Our life experiences leave an impression on us, some of which are long lasting, some are remembered with nostalgia while some are better forgotten. The same applies to the experiences brands give and impact on their consumers and customers.
Things have changed and they keep changing! We have moved from the era of having products to brands and now “experience” is the brand. Macro trends are impacting the world of experience:
- Higher expectations from consumers driven largely by better knowledge and exposure.
- Everything has become a consumer touchpoint, with its benefits and complexities,
- Market dynamics occasioned by increased competitive activities, more offerings available to consumers and the quest to win the larger share of mind of consumers.
- Everything has gone social, and the consumer is online real time with the brands; this has aided better conversations and interactions and at the same time offers brands a platform to drive experience.
Though most businesses spend huge amount of money on visual identity development and advertising campaign; what is most important to the customer is the experience they get from brands, not the logo or what the website says. It is about how the brand interacts and leaves an impression on them at the point of interaction. Marketing is all about the kind of experience you deliver to your customers at every point of interaction. The more compelling the experience, the faster you will build brand loyalty. In fact, the experience you build becomes your brand in your customers’ minds.
What matters when thinking of brand experiences are the completeness of the experience and the delivery of the experience. The right combination will make the experience unique to your brand and motivating for your customers. Without completeness and delivery, you won’t have a great brand experience, and without a great brand experience, you’re just another product out there!
- Completeness of the experience: it is important to engage with consumers/customers in every way they live their lives. At every touchpoint they choose to be engaged on, what are you delivering to them? Are the experiences consistent over time and is it aligned with their needs?
- Delivery/Tone of the experience: The way an experience is delivered is quite important to a consumer. This is the time they can confirm if everything you have told them about yourself is actually true. If the delivery and tone of the experience is at variance with what they expect, there is no chance of driving a connection with the brand emotionally. That would have been a wasted opportunity that could impact negatively on the brand. Do what you say – a brand promise is nothing if it cannot be delivered!
For an effective brand experience, you need both completeness and delivery of the experience to work hand in hand to give a complete picture of what your brand can offer. Both elements need to be consistent with each interaction. As soon as one element of your marketing falls out of step with the rest, you put the brand in jeopardy with your customers.
Execute your marketing consistently through completeness and delivery and you will have a winning formula for your brand.