Consumer anxiety has been building over the last two years, and it changes the face of optimal marketing and communications strategy. Rampant uncertainty is being nourished by upheaval over what the future looks like, impacting the chemistry of what people want (greater control) while the rules of culture-informed behavior and expectations around them relentlessly shift.
Here we provide direction on the two pillars of sound strategy, arriving now at the pinnacle of the consumer’s hunt for solid validation and verified belief in your brand promises.
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(Editor’s note: optimized strategy is what sets execution/implementation up for success. Without it, you’re flying blind).
Trust Is Your Brand’s Currency In The Face Of Accelerated Uncertainty
If you’re wondering why AI is moving at breakneck speed to upend traditional search on the consumer’s journey to securing risk absolved decisions, it’s because a super well-informed agent now provides personalized guidance and recommendations in a confident, conversational voice. The advice is supported with documented evidence – rather than serving up a sea of benign links that require even more energy and time to divine trustworthy recommendations.
- It’s digital trust-creation that now super-cedes the effectiveness of conventional legacy brand outreach – mostly focused on self-promotion that demands face value consumer acceptance of claims and assertions.
Instead trust, belief and credible guidance lie at the base of what consumers seek and what your brand should build in order to win a deeper relationship and bond. What you’re really pursuing is their advocacy — beyond loyalty – thus acquiring a deeper connection that rises above the more tenuous tether that falls from transactional behavior.
We Have Arrived At The Intersection Of Authentic, Demonstrated Quality And Emotional Connectivity.
In a recent ‘Sociology of Business’ column posted by Ana Andjelic, a leading strategist and advisor to fashion industry brands, she states the fundamental truth of the era we’re in: “The most important piece of brand communication today is not a fashion campaign, an invite-only dinner or an event, store windows, or a beautiful Instagram grid. It’s the quality of fabrics, materials, cut, or hardware. The main way for (fashion) brands to differentiate, across categories, is through their fabrics, materials, and design. The fabric is the brand. Product materials are the new nexus of a brand’s innovativeness and differentiation.”
Whether food or fashion, trust and belief are best served by out-sized commitments to standards of quality, process, ingredients and formulation, backed with authentic proof and validation of same.
Noting here that engagement effectiveness steps way beyond assertions of grandeur that offer no tangible proof of what is claimed. Important also to observe that AI informed guidance will ultimately force the issue of truth over the gloss of self-reverence and benefit hyperbole.
- For all of the breathless forecasting of AI’s takeover, Fast Company nails the nuance of AI’s functional reality check as a smart machine: “The AI enthusiasm is tempered by an admittedly self-serving belief that the technology is a tool that will help—not replace—the human touch.”
Part 2 of the new marketing one-two punch is a dramatic realization brought to life in the method brands use to communicate, recognizing first that humans are feeling creatures who think, not thinking creatures who feel. Emotion sits at the foundation of how consumers behave, make their decisions and initiate action.
The rational, learning brain kicks in later to justify the wisdom of a decision to buy, but not to initiate it. Having said that, a fair question to ask is what emotions are we trying to cultivate?
He’s a short list of the emotional connectivity brands should leverage to forge a stronger consumer-to-brand relationship:
- Purpose And Deeper Meaning – people yearn to be part of something greater than themselves. What will you offer that imbues your brand with deeper meaning and provides an opportunity for people to join your brand as believers not merely buyers? What is your true north and reason for existence beyond commerce?
- Empathy – it is fundamentally difficult for a brand to behave more like a trusted friend than the seller of a product. However, this is exactly the mindset required to earn a trusted bond. It starts with unselfishness and reciprocity that springs from supporting consumers on their journey to grow and succeed. Of course, this requires knowing them well enough to understand what they truly want. Empathy in this case means putting the consumer at the center of your planning universe and working backwards from there.
- Inspiration – this is rich relationship enhancing territory. Help consumers see the possibilities of reaching farther. Let them imagine stepping beyond their comfort zone to embrace new challenges – because you’ve inspired them to do so. Imagine the emotive language involved in helping consumers more clearly see the greater possibilities ahead of them. When anxiety and uncertainty are profoundly present, inspiration to move beyond calcifying trepidation is an antidote to feeling unmoored. It’s a sure path to restoring what they want most – a perception of control over their lives.
- Shared Beliefs – Jasmine Bina, publisher of the renowned cultural forecaster of our times, The Concept Bureau, said it succinctly: “The most resonant voices and products of the next decade will be the ones that reflect us back to ourselves, not just in form, but in meaning.” The most successful brands will be those that mirror our changing beliefs and values, through alignment, support and reflection of what we think is important and who we are.
- Belonging – People want to find and be part of their tribe. To align with others who share their interests, who are ‘people like me’ with similar passions and like-mindedness. It might be cooking, or travel or cars or parenting or home decorating or fitness or fashion or pets – areas of dominant focus in people’s lives that reflect their priorities. Brands that enable communities within these spheres of mutual fandom can build lasting bonds that earn advocacy and ambassadorship.
Coda: Employing Emotive Design — Gianni Tozzi, global chief creative officer at FutureBrand endorses evoking emotion via design and states the need for creativity is more art than algorithm. Sharing insights from his perspective, Tozzi notes that design “has the power to arouse emotion, shift perception and influence business outcomes when there is a real purpose in mind beyond functionality.” See emotion entry #1 above.
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In Sum –
Demonstration, validation, verification of your standards, commitments, expertise in building quality into your product is essential. Show it, prove it, provide tangible evidence people can verify for themselves. This work is also friendly and influential to the AI crawler assessments that inform AI search driven queries.
Communicate with emotion, knowing your success is hardwired to recognition that how consumer’s feel in the presence of your brand has more to do with their decisions and actions than rational arguments. This form of outreach will draw consumers closer to your brand using the emotive language that impact their behaviors.
- Authentic proven quality breeds trust. Emotion drives the belief and decision.
Sound Strategy Will Deliver On Your Plan Objectives
Optimal strategy isn’t a nice to have or some soft pseudo-science that flies separately from business building outcomes. It is, in fact, the fuel that powers the effectiveness of your marketing investments and story – because, by definition, it is differentiating in the sea of sameness and trivial distinctions your customers will encounter in virtually every product category.
Leah Brier Bienstock in her recent Marketing Daily Op-Ed states: “The most successful agencies (and marketers) won’t be the ones with the most engaging decks. They’ll be the ones clearly and consistently proving that strategy can’t be decoupled from execution — and showing that when strategy has done its job, there’s no need to ask if it worked. Because you’ll see it in product innovations, media choices, CX shifts, and brave brand risks.”
Contributed to Branding Strategy Insider by Robert Wheatley, CEO of Chicago-based Emergent, The Healthy Living Agency.
At The Blake Project, we help clients worldwide, in all stages of development, define and articulate what makes them competitive and valuable. Please email us to learn how we can help you compete differently.
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