Customers Don’t Buy Products, they Join Tribes
Marty Neumeier said, “Customers don’t buy products, they join tribes.” You buy a brand (e.g. lululemon) and not another brand because you are sending a signal to the world, such as: 👉 I have good taste 👉 I value quality, style, function, and fit 👉 I can afford it You don’t want to be a […]
What Makes a Product or Brand Premium or Luxury?
Here are (some) of the E’s of luxury marketing: 👉 Emotions – using storytelling to align with customers’ values, luxury brands can tap into emotions to create desire and aspiration. 👉 Exclusivity – high net worth individuals (HNWI) and aspirational consumers want with others cannot have. Luxury brands can make customers feel important by offering […]
What if Gas Companies Invested More into their Brand?
I assume most people are brand agnostic when it comes to gas stations – they are essentially all the same. You go to the one that’s convenient or cheapest, perhaps the one where you collect points. What would it look like if a gas company invested more into their branding? But first, what is branding? […]
Why is Brand So Important?​​
Why is Brand So Important? Consumers spend their hard-earned money (often a lot of money) to be walking advertisements for a brand, why? Shouldn’t it be the other way around?
One Clever Way Brands Can Win at Branding
I love when companies put in the extra effort to do something cool that serves no function other than to be fun. 👉 You’ve see hidden messages sewn into lululemon clothes. 👉 You’ve see Intuit Mailchimp‘s animated shaky monkey finger when you’re about to launch a campaign (I think they got rid of that actually). 👉 You’ve seen […]
Authenticity Builds Trust
It’s okay to say, “I don’t know.” I received a terrible piece of advice once from someone who told me never to say, “I don’t know.” You either know something, you kind of know something, or you don’t know something. I try not to speak about things I don’t know, or kind of know. If […]
How to Convert Customers into Brand Evangelists
How do you convert customers into brand evangelists? That is the million dollar question. We’ve identified three main things you want to do: First, look at your entire customer experience funnel from: 👉 Acquisition 👉 Retention 👉 Revenue Second, identify any friction points in the customer experience. You can use a mixture of cohort analysis, […]
The T-Shirt Theory of Branding​
There’s a strange thing that happens with consumers. We willingly buy t-shirts (and other clothing) with corporate logos on them, often at exorbitant prices. Think about that for a second., it sounds a bit absurd, doesn’t it? Consumers are willing to be walking advertisements for brands, and not only do they not get compensated by the […]
Signs You May Have a Brand Problem
Lamborghini doesn’t need to run ads, neither does Kleenex. Let me explain. Who remembers those Barg’s commercials from the early 90s (perhaps you weren’t born yet). Barg’s has bite! Remember those? They were everywhere. Then slowly, they went away. When was the last time you saw a Barg’s commercial, or even thought about Barg’s since […]
Don’t Overlook the Importance of Packaging​
One super underrated play for CPG brands is packaging. If you’re sending your customers some uninspired, brown cardboard box without anything thought or care into creating an exciting unboxing experience or “social moment”, then this is a huge oversight. Consumers don’t always behave completely rationally. Personally, I’ve been so impressed with the packaging from watching unboxing […]