Treat Brands Like People
By Levina Kusumadjaja
Brands are like people. Branding is very similar to the way you navigate relationships and the way you interact with one another. The difference between an actual human relationship and branding is that while people are real people, a brand is a made up entity. If you really think about it, brands behave like a human personality. It acts, it talks, it walks. Sometimes it makes us happy, sometimes it makes us disappointed. Some brands practices empathy and connects with us at an emotional level. Don’t these things sound like what a person would do?
When we understand that a brand is like a human personality, we can see that the behavior of a brand expresses what the brand believes in.
As human beings, what we do reflects what we believe in. If we believe in honoring others, we will also behave in a way that shows respect to other people. If we believe in generosity, we will also live our lives shared with others. Brands are no different. As customers, we perceive what a brand believes in through what they actually do. When brands claim that they value you but none of their employees greet you when you come in to their store, you will have a hard time trusting the brand.
→ How a brand acts
→ What it does on a day to day basis
→ How it responds to posts
→ How it talks to its customers
At every touch point with the brand, customer experiences these moments that eventually build the customer’s conclusion about the brand. In where I live, a brand that is consistent in their behavior and as a result gained my trust is Starbucks. I have so many Starbucks outlets all over my city—more than 15 outlets I’m sure. But regardless of which outlet I go to, I always get what I expect: excellent customer service. The baristas are always kind, the promos don’t lie, and the seats and tables are always clean. When I go to Starbucks, I feel like they have been waiting for me to come and purchase from them. I feel like they tell and show me that through e-mails, social media accounts, and in-person. And because of this consistent behavior, I feel valued and I want to keep coming back.
One of the most valuable things that a strategist can give to their clients is helping the client figure out how they should behave to build their brand.
It's amazing to experience myself how a brand behaves would so powerfully impact the way I feel about the brand. I believe if you understand this as a brand strategist, it will help you help your clients know what to do to build their brand. Because brand strategy defines the clients a brand wants to reach and the message they want to communicate, it will also define what behavior the company should have towards their customer. It helps companies see how they should talk, what they should wear, and how they should act to communicate the same message consistently to their customers. In defining the brand and strategy, we know the kind of “person” that the brand needs to be so that it can have a good, long-lasting relationship with the customers.
Cheers!
Levina
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About the author:
Levina is a writer based in Indonesia. Because of Melinda Livsey, she recognized the power of brand strategy for every creative. She is sharing about her learnings as she goes to help creatives have fun in their growth and journey of building brands. Connect with her on LinkedIn and say hi!