People Aren’t Buying Your Aesthetic. They’re Buying a Promise.

Your brand is not a vibe. It’s a promise.

At Moonbelly in Sacramento, there’s usually a line out the door. And once you’ve eaten there, you get it.

You don’t just walk in, grab a loaf, and go. You linger. You scan the handprinted signs. You take in the smell of flour, cinnamon, and wild yeast. You watch the staff work in near silence behind the counter—confident, calm, completely in sync. There’s no pitch. No performance. Just care. Clarity. Trust.

The tile. The florals. The wax paper. Yes, the vibe is good. But that’s not why people line up.

It’s because every part of the experience delivers on a quiet, consistent promise: We know who we are. We know what matters. And we care enough to get it right.

That’s branding. And most people get this wrong.

The Part Most Branding Advice Leaves Out

Everyone loves to say branding is about emotion. That it’s about trust. That it’s the story people tell themselves about you. And yes, that’s true.

But the part that’s often missing? Delivery.

The systems. The daily choices. The repeatable experience. The actual work of showing up the same way—every time. Branding isn’t just about standing out. It’s about being aligned. And when your message, service, and experience don’t line up, you’re not building trust—you’re quietly breaking it.

What Vibe-First Branding Misses

Let’s say your brand is built around “ease and flow.” 

But your onboarding process is clunky, your team replies a week late, and your dashboard looks like it’s still hosted on Blogspot.

Does it matter if your Instagram is full of lowercase captions and pastel ocean waves? Not even a little. 

Because the experience is the brand.

Now flip it. Maybe your design is simple. Maybe your logo is fine, not genius. But you follow up. You follow through. You make people feel taken care of. 

That’s trust. That’s equity. That’s a promise kept.

Moonbelly Is the Bar

Here’s why the line at Moonbelly matters: It’s not just about the bread. It’s not just about the branding. It’s the consistency.

Every detail—the handwritten signs, the unbranded parchment, the compostable cups—tells the same story. 

People aren’t lining up for what’s in the oven. They’re lining up because they already believe it’ll be worth it.

That belief? That’s branding. And that’s what most brands miss.

I Love Providing Action Items for Brands… 

This isn’t a branding teardown. It’s a gut check. Take 15 minutes this week and walk through your brand the way a customer would:

• What’s the first impression on your homepage?

• What happens after someone clicks “buy” or “book”?

• Is your follow-up email aligned with your voice—or a generic default?

• Does your packaging, signage, tone, or in-person experience match the energy of your marketing?

Ask yourself: Is the promise clear—and is it being kept?

Because the vibe might get them through the door. But it’s the delivery that makes them come back.

Define Your Brand Passions For Your Social Media Marketing

One of my favorite social media marketing-related things to talk about is figuring out what type of content brands should share on their social networks.

Content creation can be up to 75% of the job for social media marketers, and it is so much more than just taking a pretty photo for Instagram. It is about creating relevant content that provides value, tells a story, and inspires & asks your audience to take action. It’s about engaging and connecting with a community that shares the same passions as you — and will ultimately purchase your product or service.

Brands Plan ahead with social media. Businesses randomly post

I know that sounds harsh, but hear me out — Many reluctant social media marketers (i.e., small business owners or team members who are assigned to do the job of social media marketing but don’t really understand it) tend to share on Instagram or Facebook randomly - and that will never get a brand anywhere.

Maybe a few days go by and they think, “Oh shit, I need to post something...let me just take a picture of whatever is happening in front of me.” Then they share it without any thought about alignment with their target audience, providing value, or thinking about hashtag strategy, timing, branding, or adding a call to action. There’s no thought at all, other than needing to get something up because they think that’s what they need to do.

… That they just need to be present on social media and that’s enough.

Please know — There’s no judgment here; I understand that every job requires multiple hats on an everyday basis. But that’s why it’s important to prepare yourself to be the best social media marketer you can be, and a great first step is figuring out your brand passions when it comes to what type of content to share for your own company, or the business you work at.

A Look into My Process: Diving into Brand Passions for Social Media Marketing

Working with any new client, my first step is sitting down with them to create a full marketing strategy (one that doesn’t just apply to social media). A big component of this is breaking down the larger story of the brand.

