Why love should be driving your brand
As marketers, we must address those we hope to serve throughout all phases of their customer journey. We find ourselves asking if we should be spending more time talking with them at the beginning of the journey. At the decision-making point? Somewhere in between?
It’s too easy to get lost in the midst of all this. That can lead to it all feeling a bit overwhelming.
As the anxiety would rise, I would find myself asking how could I simplify. How could I get back to the one core truth that will help make all the decisions about the brand easier (and more potent)?
It is difficult to step back when you are in the middle of it. But when I would, I’d return to one idea that always changed everything. Love.
I can almost hear the eyes rolling with some of you and the thoughts that this is some let’s-hug-it-out-then-mediatate-on-our-mindfulness missive. But hear me out. Because there are some pretty incredible things that happen when your brand has love as its core driver.
Feel the love
When we feel the love, some powerful things happen within us. For example:
Love builds an emotional connection. Love builds the strongest kind of bond with those you hope to serve. An emotional bond. When your primary focus is on their needs (and not your wants), they feel it. Because, yes, they feel understood and cared for. But also, because it’s rare.
Love spreads positivity. Love is a positive emotion. That alone makes it valuable in a world where we are surrounded by the negativity that is amplified by social media. People crave the positive. And if you’re brand embraces that, it will become a beacon to all those who are searching for something that is in short supply in their lives.
Love increases trust and credibility. If your brand has the authentic selflessness of love, your prospects feel it. When they see you share your knowledge or offer your help, it becomes demonstrated. This increases the trust they have in you. That trust is what translates into loyalty and even advocacy for your brand.
Love inspires. People feel uplifted by brands that share the love. That is an infectious feeling that we all simply can’t get enough of. As a result, we seek out the source of that upliftedness (yeah, I just made up that word). Imagine people seeking out your brand because it inspires them.
Love creates differentiation. I had to throw one in for the marketing strategists in all of us. As I mentioned before, brands driven by love are rare out there. When you commit to love as your core driver, you will stand out.
There is a lot of noise in our world. Worse yet, there is a lot of fear - we even created an acronym for it (FOMO). How can our brands keep from adding to the noise? Or defaulting to another fear-based message?
The answer is turning to something much more powerful. The answer is love.