What's so great about Starbucks?

There's a Starbucks close to our office.

Yeah, well, there’s a Starbucks close to everybody’s office, isn't there?

Anyway, the one by our office is small, poorly designed for traffic flow – and packed with customers. 

There's also a Quartermaine Coffee Roasters near our office. Quartermaine is a local coffee shop with only a couple of retail stores. This one is comfortable and well-designed with excellent coffee and espresso products at better prices than Starbucks. But it's almost never crowded. 

Apparently, people in this part of Bethesda, Maryland, would rather wait in line in a small, crowded shop and pay a higher price for Starbucks coffee than go across the street to a Quartermaine that is less hassle with better prices and is just as good. 

And that's what a Brand can do for you. 

Starbucks has the Brand. Quartermaine doesn’t have any sort of Brand position beyond "We've got coffee if you want some." It’s just there. If they were inclined to develop a Brand position – that is, identify and promote a unique value for customers – Quartermaine could almost certainly boost both their business and raise their prices. 

It works in the hotel business, too. Honest.

You don't have to be big to have a clear Brand. You just have to recognize its value and go to the trouble to develop it.