Maegan LujanIsn’t it time your brand grows up and gets serious about its relationships?
By building on mutual understanding, a brand and its customers can move into more serious, long-term relationships—even love—that benefit both parties. The brand earns a loyal customer or even a champion, and the customer has a brand they can trust and on which they can rely.
To illustrate how a brand can build a loving relationship with its audience, it helps to think about how you foster a loving relationship with your own partner.
Love at first sight
Do you remember the first time you saw your own partner? They probably made some impression on you with their appearance. Perhaps it was their smile or what they were wearing. It might have happened in an instant, or gradually over time. However it happened, it almost certainly started with (some part of) their appearance.
I believe the same idea applies to a brand and brand vision. And it explains why a brand should apply strategic thinking to make a good first impression with its target audience. A first impression not only makes the brand irresistible to those who encounter it, but also invites them to get to know it better.
Get to know them
Having met someone whose appearance attracted you, you found a way to approach them. From there, a deeper, more emotional bond began to grow. Which added a deeper level of attraction by experiencing the way they laughed at your jokes, they talked, or their body language.
The same applies to a brand. A brand and its vision should build an emotional bond with its audience. To put it another way, a brand should be developed to engage the senses, with qualities that continuously surprise, delight, and differentiate it from other brands.
Make a connection
After spending some time together, you began to discover your partner’s character and personality. From there, you get to know their values and beliefs. That’s when you realize you share most, or all, of the same values and beliefs. And it’s then that you know you’ve found someone with whom you could build a truly loving relationship.
It’s this connection that a brand should try to achieve with its audience. To do that, designers and marketers need to be completely honest about what the brand is and what its beliefs are.
Foster true love
The key for brands is this: Fostering true love. This can happen naturally, through the discovery and sharing of each other’s values and beliefs. While this may begin with appearance, appearance is not the ultimate key to success.
It’s the same with a brand: The brand may look good, but unless it shares the values and beliefs of its audience, there will be no true love between the two.
Are you taking the right steps to woo your target audience by making a positive first impression and getting your date to swipe right?
