Consumers are savvier than ever. They’ve honed skills to sniff out the truth, champion transparency, and demand that brands don’t just sell to them, but move them. More than ever, they want to be wooed and build a genuine relationship with brands. They crave more meaning.
In response, marketers must craft and consistently deliver on a brand promise that evokes authentic emotion and real connections. So how do savvy marketers take on this challenge? At Hiebing, we believe that it always begins with tapping into target insights.
Starting With Heart
It’s easy for companies to get caught up in touting what their capabilities are. And rightfully so! They’ve worked for years to build something and want the world to know. But if they go back to why the company was started in the first place, they’ll remember it was because someone was trying to help someone else solve a consumer problem or create better customer options.
Today, the most successful brands focus on the customer above all else.
Think about the brands you love the most. What makes you love them? Likely, you feel like they view you as a real person; they know something about what makes you tick; and they understand what you want and need. That’s exactly why the first step for any marketer is taking time to learn as much as possible about the customer.
That knowledge leads to empathy for your target and serves as the foundation for your brand’s purpose. Taking the time to learn as much as possible about them and focusing all you do around meeting—or exceeding—their needs will pay off in spades as you build your brand and start telling your brand story.
Building Trust Builds Relationships
Once you’ve gathered insights that connect you with the motivations and emotions of your target, you can make your brand promise come alive for them by crafting messaging that showcases the ways you can help them—as well as how you can do it better than your competitors.
But trust takes time to build. Telling a consistent brand story, delivering on the brand promise every time, and keeping that empathy for the target front and center will enable trust to form over time.
And not only will that trust differentiate your brand from your competitors, it will go a long way toward building a meaningful relationship with your target. Meaning they’ll stick with you for years to come.
Going Beyond Good Enough
As companies move to highlight their meaning, finding the right partner to tell their brand story authentically can make or break their success. The right partner should:
- Care about your brand and target as much as you do
- Dive into the details around what moves your target
- Work with you to define and pursue your business objectives
- Balance listening, collaboration and respectful debate to find the best solution
- Strive to move beyond “good enough” ideas in favor of truly differentiating and meaningful ideas
Interested in learning how Hiebing can help your brand get closer to your target? Send Ted a note at tjun@hiebing.com to schedule a time to chat.