… or people love brands that love people. It’s a simple thought but it’s one that I work hard to bring people back to. A brand doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It lives in the real world, repelling competitors, and attracting customers
Some people in business start by developing a product but few start by developing the customer. ‘Build it and they will come’ is the mantra. Then you get focused on pushing that product or service to customers because you have sales targets and bills to pay. Ask yourself, how do I move from being a corporate-focused, product-focused brand to a customer, people-focused brand?
Think Small
One way you can start is to think small. In your thinking and planning create your brand for one person before you try to get hundreds or thousands of customers. Think about that one person, their fears, their pain points, where they live, what they do in their spare time, their work environment, social habits, what they read and watch and what they do in the weekend. What keeps them up at night and what do they dream about doing in the future? Then begin to imagine how your product or service will solve their problems. How does it fit into their world? The answers to these types of questions will help form systems, culture and communication that is more about your customer than you.
Create an experience that is bigger than the product.
Ask yourself ‘how can we make what we offer the best experience for our customer?’ How are they going to feel after using our product? Will they feel like a rock star celebrity or ‘just another brick in the wall’? What amazing experience are you going to provide that will cause them to talk and share with their friends? I have clients who call their customers 3 months after they buy their product to see how it was going, to make sure everything was ok. The amount of new business they generated by showing they care was astounding.
Walk in your customers shoes
Think about the journey customers take to connect with your brand. How will they make the decision to buy your product and what obstacles they have to overcome to find you? How will they hear about you? What will convince them to get in touch with you? How will they contact you? What will the experience be like when they do get in touch? Will you embrace like friends or meet with a cautious smile?
‘Gimme what I want, what I really really want’
Someone once said ‘You don’t go into a hardware store to buy a drill what you really want is a hole. Work out the outcome your customers want. When you know what they really want then you will speak a different language. Speak to the outcome that you are providing rather than the product you are selling.
When you have developed your customer journey and experience then go to a wider audience with a voice that speaks to an individual person with emotion and personality. Make your communication more like two people having a chat and you will connect with authenticity.
You don’t go into a hardware store to buy a drill, what you really want is a hole. Work out the outcome your customers want.
