In a social economy, what people say can spread quickly and therefore what they say becomes
vitally important to your brand - you want to create a positive brand meme - in other words something people want to talk about and share with others.
Brands as Jeff Bezos says is not what you say about it, it is "what people say about you when you leave the room"
Forget all the business jargon and just ask yourself
What is so great about your brand that would make people rave about it?
How can we make it easy for people to share their stories about us?
How can we show our appreciation to those brand advocates who share those stories?
Your social media marketing is not about pushing your message out, it is about pulling your customers in - to talk about your brand. In order to encourage social media sharing you need to give people something to talk about....giving information about yourself is rarely shareable, giving experiences to others, well that is shareable.
Brand marketing and especially internet marketing can get caught up with so much jargon...it can seem so complicated...it doesn't have to be.....
to attract humans - be human.
to encourage humans to talk about you, speak as a human.
Because storytelling is the way humans explain the reasons, indeed it is the way historically we have explained history and reasons.
Because storytelling is evokes emotion and it is the emotion that makes us buy. There are few things that we NEED to buy, especially in a consumer society which is influenced by internet marketing. We need to create a reason to buy, or a reason to buy our products or services.
People don't buy features, they buy what the features will do for them. Therefore a story explains that...
People don't buy brands per se, they buy what the brand stands for.....Therefore a story explains that...
People don't buy from the 'company', they buy from people...How many times is it the person that has persuaded you to buy not the technical specifications sheet...Therefore a story explains that...
Content development, indeed content strategy is a package of showing the why, the what, the how of your product and service.
Storytelling is the mechanism by which your writing becomes human.
While some of the elements of
brand management have changed over the years, many rules have stayed the same. You
still need to use everything at your disposal
to ensure your brand is
well-received.
Research shows that consumers are savvier than they've ever been
and know half-cocked branding attempts when they see them. Bad logo design is a
quick way to ward off any interested customers.
Remember, everything about your
company contributes to how your brand is viewed by the general public. That
means that something as simple as your logo can communicate the quality of your
business to the average consumer.
What constitutes a good
logo?
This is undoubtedly a hotly
debated topic in the marketing world. But one thing's certain: Your company
logo design must communicate trustworthiness and commitment to quality. For
many companies, the logo is a potential customer's first impression of the
business. If their first
impression is that you don't take the visual elements of your brand
seriously, this may give way to a feeling that you don't take other elements of
your business seriously.
The color emotion factor
The art of crafting the perfect
logo for your business doesn't stop at creating a clean, highquality design.
Did you know that colors convey emotions? In fact, an
infographic called the "Color Emotion Guide" takes you
through a full spectrum of widely used colors and how they affect viewers on an
emotional level. For instance, according to the infographic blue induces a
feeling of trust and dependability, while the color green can give off a
feeling of peace and health.
Practice what you preach
After you've done the hard work
of conceptualizing and crafting your powerful logo it's time to make the rubber
meet the road. While your logo may communicate some solid core values that
turns heads, you must incorporate those values into every aspect of your
company.
Does your brand communicate that your company is trustworthy? Do
customers get a sense that your company provides excellent customer support?
Then your organization, especially early on, needsto work tirelessly to
maintain this awareness of your brand. It's much easier to keep a good reputation
going than to build one up.
Instill values into your
employees
A big part of incorporating
brand values throughout your organization is making sure your employees believe
in your company as much as you do. The more employees you have that are excited
about your company, the easier it will be to instill high quality brand values
throughout the entire organization.
In order for
companies to move forward, they need to think about their branding init iatives
in a whole new way. This means stepping out of the archaic form of branding
that says that a logo is merely just a 2D image that looks cool.
It actually
communicates a lot about your company right out of the gate. Remember, you
never cease to be a brand just because you don't have a logo. Craft a logo
that's perfectly in sync with your company's values and goals.
Today in a guest post from the wonderful Joseph Baker - great friend of The Engaging Brand
Customer feedback is both the good and bad of social media. Social media is not only about what
you say about your brand or how you try to connect with others...it is also an extra sales team if you want it to be....
The problem is that you have to trust IN your brand enough to encourage customers to SING about your brand for you...
Trust is difficult in all walks of life because it open you up to being hurt...but it also opens you up to being loved.
Brand love to 'control the message'.....but the control should be aimed inside your business by controlling the desire to create customer experience.
How?
Well you start by being very clear about what is branding? Branding is knowing who you are, who you are not and what values you want to express. If you are clear about that then in everything you do - you should aim to live that everyday. Branding is living those values no matter the cost, no matter the problems.
Customers will always forgive a mistake if it is recognised early and dealt with promptly. If you live those brand values through the whole of the customer experience and through business marketing you can increase customer satisfaction....and customer loyalty will flow.
Trust is a key element in business...trust within teams, trust to the vision and trust in the product/service....and now through social media marketing, trust in your customer service to make the customer sing about YOU.
Conflict sounds bad as we associate with war....but from a brand marketing and even a career advice of view, conflict can really help you to succeed. Here's why...
