Kumar's Blog

Give them an unforgettable experience instead.

I've been asked everything from 'Why do you like Chelsea?', and 'Why do you like writing?' to 'Why do you like me?' by a lot of people. When it comes to Chelsea, writing, traveling or something else that I really love, I have no answer when I'm asked why I like it so much. I just do!

The moment I can identify tangible reasons as to why I like something, I'm admitting that the thing/person I like is replaceable by something/someone else if that happens to perform better on the attributes I list out for my liking. For example, if I say that I love Chelsea because of their style of play, or the players they have, or their history, I'd be admitting that when a team that ranks better on all those attributes comes along, I will go ahead like them instead.

Any attribute can only be a trigger to start liking the object. But, after that initial hook, the liking is only a factor of the experiences of the person with the object. Having been a Chelsea fan for over 8 years now, I will remain a fan even if all the iconic players leave, and Chelsea start performing poorly. I'm sold for life.

How many brands can even dream to have a relationship with their customers (even a handful of them) that is comparable to this? Hardly any. Of course, it is unfair to compare the loyalty to a sports team with the loyalty to a tangible product. I'm not trying to do that. I'm just trying to point out that it is not always necessary for brands to talk about their functional capabilities to customers. Of course, it depends on the kind of the audience the brand is targeting and the image that the brand wants to portray.

We accept the love we think we deserve.

The content for the communication decided on by the brand defines what it thinks it deserves. A brand that talks about low prices, best quality or any such easily comparable attribute in its communication believes it is incapable of having a loyal customer base, and if it does it is merely a coincidence. It focuses on always telling undecided customers that they have the best offer in the market at the moment. Whereas, a brand that talks about the experience a customer will have with it, is trying to focus on attaining and growing a loyal customer base and is not worried about the competition.

Both the approaches are good depending on what outcome the brand is trying to achieve. The first step must be to decide what that outcome must be.

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Kumar's Blog

Perfection is overrated

Stop providing customers reasons to like your brand