NOTE: The following is a guest post by Amy Swanson. If you want to submit your own guest post, click here for more information.
Creating Brand Advocates Without a Special Formula
As someone who (at times) falls into the narcissistic Facebook user category, I regularly believe that my friends care about the brand of laundry detergent I use and the kind of coffee brand I love. I can’t help it; when I find a new product that I really love, I tell others about it. I blame part of this on my marketing degree—since I know that every brand impression helps grow a company—and on the fact that I do genuinely want to help others.
Highly-engaged consumers help your brand become adopted and advocated by others, and they will ultimately create more recognition for your brand and product. How you get them on your brand’s side, though, is the question.
What’s the Secret?
Adoption of your product can be tricky, but don’t make it any more complicated than what it is. People will only want to adopt your products if they exceed expectations, so you should aim to please. Your goal is to get to the point where consumers can’t even imagine not using your product every day!
To get there, remember the following:
- You need to properly identify the needs of your target market. What Consumer A wants may not be as important to Consumer B.
- Internal motivations (personal needs, aspirations, and ideal self) as well as external motivations (need for acceptance among peers) are major factors in whether or not a product is used. Be sure to address both motivators accordingly for the highest level of success.
- When your mom said “life won’t always be like high school,” she wasn’t being completely truthful. Popular and trusted endorsements can greatly influence adoption, since all that really matters to consumers is what the ‘cool kids’ think. Figuring out who exactly those cool kids are is different for each market, though.
- When a product improves the user’s life at every stage of interaction, emotional bonds are built and loyalty and a strong brand relationship are strengthened. Once those bonds are established, your brand will be easily adopted into your customers’ everyday routines.
Advocate, Don’t Annoy
When you hear the word ‘advocate,’ there’s probably an outdated image of a protester from 1960 burned into your mind. Brand advocates don’t quite fit that stereotype, however; an advocate of your company wants to share the discovery of a product or brand that improved their life and can help others do the same.
Just like the product adoption process, you need to completely shatter their expectations (not just meet or slightly surpass them) in order to gain an advocate. If it’s necessary, you’ll want to update your image before taking on such a task. To increase your brand advocates, understand that consumers want to feel understood, appreciated, and rewarded for their passion of sharing your brand with others.
Have you ever experienced that feeling of knowing something that nobody else around you seems to understand? That’s exactly what consumers love feeling, too! If you’re ready to get some advocates on your side, here are some tips to remember:
- Make them feel knowledgeable about your product by providing as much information as you can about it on your website. Give them all the facts and stats so that all potential questions can be accurately answered.
- Keep up on your Twitter account and Facebook account. Engage with your followers and fans on a regular—not on an excessive—basis. Try not to exceed two posts a day on your Facebook account, but more frequent posts on your Twitter will keep people checking back to see what you’ve posted.
- Make fans feel heroic for passing on your brand’s attributes and benefits to their friends and family. Sincerely thank them if they post on your Facebook wall or if they send a Tweet telling you they’ve introduced new people to your brand. Also, offering them a coupon or a discount can go further than you think!
Ask, Don’t Just Assume
Whether you consider yourself a narcissistic Facebook user or not, chances are you’re at least friends with a few of them. Embrace those advocates and find out why they’re adopting your product and how you can further that interaction by having them share with their friends. You may even find that they love your product for some other use you had never considered before, or you could even market to another group you didn’t initially think to target. You’ll find that the formula for success isn’t so secret, just maybe one you hadn’t thought of before!
——
Amy Swanson is a part of the marketing department at Quality Logo Products and regularly contributes to their promotional products blog. She is a self-professed newspaper and business nerd.
Tweet this: Guest Post: Creating Brand Advocates Without a Special Formula http://wp.me/pXBON-2Xz #prodmgmt #socmedia #innovation