When you open up emotionally great things tend to happen. People get to know the real you and they like it. People are impressed by your transparency and willingness to be vulnerable, it puts them at ease and the empathy can flow so freely between you, it becomes an ongoing conversation. It’s a conversation where we fill in the gaps to make a positive narrative because we believe you had the courage to be honest and lay bare who you are, without the concern of judgement or fear of rejection.
We have all experienced moments like this with friends or even a surprise moment with a colleague in a meeting. Moments of pure emotion offer a mirror up to the understanding we want and the acceptance we crave. It allows people to realise that is not only how they feel, but that you made them feel better and that is a deep connection worth fostering.
This sounds like it is straight off the psychiatrists couch, but honestly, if we are bold enough to apply this to our marketing it means we can truly connect. Great brands have cracked this code and we have our favourites; the ones we wear, we drive, we brands we trust to give to our kids, the one’s hold dear in our hearts. Think Toyota, Vogels, Anchor and add in the brand that moves you. Personally, I love Land Rover, it’s a car brand I keep going back to and they just have a perfect understanding of what I want and what is in my imagination.
All of these brands have something in common, they have a passionate and fearless marketer behind them. This marketer will pour their hearts into making sure the brand experience will connect on a deep level and pull triggers in our brain that really mean something for years to come.
What does it mean to pour your heart into a brand? Well, it means having an understanding of how your relationships in the real world mirror the relationship you want people to have with the product or service you are marketing.
You see, great brands are living emotional entities that forge deep relationships with their audience. For my kids LEGO has a very special place, they know LEGO ‘gets them’ they want to spend hours on end with the brand, to the extent that they have posters on the wall and watch the videos. Having LEGO is like having a playdate, it is familiar, fun has an emotional security and never lets them down. Those marketers at LEGO surely pour their hearts into their marketing & the products, you can’t fool a 9 year old.
Vogels is a brand closer to home where you can clearly see that there oodles of care poured into the experience from the marketers. How else could a bread embody a nation’s love, even from overseas? Each marketing chapter is lovingly crafted, it builds on the last, you can tell it really matters. It goes beyond the bread and enters into your consciousness about how emotionally close you are to your country and your family, it’s a Kiwi Icon. This is a relationship that goes deep and is intragenerational. Something we can all aspire to with our endeavours. It certainly puts the pressure on when it’s your turn to take the marketing reigns.
When you genuinely put your heart into your marketing, your brand becomes more authentic, which in turn builds trust and loyalty with your audience. This also means that you have meaningful emotional messaging that resonates. This leads to a deeper connection which brings us back to fostering genuine relationships, we have moved beyond the merely transactional.
Finally, it’s clear that we live in a very crowded market place, but the one thing in short-supply is passion. So, to truly differentiate yourself, the formula is pretty clear, open your heart and pour it passionately into your brand.
Afterall, what customers are really buying, is you.