Consumers these days are clearly favoring experiences over messages. Think Apple’s interface. Think warm chocolate chips cookies from Double Tree.  Think of the scent of a Singapore Airlines airplane.  These are what we’d call brand defining experiences. They’re memorable, unique and emotionally resonant. And they demonstrate the promise of the brand without having to actually say it. This is where brand and marketing are heading and for good reason. Saturated marketing channels are making us deaf. Instead, give us a test drive of what we can expect from you and then we’ll decide if it’s something we want or not.

When I saw Ann Taylor, Gap, and Urban Outfitters announce their quest to beautify fitting rooms it also occurred to me that focusing exclusively on these types of experiences can be dangerous.

There is real risk in creating experiences that are disconnected from the rest of your customer experiences. If a customer has a fantastic experience in your dressing room but then waits too long in line at the check-out counter, your effort could be lost.  Inconsistency breeds confusion, and it’s hard to build a brand amidst confusion.

To help safeguard your investment in your brand defining experience, follow these three rules:

1)      Make sure these experiences are well rooted in your brand, not just a gimmick designed to garner attention. This means the experience will feel authentic, like a natural extension of you. It will also help ensure that over time the experiences themselves build on each other and all contribute back to the building of the brand.

2)      Look at the entire customer experience, not just one piece, and from the customer’s perspective. How does this fit in? Is it consistent with what the customer expects or needs? Is it helpful or does it get in the way? How does it relate to the rest of the experience we provide.

3)      Examine all the potential roadblocks, especially those related to staff, in your ability to deliver this experience. If this experience requires you to have super smart staff who are prepared to answer any question, but you’ve consistently underinvested in training, then this might not be the experience for you. Experiences are harder to deliver than messages because they take serious training, investment, and the right people to pull them off. Be honest with yourself about what you’re team is capable of doing.

Taking these three steps will help ensure your brand defining experience is more than window—or dressing room—dressing.

- Bianca Abate

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Frito-Lay made a big splash the other week when they suspended a replica of their “Flavor Kitchen” over Times Square. The “Flavor Kitchen” is Frito-Lay’s newest tactic in its “naturally delicious” campaign.  They used the kitchen as a place to demonstrate their promise around, “all natural ingredients,” showing the Executive Chef chopping fresh veggies for the next batch of chips.  Why did they choose to do this versus the more traditional method of telling customers about their commitment? First, it’s more transparent and therefore more believable. There’s a big difference between a company like Frito-Lay saying they’re all natural versus showing it.

But what’s also genius about this is that it’s become a brand-defining experience. They’re not just the company who pays lip service to all natural, they’re doing it, and they doing it big. The old saying “actions speak louder than words” couldn’t be more true in today’s over-saturated consumer market. If you saw this on the news or if you were a lucky passer-by, chances are you won’t forget it. If you were going to create a brand defining experience for your business, what would it be?

- Evelyn Jones

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Management is making sure things run smoothly.  Leading, on the other hand, is lifting up your head, looking around, and doing something about what you see.  Many companies are run by managers, versus leaders.  Which is great if nothing changes.

But we’re in a time of great change, with the rate of change growing ever faster.  Leaders are what’s needed now, no matter what size company or type of industry you’re in.   Mobile, cloud, outsourcing/insourcing, self-serve, social media, disintermediation, user generated content…unless you run a hot dog stand, there’s practically no industry left unscarred by the vast of amount of change in the last 15 years. Even if you do run a hot dog stand, you’ll need to keep up with trends in localvore habits, mobile food truck regulations, the use of social media to drive new customers, supply chain traceability, changes in health concerns…

Lead and they will follow.  But just manage, and you will quickly be swept aside by the waves of change.

- Lynn Parker

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I stumbled across the top 20 Facebook fan pages article on Inc. and saw “Steve Spangler Science” as the top ranked Facebook page.  I had to investigate. Who is Steve Spangler and why is he so popular?  If you go to Steve Spangler’s Facebook page you are first welcomed with a video. The video shows his science experiments in the community and guest appearances on TV shows, but basically the clip does a great job at saying why you should become fan and explaining what’s in it for you. Steve Spangler has a strategy. He draws people in with a simple video, is clear about the benefits of being his Facebook fan, and regularly monitors and contributes on the page once you’re in. The article mentions that Spangler has even hired a full time employee to do “nothing but listen” to who said what on which social media sites.

Steve Spangler and many other companies have nailed down their Facebook strategy in a way that is relevant to their fans and seeing real results.  SmartPak is tracking referrals from Facebook to their website and is seeing increased revenue as a result of their Facebook page.  Many other pages listed in the article have strategies of their own focusing on customer engagement, brand recognition, product contests, games, etc., with most all of the pages somehow creating an experience where fans can engage and interact with the company.

So I ask, how do your fans experience and interact with you on your Facebook page? And how does your social media presence deliver on your brand promise?

- Evelyn Jones

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Customers don’t wake up in the morning interested in your company and products, no matter how much you push out messaging to them.  Instead, they wake up in their world, trying to solve their problems and fill their lives with experiences that are relevant to them.

What if instead, you started with a customer focus?  If you turned the telescope around and saw the world from their point of view?  Would your products and services look the same?  Would you reframe your value and messaging?  Would you meet their needs and provide relevant experiences?  That’s what’s needed today, in a world where people can go anywhere on the Internet to find what they are looking for, where consumers no longer respond to advertising or corporate messaging, but instead are looking for experiences that make sense to them.  “Push” marketing no longer works because customers are only interested in things they have “pulled.”

