The Hard Truth About What Your Brand Needs to Turn Customers into Screaming Enthusiasts

There is a serious problem with business today. There’s a bad taste in our mouth due to many companies that try push too much on us and sell us their stuff, awesome or not.

There are companies that haven’t figured out that 2013 is different from 1970…and from 2012 for that matter. Some are getting it, most are not.

So I started thinking the other day about what makes me love a company or person so much that I’ll buy anything they put out. I started brainstorming what could possibly be the factor that drove me to make those decisions even if I didn’t really need what they were offering. And I came up with something interesting.

They each have a Super Power. Let me explain.

Relationships

It’s long been understood by business professionals that building rapport and brand loyalty are awesome to have for your brand. But many seem to think that once you get to a certain point, you stop striving and just ride it out.

That’s a poor way of looking at things.

In today’s marketplace, relationships are a critical element to success. It could be for a larger company, but definitely for us entrepreneurs. Building that bond is like having super human strength. Get my point?

Stance

Some brands take a stance on a subject. Think of organizations like Susan G. Komen (whom I don’t support for moral reasons. Ask me if you want to know why.) But their branding is awesome and they have established themselves as the go-to for breast cancer awareness. They stand firm on that.

Having an unwavering stance on a particular subject or cause can make a huge difference in how people see, trust and respect you…oftentimes even if they don’t agree with you.

Again, it’s like some sort of Super Power to gain traction.

Psychology

This is the more technical of the three. There are brands that that dig deep into your soul with their messaging, evoke emotion on a daily basis and hit triggers in your mind that you didn’t know exist. These brands understand our minds better than we do.

It can be an incredibly powerful thing to have in your arsenal and something that every marketer would love to be able to master. You can see this in companies that use things like nostalgia to evoke emotion, certain words to cause action and countless other things.

Psychology is extremely powerful and is often used a the underlying core in these awesome brands we’re talking about.

The Simple Truth

To succeed in living out our dreams, we have no choice but to form deep relationships with our customers. If you’re a blogger, it’s readers. If you’re a business, it’s clients. And so forth.

The deeper we can grow our relationships with people, the better off we’ll be as our brands move forward.

I recognize that relationships are one of the key Super Powers, but they are really the core of what connection is all about. When we connect with someone, we mean that we are forming a relationship with them. We mean that we value what they as a person have to offer…and what we can offer them. It could be in business terms, but it should be in real, human terms.

Relationships are the cornerstone to business today. From blogger to CEO, we must understand this. (Tweet that!)

A little exercise

I have written down several brands and added them into a category. I made the criteria for getting to the list very simple because this concept is simple.

  • They must have brand enthusiasts
  • I could clearly categorize them within about 10 seconds

All others fell outside as being stagnant in terms of connections.

Here are a few examples ranging from bloggers to major corporations.

Relationships

Psychology

Stance

FirepoleMarketing Social Triggers  Jeff Goins
Michael Hyatt 48Days  Dave Ramsey
Microsoft Copyblogger  Seth Godin
Google Amazon  Apple
Target Sally Hogshead  Kimanzi Constable
Zappos  Mailchimp
Starbucks  Prodigal Magazine
Entreleadership  Chipotle
Andy Traub  Simple

As you can see, the ones you know of clearly fit into the selected category, thus using their Super Power effectively. But there’s one more aspect to this.

Each of these brands actually use a primary power and a few of them use a secondary. Dave Ramsey, for instance, uses stance as hating debt for a cause to rally around. But, they also build relationships with people through their stories. This brand uses stance as the primary and relationships as the secondary.

Another example would be Firepole Marketing. Danny Iny is all about building an engaged audience and what it can do for your brand. He clearly values relationships but the secondary is psychology. Firepole tackles marketing from an easy to understand perspective and uses clear messaging to attract the perfect readers. Relationships is their primary, psychology is their secondary.

Make sense?

And Now…

This my concept. It’s nothing I heard somewhere else. It’s from my crazy brain, given from God, of course.

This will change your business. This will change your relationships. This is my process.

This is connection branding.

So I ask you.

Where do you fit? If someone were to write down what Super Power you’re using, would they be able to? Or are you stagnant?

Do This.

1) Comment and tell me what you think of the concept overall.

2) In that comment, list a few brands and what Super Power they’re using.

3) Share with someone that needs to know this. They will thank you immensely.

4) Join the launch team and help promote your message to the world.

11 thoughts on “The Hard Truth About What Your Brand Needs to Turn Customers into Screaming Enthusiasts”

  1. For me it is all about stance – specifically taking a stance on the place meaningful work should have in our lives. I would have put Apple in the Psychology bucket – but see you put in stance? I think Apple can get in my head and make me want things I didn’t even know I needed (like my iPad). Whole Foods uses Stance. Companies like Lowe’s are working more toward building relationships – for example with the new services they have to remember your purchases. Love the concept… definitely worth sharing!

    1. LOVE that you caught the APPLE thing. 😀

      Apple actually uses all 3 of them. I believe their primary is Stance because of their ability to push the status quo and that’s what they stand for overall.

      Psychology is their secondary with a close tertiary of relationships. As you said, they persuade us to buy things we didn’t know we needed and they form a culture around everything they do.

      Thus the reason APPLE is pretty much the epitome of a brand in today’s world. We’ll see where it goes from here but for now, they are probably the best example we have of a company using all 3.

      Thanks for your feedback!

  2. I think recently people would say I’m using relationships. I wasn’t before. My stance was that I was a psychologist and I thought that was enough. It’s not! I think you’re on to something with this concept, though sometimes it isn’t stance, psychology, or relationships. It really is a superior product that meets needs or desires. Perhaps it’s the other 3 that get you to purchase the first time, but if the product’s no good, you’ll leave them.

    1. Yes, there are companies that don’t fit the 3…and typically, they are failing miserably. But there’s exceptions to every rule.

      And that’s very true about the product that’s offered. Without true value, nothing works. Value is always the most important thing that can be offered.

      Thanks for your feedback, glad to see you’re using relationships…that’s a major key to success today!

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