Especially when it comes to wine marketing, for consumers, there are only a few brands that truly stand out. And those brands make them feel something because in addition to making good wine (a given), they bond with their audience on a more holistic level by connecting with them about passions they both care about

Those brands share what they're passionate about (outside of wine) with their audience, whether that happens within the tasting room, through social media, on their website, via email marketing, or with in-store marketing.

So after listening for a long time about the founding story and what makes their brand unique, we simplify their brand into four to six different “brand passions,” (see below how you can do this) and then dive a little bit deeper into each of them to come up with ideas for content to create.

We do this because when it comes to social media marketing - you want to create a nitch for yourself when it comes to what topics you share and what your target audience cares about. You also want to make sure to share a variety of content - so it isn’t just wine bottle shots all day every day (your customers will thank you for not boring them).

Action Items for Finding Your Brand Passions & creating content based on these values…

In order to figure out what your brand passions are, I want you to spend dedicated time really thinking about what matters to your brand. Maybe you come up with ideas yourself, or brainstorm as a team. take out a piece of paper or a whiteboard and think about:

1. Ideas for what your brand (you or the business you work for) is passionate about (see below for inspiration). You can come up with 20 brand passions in the first round — because hey, it’s a brainstorm, and no idea should be off the table! If you are stuck thinking about your brand passions (some call them the core values as a business), then here is a great starting list of values to think about. https://scottjeffrey.com/core-values-list/ Write down the ones that jump out at you first. Then ask yourself which ones are dealbreakers that need to stay. Say them out loud — yes, even if you are alone. See which ones get you the most excited when you say them. Usually, you will notice your voice go up higher or you will think back to a specific experience, or already have an idea for content to create based on this passion. Circle those because THIS is brand passions matter — you want them to be something you are excited about.

2. Define the WHY in your brand passions: WHY do these ideas matter to your business. What feeling is associated with each of these passions? See below for more info.

3. Ask yourself HOW your audience can relate to these passions. Does your audience care about these passions like you do? If not. You may either have the wrong audience. Or the wrong passions. Figure out which needs to change if you find yourself at odds.

4. Then start the content creation process by writing down 5 stories that your brand can tell about a specific experience from each passion - what happened, what was the outcome, and what lesson you may have learned from the experience.

5. See below for more info, but the next step is to take some time to plan out your social media content using a content template (like this one right here: https://shanabull.com/social-media-resources/content-calendar-report-timeline-template.)

6. Share! Engage! Have fun with your brand. Don’t take yourself so seriously.

7. Check data - look at which products and webpages get the most sales and traffic. Create products or services based on your passions and what sells the most.

8. And remember - you can repeat these steps because your core values may not change - but your brand passions can!

Define the WHY in Your Brand Passions

Diving deeper into the #2 action item: Really look deep into what the core beliefs of your company are. For many smaller brands, the family might be what they are passionate about...but why?!

What about their family makes them excited, and why does family matter to them? Underneath the core passion of “family,” is there a good story to tell about how the founders met?

Or maybe what changed after they had kids (I can tell you from experience – everything changes when you have kids!)? These stories about your brand passions make for valuable content for your audience to get to know you and your brand even more (which leads to life-time customers vs one-off sales)

Now — What To Do With Your Brand Passions?!!?!

Having a clear idea of what your brand passions allow you to streamline your content and see where your brand is going — so you can focus on what matters to you, your brand, and your customers.

Now that you have your four-six brand passions written out, along with stories for each one — you can start planning out your social media and blog content for each of these (I have a great 12-month content calendar resource to help your plan out your social media). Create videos, blog posts, behind-the-scenes Instagram Stories, and newsletters that showcase your brand passions.

I will say this again: When you think about creating content and scheduling it on social media - remember to mix up your brand passions so you are sharing a mix of brand passions every week. This way you can make sure to tell a holistic story about your brand, stay consistent with the type of content you share with your audience, and continue to build trust with them so eventually, when you share a product or service with them — they will want to buy!

My Brand Passions Showcased on Instagram

On my Instagram feed, you can easily see my brand passions mixed up within the content I share on my page: marketing, family, wine, food, and travel. I do have to plan ahead to make sure I have images from each type of brand passion, but it also makes it fun to post — and that is part

If you are in the wine or food industry and looking for more content prompts, I have a really cool down-and-dirty guide to help jumpstart your ideas for creating content for wine industry marketers (though, it can help anyone!).

Tag me on Instagram at @sharayray if you use any of them! Or let me know what your brand passions are, either in the comments here or on Instagram!