So move from ME ME ME to YOU YOU YOU. Turn the telescope around and get into the customer’s frame of reference.

- Lynn Parker

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What’s the secret to getting through to your target audience?

It’s simple: just listen.

They’re not “consumers,” they’re real people with real emotions, triumphs, problems and goals. Listening helps you see the world through their eyes to truly understand where they’re coming from.

And when you truly “get” them, you see not just what matters to them, but how to connect.

I loved NPR’s coverage on Makeba Riddick, a songwriter for Rhianna, Beyonce, Toni Braxton and more. Whenever she’s writing a song, she keeps the teenage girl from Iowa (and mom) in her head the entire time. And her songs continue to top the charts.

Check it out here: How To Write A Hit- Think Like A Teenager (But Keep Parents In Mind)

- Bianca Abate

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Just caught wind of kulula.co via this snopes.com article. What a hoot! This regional airline out of South Africa makes a bold promise and a big splash with their visual brand. From airplanes with engaging designs to their on-time performance website page (5 years worth of stats) to their coordinated travel options that get you from your door to your destination spot and back again, this company sets clear expectations for its customers (known as “jetsetters,” if you join their loyalty program).

Kulula’s mission is around “safety first,” ease of planning and travelling at “the easiest price,” “no bullshit” (their own term – really!) and having fun. They seem to be pulling all of this off nicely. Their challenge will be to keep it up and not let the brand slip into boring. Can they create new designs when they buy new planes? Will they meet their on-schedule goals? Will employees continue to provide a fun experience even as people get accustomed to their approach?

What does it for me is that this company has tapped into the way we consumers want to be treated and engaged, with honesty and a sense of humor—and as long as they stay on top of that, they’ll be in great shape.

Any other examples out there of companies taking a more down-to-earth approach to meet customers where they are? Please share!

Beth Woolley

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The art of plain talk is critical for anyone who has a message that needs to be understood by someone else. Whether you’re a marketer, a teacher or even someone who emails a lot at work, your writing can either win someone over or just create confusion.

Google the topic and you’ll find a ton of rules like avoid euphemisms, bullet your points, make it short, only use words with 3 consonants or less, etc.

I simply say:  Picture an actual person from your target audience in front of you. If you wouldn’t say it out loud, don’t put it in writing.

The better you understand your target audience, the stronger your writing will be.  You might need to channel your inner 6^th grader to simplify the message or use the latest slang to build rapport—whatever techniques help you clarify it for them, do it.

- Bianca Abate

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In a hyper-connected, over-communicative world, the simplest ideas are often the most compelling, which GoTime.Com discovered with a website that began as an online event, club and restaurant directory.

The happy hour tab, initially a minor aspect of the site, quickly became the most popular section—no surprise given the economic climate at the time.  And the creators quickly saw and acted on that trend in the right way by taking happy hours to the nth degree and making it the site’s focus.

Thus, an ingenious happy hour directory was born (accessible via the web or iPhone/Android app) that puts the city’s drinking deals at your fingertips.  Check it out and you’ll find all the happy hours within your geographic radius with detailed info regarding prices, times, reviews, and additional features like “water view” or “cute staff.”  And, it’s just been launched nationwide in 35 cities and counting.

But the best part? Their brand’s key strength lies in how they’ve thought critically about deepening their user relationship well beyond their level of technological prowess. “Some people ask us why we don’t charge for our app, but that feels like an oxymoron.  It’s our mission to save people money and it just doesn’t feel right to charge $2 for an app when people are on a budget. We’d rather you take that money and put it toward buying another round,” says co-founder Jeff Khadavi.

It’s clear these guys are serious about putting the “happy” in happy hour, but how do they go about delivering on that goal?

1. By looking at what’s happening in the market and responding to it in their unique way.
2. Getting focused.  Like GoTime.com learned, it’s better to excel at the one thing people care most about, versus being mediocre at a lot of things that aren’t relevant.
3. Making it simple. If it’s not simple, it won’t stick.
4. Being flexible.  As Jeff Khadavi puts it, “Early stage companies have to adapt to navigate the waters and make something out of whatever arises.”

- Bianca Abate

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Life as a Facebook fan page master can be tough. Learning the functionality and navigating many application choices requires a great deal of patience and gumption because there’s no right or wrong way to manage your page.

There are tons of helpful blogs out there that list helpful apps and tips, but this is not one of them. Instead, I offer help in answering a tougher question that we face:

“If I’m the voice of my organization, what the heck do I post and say?”

The answer lies in:

1. Understanding your audience
2. Using your brand as a filter

Understanding your audience means you know what they like, don’t like and how to add value to them. What makes social media enticing is that it requires people to run it—it can’t be automated. Understanding their needs informs your interactions and builds a human connection behind the corporate entity. How to start? Just listen. Tap into the areas online where your customers and prospects are already hanging out and look for mentions of your org with free tools such as Google Alerts and Addict-o-matic. By listening, you can learn about relevant topics and turn what’s hot into ways people can connect with you.

Using your brand as a filter means that before posting or tagging anything, you weigh its content to make sure it aligns with the brand you’ve created offline. In an ideal world, you already know the whats, hows and whys behind your brand—this is your playbook. Capturing the spirit of your org consistently over time demonstrates your authenticity and builds relationships. An easy way to do this is to think of your org as a person. Does the tone or content match something she would post?

Good luck to all the Facebook fan page masters out there and if you need any help, leave a comment. And for an example, check out www.Facebook.com/ParkerLePla.

- Bianca Abate

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