The moment someone comes into contact with your business, you need to be giving your customers a positive brand experience. This could be anything from seeing your Facebook page, Instagram post or latest tweet to being on your website or having picked up one of your leaflets.
I was once told that it takes a good 6 months worth of solid marketing for one person to then decide they want to buy from you or do business with you, so making the right impression every time is important and this also applies to your branding.
So what is a ‘brand experience’?
It’s simply a person experiencing your brand and you want to make sure they have a positive brand experience every time. This includes everything to do with your business. If you have a product based business and a new customer decides to buy from you, they are experiencing your brand as soon as they click from a social media post onto your website. The way everything looks and feels is going to have an impact on their buying and brand experience. The journey they go on with you doesn’t stop there either. The emails they receive about their order and the actual packaging of their order is all intertwined into their brand experience too.
Make your packaging cohesive with all your other visual branding by ensuring the same colours are used throughout. You want your packaging to have that ‘wow’ experience as soon as someone opens it up. Why not include a thank you card with the order which includes a personal message from you.
Here’s an example of one I designed for Finale Shoes, Corbridge. It’s designed so that there’s space for Faye to sign her name on the bottom of the card so it’s got that real personal touch about it. Imagine opening up your order and finding a signed thank you card in with your purchase? It will make you feel so valued as a customer.
The same goes if you have a service based business. Think about all the different ways in which you could ensure that your new customers are experiencing your brand in a really positive light. When you’re meeting a potential new customer for the first time, what could you do to ensure they have a positive experience? Once you’ve finished working with them, how can you leave a lasting impression?
Creating a positive brand experience
The best way to really create a positive brand experience is to step into the shoes of your customers and think about how you can make them feel valued. Could you send them a book that you think they would love to read? Could you send them a hand written, branded card in the post to say you’ve loved working with them (this is more for service based businesses). Could you send them a gift voucher for their favourite coffee shop or beauty salon as a little thank you to let them know you’ve really appreciated their custom? Or could you send them a personalised gift in the post?
If you’re a product based business, could you throw in a little surprise with their order? Something that is relevant to what you do, but which is still a real treat at the same time? You see it all the time with make up brands now when you order online… they offer you the opportunity to also get some free samples with your order and you can choose what you’d like too.
The more you get to know your dream customers and the things they love themselves, the better because this will help spark more ideas of how you can make their experience of your brand not only positive, but unique to you as well.
What can this do for your business?
Well, with any business, having positive reviews can have a great impact on your business, but also word of mouth even more so. It’s completely natural for friends, family and fellow business owners to talk to one another about everyday things. Giving a positive brand experience will then spur people on to talk about the gorgeous new pair of shoes they just ordered with the cutest personal thank you card… or they’ll talk about the handwritten thank you card and voucher they received in the post from you.
This also ties in with the BNI philosophy of, “know, like and trust”. Customers will only do business with you or buy from you if they know you, like you and trust you. But you want to go that one step further by creating a positive brand experience for EVERY single person that comes into contact with your business. Why? Because you want people to talk about you in a really positive way. There’s a famous quote from the creator of Amazon, “Branding is what people say about you when you’re not in the room.”
You want your customers to be talking about you in a really positive way so in turn, they become brand ambassadors for you and your business. They will begin to recommend you to others and then the whole positive brand experience starts again, but with a new customer that’s been recommended to you.
Create your brand experience now!
Going forward, if you feel your brand experience could be improved, why not sit down for 10-20 mins and map out your customer journey. So this is from the moment a new customer comes into contact with your brand to when contact finishes and look at what’s involved in the process. Social media, meetings, emails, product purchases, packaging etc. and look to see where you can add value.
I would love to know if you’re doing this already what works really well for you. Or if you need to make improvements, what are you going to do? I’d love to know.
Hollie
