I had a client last year who spent five figures on a rebrand. New logo. New color palette. New typography. New website. The whole production. It was lovely. Like, genuinely beautiful work from a talented designer.

Less than a year later, she was inquiring about hiring me because nothing had changed. They put everything they had into their rebrand......but got a rebland. No increase in visits. No increase in business. Same feeling of screaming into the void. And I had to tell her something she didn’t want to hear: that rebrand was never going to fix it. Because the problem was never the visuals. The problem was that her brand had no psychological depth. She had a nice new "storefront" with nothing inside it.

What infuriates me about that conversation is this: just Google "branding" and your search results are full of visual identity. How are business owners supposed to know that a brand is more than aesthetics? That wrong belief costs biz owners time, money, and momentum.

The brands people are obsessed with... the ones that create genuine devotion, not just engagement... prioritize messy depth over curated beauty. They’re the ones that make you FEEL something you can’t get anywhere else.

I’ve spent years developing the recipe for brands that serve cult. Six essential ingredients. None of them involve a color palette. All of them require courage.

A Strong POV: What is it Worth to You?

A POV is not an opinion. It is a worldview. The thing that separates a real POV from a "spicy take" is that it has to cost you something. If your “bold stance” doesn’t risk losing a client, a follower, a new contract, or a speaking gig - babe, you have a PR campaign, not a POV. The real question isn’t “what do you believe?” It’s “what are you willing to lose revenue over?” When people see you leave money on the table for a conviction, they trust you with their wallets, their time, and their loyalty. That’s where the cult starts.

Delicious Lore: Never Let Your Dreamies Leave the House Hungry or (Proverbially) Horny

Lore is so much more than an origin story. It's a living mythology that your audience participates in. Think of it as a TV show filmed in front of a live audience where every piece of content, every client interaction, every weird behind-the-scenes moment is an episode. The brands that build real cult followings don’t just HAVE lore... they invite people INTO the lore. Your Dreamies become characters in the story, they participate. And lore requires contradiction. The struggle, the pivot, the thing that almost killed the business. Sanitized lore is forgettable. Messy lore is magnetic. Give them edge-of-their-seats anticipation.

A Loyal Crew: Hire Slow, Fire Fast - Goes for Your Crew Too

Most founders say they want a loyal crew but what they get is an group of like-minded peers that validate them. A real crew tells you when your shit is off. They don’t just hype you. They challenge you. The quality of your crew is a direct reflection of the standards you set for yourself. If you’re surrounded by people who only agree with you, that’s not iron sharpening iron. That’s an echo chamber and a post for the 'gram. Building a loyal crew also means being willing to release the wrong people. Not out of ego, but out of alignment. Boundaries aren’t a wellness buzzword, they are a founder's armor against mediocrity.

I had a client last year who spent five figures on a rebrand. Less than a year later, she was inquiring about hiring me because nothing had changed. She didn't get a rebrand....she got a rebland. New look. Same 'ol insides.

Unique Positioning: Three Sides of the Same Coin

Your positioning passes the test when it satisfies three conditions simultaneously: 1) your competitor cannot credibly claim it; 2) your Dreamies would be genuinely disappointed if you stopped doing it; 3) it explains WHY you do what you do in a way that makes the HOW almost irrelevant. Most people stop at the first condition and think they’re done. But defensibility alone doesn’t make positioning magnetic. It has to be desired AND irreplaceable. Most positioning fails because brands are positioning their OFFER when they should be positioning their THINKING. Your service can be replicated. Your methodology can be copied. But the way your brain works... the specific intersection of your experience, your obsessions, and your worldview? That’s the thing nobody can steal.

Plenty of Snacks: The Amuse-Bouche Effect

"Snacks" are micro-experiences embedded into your brand that create surprise, delight, and an almost addictive unpredictability. Think of them like the amuse-bouche at a fine restaurant... you didn’t order it but you’ll never forget it. The unexpected handwritten note in a client’s onboarding package. The limited-edition thing that shows up and disappears before anyone can fully grab it. The weird little Easter egg on your website only the obsessive fans find. This creates what behavioral scientists call “variable reward”... the same mechanism that makes people refresh their favorite apps compulsively. When your Dreamies know that at any moment you might drop something unexpected, delightful, limited, or intimate... they stay hungry. They keep checking. They tell their friends. Content is scheduled. Snacks are spontaneous. Content feeds the algorithm. Snacks feed the obsession. You’re creating scarcity of a MOMENT, not scarcity of a product. You had to be there. You had to be paying attention.

Meaningful Differentiation: Different is Better Than Better

Most brands are only doing one of the two required things. They’re either the “vibe” brand (all feelings, no function) or the “results” brand (all proof, no personality). Meaningful differentiation requires you to fuse emotional impact and practical outcome in every single touchpoint. Not just marketing. Your client experience, your onboarding, your invoicing, your follow-ups. Every interaction should make someone feel something AND walk away with something useful. And here’s the ultimate unlock: when you achieve meaningful differentiation, demand is constant, price becomes a non-factor, and you can elvolve your brand without losing people. Because you’re no longer being compared. Your Dreamies aren’t choosing between you and your competitor. They’re choosing between you and nothing.

If you want to be a brand that serves cult, a brand that your Dreamies crave, then don't touch another color palette until you are completely dialed in on this recipe.

Every founder I work with has the raw material for a cult brand already inside their business. They don’t need to add anything. They need to stop hiding the things that make them dangerous.

So here’s my question for you: what’s the one conviction you’ve been watering down because you’re afraid of who it might repel? That conviction might be the most valuable asset in your entire business. And it’s costing you nothing to claim it except comfort.