Building and sustaining a brand from the ground up can very difficult and labor intensive. Getting your name out there can feel like an impossible task, especially in an economy crowded by many people selling the same services or goods that you do.
So how do you differentiate yourself? What makes you any better than the other businesses in your space? Why should people care about your company?
One word can connect and answer these questions… emotion.
To many, emotion is the single most important part of your brand marketing efforts. The connection that your company makes with its target demographic sets the tone for your business’s entire existence. If you care and show a genuine interest in the well-being of your customers, they notice. And when a customer is comfortable with a specific product or brand, it’s hard for them to turn their loyalties from it. On the flip side, bad customer service and smear campaigns put a bad taste in consumers’ mouths and the odds of them using your services or goods dwindles significantly.
Building a campaign that tugs on the heart strings of consumers can be tricky, but here are a few tips to get you started:
1. Make It Real. Find a way for your campaign to be interactive in real time. For example, Uber gave local businesses an opportunity to have puppies driven to their offices for 15 minutes of their own version of the ‘Puppy Bowl.’ If office employees wanted to keep a puppy, they were all available for adoption.
Why is this relevant?
Uber’s exposure was through the roof! Coverage of the 1-Day campaign was picked up by many national media outlets and it also gave people who saw the story a good feeling which is directly connected to Uber.
2. Start Local. In all likelihood, you’re not going to sell a million dollars in a day. You have to start small and this is the best way for consumers to interact with what you are offering because it gives you a means to ‘make it real.’ It also gives you the hometown advantage. A lot of people prefer to shop local over larger brands. This is how you begin to build your presence.
3. Don’t Push Product. Be creative and find a way to interact with your audience so that it evokes an emotional response and is relative to your offering and doesn’t feed product down their throats. Refer to the Uber ‘Puppy Bowl’ campaign.
4. Be Bold, Take Risks and Record Everything! Your idea might sound crazy and in reality, it may in fact be just that. Often, it’s the ideas that are bold that result in success and create an emotional tie to your company than those that play it safe. A growing business does not have the luxury of conservativeness, be bold and take risks. Without risk, there are no rewards.
A viral video or presence in the news will expand your reach further than you can imagine. Even if your campaign is small scale, it’s the response from the customers and the reaction from the surrounding audience that will drive your efforts. Record every aspect of your campaign. When you have consumers interacting with your brand, it has a powerful effect. Make sure everyone has an opportunity to see it.
