A good brand is more than a name or logo. Effective branding not only represents your company, it also taps into consumers’ emotions and feelings. Emotional branding helps separate you from the competition by creating connections and building loyalty.
Creating a strong emotional connection means finding a reason why customers need your brand based on an emotional attachment. Once that connection is made, they become “fully connected” customers. They are 52 percent more valuable than “highly satisfied” customers.
We’ve gathered a few tips on how to build a brand that is well-known and well-loved, using branded giveaways for a stronger connection.
Find out what moves your customers
Begin building an emotional connection by discovering what makes your customers tick. Research their demographics and passions. Hot button issues, such as family values or a need to belong, are great topics to focus on while building a stronger connection.
To conduct your research, try going straight to the source. Conduct a survey with questions like:
- What problem does our product or service solve for you?
- Why did you choose us over our competitors?
- How have we exceeded your expectations?
- What makes you feel connected to our brand?
The answers will help focus your emotional branding efforts. Encourage survey responses by offering a gift. Choose one that says thanks for helping measure success, such as a tape measure, ruler or pedometer.
Turn your product or service into an experience
Get customers more emotionally involved by turning your product or service into an experience. Creating a brand experience can be as simple as smiles from your staff or kind responses to emails and comments. To learn more about how to improve customer experiences, put yourself in their shoes. Examine every interaction a customer has with a team member during the buying process. Find opportunities to rise above a normal customer experience, including having friendly and knowledgeable staff, following up with phone calls or emails, and providing branded giveaways to some of your best customers, such as chocolates or nuts.
Be the real you
Regardless of your approach, make sure to be authentic to your brand. Creating connections by embodying your core values will build even stronger relationships with those who believe in your product or service. Make sure your brand’s personality shines through all messaging. If you are a fun, relaxed brand, don’t write stiff copy. If you’re a more formal company, don’t use slang.
By knowing your customers, creating an experience, being authentic and using branded giveaways, you can turn a basic marketing strategy into a real emotional connection.