Some days, we’ve got it really good. The more time we get to spend thinking about customers, talking about customers and arguing about who cares about what we sell and why, the better the day:

• Days when a baseball bat becomes more than a piece of wood, more than a tool. It becomes the appropriate complement to a lifetime of long days of practice, a step closer to standing shoulder to shoulder with your heroes.
• Days when an Internet connection becomes more than a $19.99 a month deal, more than the fastest upload speed you could ever need. It becomes a magical connection to your son in Afghanistan, your high school diploma, your first crush.

Many days, though, are about meetings, test results, quick turnarounds and gap closure. And, let’s not kid ourselves. It’s mostly about selling things.

To do that well, though, we have to figure out what’s the most meaningful role your brand – your product, your service, your company – can play in its users’ lives. And we can’t get there without studying and thinking – a lot – about your customers and prospects, and the cultures they inhabit.

We watch them and we listen to them, trying to understand. Who are they? What do they care about? Is it the way that vodka tastes, or is it the way you look with that brand in your hand?

What is it about you, your brand and the things you sell that has meaning to your customers? Is it in your history? Is it in some little something that might make you different from a sea of competitors who, at first glance, seem the same?

What is your brand connecting your customers to? What role can it play in their lives, in the culture they call home or the culture to which they aspire? What can it mean to them?

When we’re spending our days figuring that out, we’re working right.