The Atlantic’s recent article, Buy Experiences, Not Things, addresses the fact that while, as consumers, we tend to think we want more material things, what really makes us happy are experiences. Anticipating experiences, reminicing about them (event memories about bad experiences tend to receive a rosy gloss in the rear-view mirror), add more to our happiness than buying the latest gadget. In fact, we tire of material items astonishingly quickly.

This is not completely new. Gretchin Rubin, author of The Happinesss Project and Happier at Home discusses this in her books as well.

What this means for brand owners – whether providing products or services – is that you need to offer more than just your product or service. You need to sell your customer an experience. This is somewhat more straightforward if your services are, for example, experienced-based – like providing entertainment (concerts or sporting games) or even sales of products that require an in-person sales cycle (e.g., some, but not all, retail automobile sales).

Some brand owners are creating strong brand experiences. Finding ways to reach out in multi-media formats, and combining brick and mortar experiences with on-line experiences all enhance the consumer’s experience. (Amazon.com, an early adopter of on-line sales if there ever was one, recently even decided to enter the brick-and-mortar space!)

But what does this mean for brand owners without the budgets for both e-commerce and retail store establishments, or multi-media/multi-format outlets for a brand image? It means that these companies must creatively find ways for customers to anticipate purchasing the product, to enjoy the shopping experience itself, to minimize hassles if a customer needs to return an item (thus, creating as few negative memories as possible), and helping the consumer reflect on the purchase and use of the product after the point-of-sale. And these steps need to be authentically communicated to consumers. Traditional ads don’t create the type of anticipation I am talking about, nor do requests to leave a comment or rate a product after purchasing it. But ask a consumer what she wants to see in a product, why she’s looking forward to the next upgrate, and you might create some excitement. And after the sale, ask him what his favorite feature of his new purchase is, or whether the new materials used to make it make a difference. In short, turn something into ‘remember when?’ And turn customers into loyal fans.