Who are you? You, as in a company. You, as in an idea or a brand. You, as in who your customer sees. Is who you think you are, the same as who the customer sees? Is there a disparity? What is your company’s brand identity?
If your idea of who you are, and the customers’ idea of who you are the same, then you’re sitting in the greatest spot of all. You also don’t exist. There is a permanent, and necessary, disconnect between the customer and the business. The problem is, when customers are aware of this disconnect, a business will fail. Every single brand has dedicated at least one department to addressing this problem.
At least. It’s no secret that the entire world has gone digital, and digital marketing has followed suit. Social media has emerged as the new frontier and every smart company is trying to lead the charge. Companies are in such a rush to run the digital and social media race, that they haven’t figured out the best strategy to actually win.
The problem with the new digital trend is that by the time you’ve read this, you’ve fallen behind. The internet moves FAST, and the smartest companies adapt to changes in real time. A second problem with the digital frontier is that your customers will be faster than you. By the time something has reached your ears, it’s been trending for an hour or two. Your customers are extremely savvy, and they know the internet better than you do.
This is where many companies drop the ball in one way or another. What happens here is that companies try to match their customers’ speed and “interact” with them by dumping post after post onto their timelines and walls. They dump (and I do mean dump in every sense of the word) ad after ad because data supports the theory that this is an effective marketing tool. The problem is the data itself was gathered and analyzed by people and businesses who also don’t understand the digital age.
Yes, your customers are starving for easily-consumable content. But they’re not stupid. Your constant barrage of advertisements hurts you more than it helps. When these customers reach out to you, they want to know they’re talking to a real person who cares about them. That really what consumers want in general; to know that they matter to you and you value them. And not just a copied and pasted response of “Hey, thanks for the tweet! We really appreciate it,” when the customer came to you about a problem. When customers come to your Twitter or Facebook, your website or even your YouTube page, they want to see YOU.
Which brings on the most important question:
Who. Are. You?
Do you have a personality? Does your customer actually value what you have to say? Connect what you already know from business with your knowledge of the digital age customer. You already know that emotion is the strongest motivation behind a purchase. Your personality will make a customer feel connected to you. They will feel like more than a number. And that will lead to an increase in sales, an increase in meaningful clicks, and also…brand loyalty.
So who are you? Who do you want to be when that potential customer gives you 20 seconds of their time to make a purchase decision? When your customer reads your last 5 posts, who do you want them to see? When they pick up a magazine or click on your video, will they see a genuine company with a great product? Will they feel connected to you because you responded to their comment on your Instagram photo 9 weeks ago? Or are you just another company with an overwhelming, yet ignored presence in this new digital world?
Make your presence count. Be able to talk about your company’s brand identity. If your potential customers have to ask who you are, you’re losing money. Period. You have to start running in the right direction. Or you can just continue to buy followers, pay for empty advertising, and wonder why it’s not translating to new business. This idea is simple. Our idea, is simple. Simplificationism to be exact. And you’re probably wondering, “What the hell is Simplificationism?” You’ve dropped the ball again. Change your thinking. You should be asking, “Who…are we?”
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