I was reading about Chad Hurley - founder of YouTube and how he got the idea for You Tube through his conflict with art and technology and it reminded me that 'what is innovation?' can be answered..it is conflict resolution!
To build a brand is to stand for something, or stand against something...freedom (Southwest Airliines, Google, Zipcar). But to stand for something you need to feel passionate about it....and that often comes from the conflict that you feel...
During a recent tweetchat we were discussing creating a call to action and I argued that call to action was maybe the wrong way to think about how to write a blog post or design a website.
Call to me - encourages us to shout at the customer.
Action to me - encourages us to almost force the customer to click through.
The reason I don't like the phrase call to action is that it doesn't necessarily make business think
'how do I inspire the customer to know more'
I know it sounds pedantic but when asked "How to design a website" I prefer to speak about writing a blog or designing a website with one thing in mind
'how do I inspire to try our products and services'
A business goal is not in your direct control - it is the customer who you need to persuade in order to deliver it. Persuasion is about inspiration. So when you are writing a blog then you need to understand the customer needs, the customer demographic and what will inspire them..
That is why how to, lists, insights, analysis are popular blog posts for heavily trafficked sites. It is not that they are ignoring their business objectives...it is that they understand the objective is to engage the customer in order to deliver those business objectives.
So the question for today is....how well do you inspire customers to try your brand?
Now of course advertising is an important tool for brand awareness, I don't mean to say that all advertising is bad...it isn't and it plays an important role in advertising business.
The problem is often about the truth. Advertising in general is about translating emotion and to
do that emotion has to be simulated in words, in speech or visually.
Social media marketing therefore should always be authentic, it's role is to express not simulate the brand.
In this sense advertising and social media work hand in hand when done correctly. One simulates and the other backs up that simulation through expression on a day to day basis.
Marketing strategy is at it's core about two things
Understanding your brand values and your brand personality.
The economies of scale principle has been at the heart of most management strategies. It worked and still works for value lines. But things are changing and with the growth of 3d printers not just
at the maker level but also as part of the production line, brands will have to rethink their value proposition.
Once it was great that consumers could afford items through mass production. A few years ago brands such as Nike brough customisation to the brand identity but we are evolving past customisation. We need to think about the future differently.
Yes I have created blog post about how 3D printing will change the customer role, but it is more than that...we are on the verge of a new networked economy. The fact that ideas can be translated from pixels to atoms relatively quickly changes the marketing and social networking in business.
Social networking extends beyond the person, it is extending to ideas, to the ability to link idea to production. A business social network of the future will not just be connecting to the consumer, it will be about connecting the consumer's idea to production.
It will be about connecting your production line from economies of scale to economies of value.
The marketing strategy has changed from mass production to mass customisation already...the next step will be to customisation for the masses. 3D technology is often talked about in relation to the consumer themselves, but a business opportunity lies internally within your business.
When a baby is born you can see everyone thinking and saying "Oh aren't they perfect!" then as they grow up and develop those little annoying habits they don't become imperfect...they become imperfectly perfect!
It is the same with brand management. Your marketing plan will seem perfect, the customer experience seems great on paper...then humans become involved.
But I am here to say...that's OK! Why?
Because customers don't believe in perfect, perfect seems too good to be true. No it is about being "humanly imperfectly perfect!"
Customer relationship management will always include dealing with unforeseen issues. Problems will arise - it is not the problem that upsets customers in the long run, it is how you deal with it. Deal with it well (promptly, humanly, politely) then you will create brand loyalty.
Customer feedback will always include some negative comments. The old saying that you cannot please all the people, all of the time needs to be remembered. However, if you deal with them politely, in open and transparently...the world can see that you are human.
Social media marketing will often include issues in public. Again it is not about hiding away from your imperfection, it is about showing that as a brand personality you are human...that you make mistakes but that you learn from them.
Leadership will make incorrect decisions...again it is not the mistake that upsets people, it is the lack of responsibility. Herb Kelleher was famously reported as breaking an egg over his head at an employee meeting....saying "I now have egg all over my face, I need your help to turn this around"......that is why he is accepted as a great leader!
So the question is are you too busy trying to be perfect, rather than being human?
How to build a brand was the question that got asked when I started in business. Now the question becomes
"how do we influence our customers in building the brand"
That influence is a process as well, taking them on a journey from noticing us, to choosing us and then to love us. The hurdle that most companies fail at is the third one. We spend on brand awareness, we spend on converting customers but do we spend enough time on not only their retention by their delight?
I think not and that is the issue when it comes to embracing social media marketing....because when you fail this last hurdle then those customers will turn from brand advocates to brand rebels.
More than ever it is the consistency that matters...it is the consistency of loving them as a customer, it is the consistency of listening that influences how they build the brand for you.
We are all aware that a friend's recommendation counts more than an advert or a tweet etc etc
Therefore your marketing strategy should not just be about capturing a customer...but to capture a recommendation?
How many companies, how many brands think of a customer base when in actual fact we live in a world where we should be focusing on recommendations.
Gaining customers is sometimes about quantity, BUT gaining recommendations is about quality!
Recent Comments