The era of brand obsession may soon be over – for marketers that is.
It’s no longer within our power to force our idea of what the brand represents on the customer. Now, they decide what the brand means to them, whether it is worth their money, their loyalty and most importantly, whether they would risk their own credibility by recommending to a friend or colleague.
So that begs the question, what is the definition of a successful brand today?
Is it measured in revenue? Not if you’re one of the (successful) countless online applications that have yet to figure out a sustainable revenue model. Is it in the number of people using it? Perhaps. Some companies are looking for ways to measure the human response to interactions with their product. Does it make you happy? Does it make you feel self-confident? Does it reduce job-related stress?
To measure these emotions, we have to connect them to specific behaviors.
A non-profit, for instance, typically tries to raise awareness of an issue and influence the public to either donate time or money to help the organization address the cause. When we educate an audience about the lack of soap in refugee camps, are we making an emotional connection that compels the reader to act? Success will be defined not only by fulfilling the organizations mission, but also by its ability to make people care.
Corporations want to build enough trust for their product that the shopper will ultimately make a purchase, love it and either buy more or recommend it to a friend. No company aspires to be commoditized, so again, the key to success to create an emotional connection with the most awesome (productive, spendy, etc) customers, give them (multiple) great experiences and enlist them in the marketing strategy.
Here’s where the traditional marketer gets lost.
We used to create feature and benefit campaigns. Most of the time, however, these benefits reflected aspiration rather than reality. Some of us (a scant few I’m sure) have even been put in the position of touting the wonders of a product that doesn’t exist yet (vaporware). Those days are so over. The boulevard of broken dreams is littered with disparaging remarks about companies letting their customers down. This power shift deeply discounts the value of reactive public relations, letters from the CEO or apologetic calls from the account manager.
Back to the original question, what defines a successful brand today?
It’s certainly changing. Most of the people I know are spending their money with great care and purpose these days. Success belongs to those organizations that give their customers the opportunity to help improve and innovate alongside its leaders and employees. This isn’t earth shattering. It’s just a matter of listening for and acting on great ideas. Successful brands won’t have a status quo.
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