They are the envy of every
brand strategist: brands who have a community of die-hard cult followers -- you
know, the people who go out of their way to evangelize and share the brand with
everyone they know.
How did these brands build this audience of loyal
followers, and what can you do to build this same type of loyalty around your
brands? It all begins with knowing what exactly branding is.
Branding is the process of forming memories, emotions
and a relationship around your brand in the consumer’s brain. The goal is to build such a strong connection
and such strong belief that the consumer take on your brand identity as their
own. They use your brand to help define who they are as a person.
A great example of this is Harley Davidson. Harley has
done such a phenomenal job building memories, emotions and a relationship with
their audience that those audience members take on the “Harley rider” persona and get decked out in leather, bandannas and
even permanently tattoo Harley’s logo on
their bodies.
Creating these deep connections is far from easy and
is something that takes time. However, there are some strategies you can start
implementing to develop to start turning your customers into cult-like brand
advocates.
Brand your customers. One of the most powerful things
you can do is to create a branded term to refer to all your employees and
customers. Link it back to the core idea of your brand and promote the idea as
they are a part of eome exclusive “tribe.” Create a
special celebration process to praise them for joining your tribe and get them
excited for being a part of something bigger than themselves.
At our marketing agency, Savvy Panda, we call all our
employees and customers “pandas” and when we bring on a new client we send
them a welcome pack with panda apparel, stickers and even a stuffed toy panda.
Random acts of kindness. It’s fairly common for a business to have some sort of
rewards program to help encourage repeat business. However, a more powerful way
to make an impact on your customers is to establish a “random acts of kindness” program. Getting something unexpected helps spark
emotions deep within an individual.
Create some criteria to identify your most active and enthusiastic
customers and send them care packages to appreciate them for being such great
customers. You can take it one step further and identify various influencers in
your customer base and fly them out to your business to meet the people behind
the brand.
Many organizations have a dedicated community manager
whose sole responsibility is to help implement these tactics discussed. Their
goal should be to create and strengthen the relationship between your brand and
your audience.
Disconnect from digital. It’s easy to keep communications solely in digital
formats like email or social media. However, digital communications lack one of
the critical brand building elements: Oxytocin. Oxytocin is a chemical released
in the brain when we personally interact with each other. This is what helps
spark emotions and memories -- the exact thing we're trying to create.
Personal, non-digital interactions of genuine goodwill
are a great way to spark oxytocin release. This could be as simple as picking
up the phone and calling your customers to tell them you appreciate them or
more complex strategies like hosting an event where you can meet and get to
know all your customers in person.
Digital communications are nice for working at scale,
however, it’s important to keep in mind that they are
not the best advocate-building methods. Where possible, put in the extra effort
to connect offline or in person (even if it takes more time or costs a bit
more).
Personalize. As Dale Carnegie famously said, “The sweetest sound in any language is one’s name.” As powerful as someone’s name is, it’s equally important to have context around that name.
Tailoring your brand experience around an individual consumer is what will
start building those deep branding connections.
Find ways to start personalizing everything you do in
your business from the products to customer service experience and messaging on
your website. Make a point to learn each customer’s name, interests and hobbies, among other things and
then tailor your messaging and interactions around those items.
To some this might not seem scalable, however, with
the power of data, social logins and simply building knowledge gathering steps
into your processes, it’s easier
than you think.
There’s no
question, branding is a long-term commitment that requires unwavering
discipline and confidence in the idea your brand stands for. The brands which
are true to their ideas and are successful in building that emotional
connection are the brands who enjoy the cult-like followers we as marketers all
try to achieve.
From Entrepreneur
By Luke Summerfield
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