Do your customers love you?
Do you know why they would love you?
Can you think of a more important question you need to ask related to your brand?
Have a look at today’s newsletter, Why would they love you, and then ask yourself this question. Do you know why your customers would love you?
Read the newsletter: Why would they love you?
Yes. I am telling you to ignore your mission statement! You read it correctly.
I have an alternative for you … read today’s newsletter, Ignore Your Mission Statement, and see how you can ignore your mission statement and feel good about it!
In 1997 my mentor/guru/client Tom Peters published a ground-breaking article in Fast Company titled The Brand Called You. Let’s take a new look at the concept of personal branding with today’s newsletter, Your Powerful Personal Brand.
What are you doing to reinvent, reinvigorate and renew your personal brand?
For generations, marketers and sales people have tried to differentiate their products, their services and themselves.
This has become more challenging than ever, because customers are convinced, in our land of plenty, that any product or service they buy could be purchased somewhere else, from someone else. Just about everything has a substitute.
So, if you want your customer to see you as different, why not focus on something that he believes is different? Instead of trying to differentiate yourself, why not show him that you recognize he is different?
I hear these statements all of the time, and they are rarely ever true:
“Our customers buy from us because of trust.”
“Our customers give us business because we have high integrity.”
“Our customers are loyal to us because we are a stable company.”
Yes, it’s important that you are trustworthy, stable and have high integrity. But these are not enough to differentiate you, because many of your competitors are also trustworthy, stable, and have high integrity. There is a difference between an important brand parameter and a differentiating brand parameter.
Imagine a chili cook-off, where every chef uses ground beef and tomatoes in his or her recipe. You could say that, in this contest, ground beef and tomatoes are essential elements, just like trust, integrity and stability may be essential in your industry. But nobody ever won a chili cook-off because of their ground beef and tomatoes. They are basic ingredients. The winners win on the details – the herbs and spices they use, the texture they create, the way the flavors blend in a unique way.
Your brand story appeals to customers in the same way. The basics are just that – basics. Without them you lose, but you don’t win because of them. The interesting details – the herbs and spices – are what help you stand out in a crowded marketplace.
One week later, the Big Branding Story from the election is so obvious its not worth much more ink. Even more than the branding disparity between Clinton and Bush in 1992 (“It’s the economy stupid” vs. a mish-mash of who-knows-what), McCain’s pathetic use of Brand Harmony gave the hyper-clear Obama story lots of room to take root. (For more, see the New York Times Magazine story on October 26, “The Making (and Remaking) of McCain)
So, let’s not waste more time on the obvious. Instead, let’s focus on what we can learn from it. I see hundreds of executives every year in workshops, where I ask them to evaluate their brand stories. I can’t tell you how underwhelmed I usually am. Is there a more important question for a business than, “What do you want your customers to believe about you?” Well, my empirical evidence shows that most brand stories are as loose as that of 2008 McCain or 1992 G.H.W. Bush.
So, no matter who you voted for (i.e., does this situation make you gloat or vomit), I encourage you to see the power of a clear, compelling story, communicated with a fully-integrated sense of Brand Harmony. Your customers’ lives are so busy and crowded, and your customers are so savvy and discerning, that you can’t not create powerful relationships with them without a solid brand story.
To paraphrase the Clinton campaign in 1992: “It’s the story, stupid!”
So, what kind of shape is your brand story in?
This video is a great satire on the world of brute force branding. It’s from Geert Desager of bringtheloveback.com.
So what if you’re different? Does anyone care?
Yesterday, a friend and I were discussing one of his competitors. This company has a unique feature, and has built their entire brand story around that feature. The problem? The feature isn’t that important to many people. (My friend smiles at this competitor’s strategy)
There is a difference between being different and being differentiated. “Since 1984,” “The Largest” or “Unlike others, we use only the highest quality rivets” may all be true. But do they matter?
(Shortly after speaking with my friend, Stumble Upon brought me to this picture, at funnyharhar.com)
Can you believe he wrote that? Don’t make a brand consistent? Huh?
Ok, here’s why I wrote that: Consistency is not enough.
In fact, consistency is often boring.
Don’t think consistent. Think complementary.
Take one of the world’s strongest brands – Apple. I don’t expect the different components of the Apple brand I come in contact with (computer, iPod, iPhone, apple.com, iTunes, iTunes store, Genius Bar, retail shopping experience, computer repair, etc.) to all say the same thing, with consistency. That would be weird. No, I expect them to be in complement, creating experiences that blend in harmony.
The oft-mentioned “McDonald’s is a great brand because I can get the same hamburger anywhere is the world” is not really what makes a great brand. It may make a predictable product, but it doesn’t make for an interesting brand. Experiences worth noticing and thinking about use contrast and tension to create interest. One of my favorite avocations is playing jazz. Beautiful jazz harmonies are filled with tension and dissonance; the contrast is what makes them beautiful. The same thing can happen with experiences your customers have with you.
Consistency is not enough. You can aim higher. Think “complement.”
"When Steve Yastrow writes, I pay close attention"
- Tom Peters
"I had to buy two copies. The first one is so dog-eared and underlined I couldn't read it any longer."
- Seth Godin
Microsoft's Retailspeak interview with Steve
Sign up for Steve’s blog
Read Steve's Free Ebook to start benefiting from profitable We relationships.
Encounters: The Building Blocks of We Relationships (Adobe PDF)
In addition to writing, I spend most of my work time helping companies unleash their potential by creating better connections with their customers. This happens through my speaking events and through Yastrow & Company consulting engagements, where my team and I help companies figure out who they intend to be in the future, and then engage the entire company in creating that future through strong "We" customer relationships.
Before starting Yastrow & Company in the mid-90s I was vice-president of resort marketing for Hyatt Hotels. My experiences in the hotel business showed me clearly that most marketing doesn’t happen in the marketing department. Customers are paying attention to all interactions with a company, not just the promises made in traditional "marketing communications."
For more information, see our About page.
