Laura Busche Quotes

What is the "Once upon a time" of your brand story? Ask yourself this: "How does what I'm building help consumers close the gap between who they are today and who they want to be tomorrow?

Do everything in your power to make customers go confidently in the direction of their purchase intention.

People relate to people, and if your brand feels like people, they'll relate to you, too.

Do not confuse location with direction. Location is where you are, direction is where you are going.

I faced people from all walks of business who fully disregarded design (though they were completely influenced by it). I also met fine artists who drowned in their own work and the dense creative universe in their minds.

Then I met designers. And instantly fell in love. Let me tell you why.

Designers are familiar with critiques. They not only tolerate them but actively look out for them. They honestly believe in iterations and learn to edit down their work. They embrace simplicity and create beauty based on requirements other than their own. Design education teaches you to run away from assumptions and to have the stomach to scrap your work often.

I'm bringing this up because it's time to bridge the gap between design and business.

If the Product Is Good, It Will Naturally Attract Customers

It's been you all along, and it'll be you all the way. Learn to play up your strengths, embrace your flaws, and pursue your passions. Be gentle when your mind, body, or soul are tired. Value your time and surround yourself with those who do too. Above all, give your dreams the same respect you grant to others'. This is the starting point of all great brand builders: self-empathy.

So, you don't have money to invest in your brand? You do have money for damage control, right?

Here's the thing: anyone can make your brand inferior in your absence.

Research conquers doubt. It aligns everyone around the incontestable. Research is the key to clarity - in startups, enterprises, and life itself.

In today's saturated marketplace, you'll go nowhere selling a "bunch of features." We are in the business of disrupting the market with brands that matter.

Your brand story's "happily ever after" involves open wallets.

If building a disruptive, dynamic brand is not in your plans, neither is profit.

Make sure you test your brand story's recipe with whomever you're cooking it for.

Brands play in an exciting sandbox of symbolic meanings.

Everything that the customer experiences is the product. This is something that both media companies and product startups don't understand.

People change, and so do their aspirations, and so should brands.

consumers are not a piece of code. You can't just query them into action.

Everything and everyone represents at least one brand. Therefore, to brand or not to brand is not even a question.

If you would not spend time looking at it, do not ship it. One of the best quality assurance rules of thumb is to avoid publishing content that you would not consume. Simple, yet so hard to execute on. My audience deserves my very best. Repeat that to yourself every single day.

Brand and product don't compete. Brand is product, and everything else conforming to the unique story that consumers create when they think of you.