Administrator 07.23.2013
"4 Keys To Turning Customers Into Brand Evangelists"
To grow your brand, know what people find meaningful, connect with them thoughtfully, create joy they can’t live without, and believe in your employees.
Every day, we see signs that doing business today is more complex than ever.
That means in order to retain market share and keep up profitability, business leaders must continually look for new and innovative ways to engage their consumers. These are real, rational concerns for any organization. They are indicators of how your business is performing, but they are not why you’re in business.
People are why you’re in business.
Whether you’re in a B2B or B2C business, without people, you wouldn’t have any indicators to monitor at all. The only way to get to know the people who, in the end, are the genuine drivers of your business decisions, is to spend time with them. That means all of them--the mainstreams, the extremes, the buyers, the influencers, the trendsetters. Knowing these people will help reveal a vision for your brand that new customers will also want to be a part of. How that vision comes to life is where the magic happens.
The best and most strategic companies today care deeply about people’s needs and desires. They display it honestly and overtly in their brand’s behavior. They design experiences that consider how consumers may feel at every moment with their brand. They also recognize that feelings run deeper than emotions. It’s what drives people to choose, buy, use, and share.
To grow in a sustainable way, it’s critical that you clarify and understand all the nuances of what your brand stands for. We’ve identified four best practices to help you transform your business into a brand that people will fall head-over-heels in love with.
1. Be personal: Why does your product matter to users?
Your business mission and brand vision should be rooted in deep insights about the people you’re trying to reach, established by learning firsthand about who they are and what they desire.
Many companies assume that if they have a great product or service idea, they can find a market segment that might benefit--and then they start pushing their product to those people.
But if you begin instead by thinking about why people need your product and why your product will--or should--matter in their lives, you have a much better chance of connecting with people at the right moments.
"Begin by thinking about why people need your product."
2. Be smart: Develop loyalty
Connecting with people is not just about understanding people’s needs and having a product that satisfies those needs. Businesses must still consider how consumers engage with their brand across all touchpoints. If you think like a service business and envision the entire experience, it’s easier to figure out where you can have the biggest impact with your customers while still furthering your business objectives.
3. Be exciting: Never stop evolving
Create experiences with simple and joyful moments that people can’t live without. And don’t stop there--do continue to wow people. The visceral nature of feelings means that people might not realize when or why they’re falling out of love. They just will. To prevent that from happening, you must consistently innovate and find new ways to connect with people.
4. Be yourself: Don’t overlook your employees
Your brand vision doesn’t stop after you define it--you have to bring it to life. How many times have you read, on a company’s About Us page, that they’re focused on people? Yet in reality, as a company grows, the way the company behaves in its value chain often gives the impression that they’re taking people for granted and focusing primarily on increasing financial performance--they seemingly lose sight of what they stand for.
Regardless of external complexities happening in the global economy, you must stay true to the vision you have for your brand. By following these best practices, you will create a smarter business: one that stands apart from the rest through little interactions that, when added together over time, will make people utterly committed to your brand.
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By: Smart Design (click here for full article)
Written by Paulette Bluhm and Kristi Elliot-Heitman
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