not.
