Prefer to watch and listen? I got you!
Apple vs android? But what do these brand have in common? We fall in love with these brands and become brand advocates we become loyal to these brands but how? The answers are in this book!
Today we will be talking about the book Obsessed: Building a Brand People Love from Day One by Emily Heyward and as the title of this book says this book is a guide to making brands people love! This book is perfect if you want to learn about branding and marketing!
So this book consists of 8 chapters within these chapter the key ideas are:
This chapter is about finding the root of the problem that the business is solving, many business owners when faced with the question “what problems are you solving” they come with the solution aka the benefit, however that's not the reason people will look for your product they won't know their problems the famous Henry ford quote ( no evidence) “if i had asked people what they wanted, would have said faster horse” so the customer will never have the answers and consumer research can only take you so far. Another answer to the question “what problems are you solving” is obvious problems.
To get to the root the Why, why, why, but why! test. Annoying however very beneficial to get to the root and hence the fear of death being the ending to the why test, but there is also other ending such as healthcare, feeling achieved, freedom. The why test allows you to find the real struggles and pain points of the customers.
This chapter is all about finding the emotion in a brand and learning how to create a deep story that the consumer can connect with which leads to a brand they love! To get to the brand story we first think of benefits like it's cheaper or healthy but we want to get the the root of the emotional connection such as happiness, so every time a customer interacts with you they feel happy.
But to have a successful emotional brand story it's important to truly sticking to it throughout every touchpoint with what the brand says, does and how it makes people feel, it has to be rooted in the product as without it then it's just a story without meaning.
The reason why you need a brand story is because every brand can be cheaper than you, more convenient than you and you cannot compete with that but when a customer feels for your story they can then become a loyal customer.
So why should people care about your business, ask yourself that.
This chapter is all about building a brand around the customer , you want to create a brand identity that the customer can identify with! Maslow's hierarchy of needs states consumers buy products to state their attributes & values, where as in the modern world brands are the ones that align their attributes & values to their consumers and not the other way round, which shows that branding is more sharing an identity with the consumers. That's why consumers now choose brand they want to support this is created by brands showing they care about the same things as the consumer making consumers feel good when purchasing.
Branding is most powerful when it speaks to people's sense of self, the best brands are nearly indistinguishable between the brand and the consumers themselves and this is tapped in by identifying this sense of self. This also creates a community, when wearing a product it is as if the person wearing shows their support to the brand but also shows their values which is shared among other consumers creating a connection and bringing people together.
Creating a brand that people are obsessed with is tapping into the sense of self.
As spoken in the sense of self chapter creating connections is also strongly focused on the sense of self as purchasing a product isn't all about the functionality the product provides but how it makes the consumer feel. The brand reflects those attributes and values which does connect one fan to another as they share those values, a business with a clear purpose can create these communities. But a community doesn't have to be a facebook group or physical meeting it can just be a sense of community due to these shared values.
social responsibility should be built into the brand not just added on as if it can be easily removed from the brand story without creating an impact on the overall brand identity then it has been done incorrectly as the social responsibility should be a major part that does create an impact. Writing a brand story doesn't create a community though a successful brand will embody what was written one very step of the way. A successful community does also mean leaving some people out of this community by stating what you stand for and what you stand against you can attract everybody!
Community is what turns a consumer to a loyal consumer meaning they are less likely to go to the next new thing!
When starting a new brand in the modern day is important to be focused and offer very limited offerings this removes a lot of choices as people do like small choice but a lot of choice can be overwhelming so offering a limited offering is making consumer life easier. When a brand builds loyalty then they can offer more products over a period of time so again the consumer doesn't get overwhelmed with a whole lot of new products. Simplifying offerings also means the brand can focus on the emotional overarching narrative as by offering less you can get your brand story right.
But focus doesn't look the same to every business, focus for one business may be offering one product but to another it may look like offering products that naturally go together making it easier for consumers to purchase all these products from one space reducing research time for consumers. This again allows for brands to have a focused message and remove distraction making an easier purchase journey allowing this brand to own their space.
There is some categories that are hard to imagine reinventing the wheel until a brand comes and does it - its the typical saying when asking the consumer what they want they would say a faster horse or however this quote goes. The consumer doesn't always know best they make rational evaluation rather than emotional reactions when creating a logo the consumer may choose a picture of whatever the brand is telling this would miss the opportunity for subconscious power of design.
You need a strategy that rooted in consumer truths, you need to be bold and break rule to make noise but also to serve a consumer a better product.
The most interesting brand have interesting personalities this is created by tension within personality having 2 traits that usually you wouldn't put together e.g cocky and sheepish. This is the power of surprise!
Alot of brand look the same sound the same because they don't have this tension they become what they think the consumer wants but this doesn't feel real to behave the same everywhere e.g think of how yu fact with your friends vs family vs work you act different you shift it doesn't mean you are fake you just present yourself differently this is tension having consistency throughout these groups leads to predictability. Brand personality should play with people's expectations and be flexible for different medias but the brand core identity needs to stay the same!
Being consistent and predictable is boring being flexible surprising and real is what people fall in love with as its more interesting!
A brand starts from within the founders themselves this is what makes a brand more human. People fall in love with people not brands people want to talk to people not brands a brand needs a soul it needs a personality, opinions and feelings. Of course not all founders are a reflection of their target audience but it does help and it becomes more powerful for founders so share these reflections with the target audience. A founders passion can be contagious for people at the company and consumers. When the founder is passionate it adds a soul to the brand making it easier for consumers to fall in love with it.
When forming a team it is important to take great care with who you hire who will be apart of your team who will be the face of the brand as consumers also take great interest in who works for brands. Its not about just public perception but it's about building a brand building a team that share the same values same ethos same mission.
Brand is something that will forever be evolving around the culture around the teams its all about how to appear and behave. And how will your nuture these relationships with consumers as a brand that consumers are obsessed about is all about the service to the audience its all about delivering value and joy for consumers but also founders should feel the same waking up and finding new ways to deliver this. Branding is never done it is a living breathing thing that needs constant work.
So if you are still feeling stuck with brand strategy I'm here to help! Let's chat now!
Thanks for reading!
Kami x
