Prioritize Community and the Brand Mostly Takes Care of Itself -- (Panel Recap)

What is a brand?

The term brand is commonly defined as ‘a collection of memories and associations held by the consumer,’ though, many would argue that today a brand is truly defined by its following. The internet has shifted power to the consumer. A brand’s identity is increasingly shaped by social media posts and review sites, as opposed to advertisements no one trusts, or targeted campaigns that struggle to break through the noise.

When a brand becomes a community…

Instead of investing limited resources in salespeople or Facebook ads, scaling companies are attracting and retaining customers by providing deeply engaging experiences (learning and networking opportunities, among many others). Over time, the customer base starts to strongly resemble a community - united by a common interest in the mission and values, bonded by shared experiences. They become the brand's storytellers and evangelists.

To further explore this topic, and much more, we sat down with Beri Meric, Founder & CO-CEO of IVY, Alex Tynion, Principal at SeedInvest, Bethany Hill, Head of Communications at Commonbond.co, and Michael Cirino, Founder of A Razor, A Shiny Knife...

How have things changed?

Traditionally speaking, a key objective in marketing is to shape the consumer’s perception of the brand by building associations. Using a range of mediums and communication tactics, marketers try to influence how we think and feel. Want to position your product as the quality leader? Let’s do a commercial that shows highly skilled workers on a production line, while we talk about the world-class source of materials. This equation is simple: quality = skilled labor + high-end materials. Though at the end of the day, the brand is doing the talking and it's up to the consumer to believe these claims. Nowadays, however, consumers control much of this conversation. Terrible products cannot hide from Amazon reviews.

  “I think what's been so incredible and impactful for us is really changing our scope of marketing, from making it a situation where we talk at people, to instead, making it a conversation.” - Bethany Hill

Whether the sentiment is positive or negative, most of NYC’s fastest growing companies have chosen to really lean-in to these dialogs (as opposed to shying away) and exploit every opportunity to keep their customers feeling and thinking about the brand. Many actually go even further by initiating the conversation themselves, which provides additional space to drive engagement and shape perception.

What consumers are responding the most to…

If effective marketing now resembles a conversation between brand and consumer, how then are conversations started and how can you ensure participation?

Unfortunately for marketers, the audiences of today are no longer captive, in the sense they must sit through commercials or advertisements to access the show they actually tuned in for. Instead, we pay for premium content that doesn’t involve ads, or we pull out our phones and scroll through social feeds whenever the TV commercials come on.

“Marketing says ‘give me some of your time and I might eventually provide you with value.’ Entertainment is inherently valuable to you, and entertainment says 'here is value, I might ask you to take an action in the future.'” - Michael Cirino

These dynamics have made ‘attention’ the most valuable currency in the world of marketing, and the savviest leaders underpin their campaigns with what is inherently valuable (entertaining, educational, etc.) to earn attention first, and ideally pave the way for a consumer to take action down the road. As we’ve explored, consumers are more likely to trust a review than an ad, and they likely won’t even engage with an ad unless it provides a laugh or new perspective.

“We invite people to hundreds of events every quarter and every single time there's a formula there, and you called it the secret sauce, but it's not so secret, we always try to combine fun, what you called entertainment, with substance.” - Beri Meric

For those fortunate enough to have the opportunity to physically interact with their customers, the same rules apply. Creating environments that entertain, while providing intrinsic value, like new and meaningful relationships or insight, is the best way to cut through the noise and the endless alternative distractions that surround us.

How do big brands use experiences to deeply engage customers?

We then pivoted the conversation to explore the brands that have done the best job in our newly defined craft of marketing. From Redbull’s alignment with extreme sporting events to solidify its place as the drink for radical adrenaline junkies (and you!) when they need energy, to the countless failed attempts by the CPG giants to make things like mayonnaise sexier than they are. Or that time Pepperidge Farms made online games for kids intended to help build confidence, after research showed one in three kids suffer from self-esteem issues or depression. This campaign was hardly about the Goldfish (the delightful snack) Pepperidge Farms was trying to sell, though most of the kids who played these games, and their parents alike, are now Goldfish consumers for life.

“Now we can talk about Disney being a genius because he made a movie with a castle in it and then made a place where you can go that has that same castle. And on the ground in front of the castle it says, "Stand here to take your picture." And then right next to that is a store that sells you a book with "Put the picture of you with the castle right here’ on the first page” - Michael Cirino

It was also quickly evident that the leaders of the pack use experiences as one cog in a highly curated machine. We can’t all be Disney, but we can certainly learn a lot from how he established his company as a universe of entertaining content (marketing), products, and experiences, which all fed the broader perception of, and engagement with, the brand.

Thoughts on where to invest limited resources as a scaling company and tactics for building community…

It’s really hard to acquire customers, and even more difficult to keep them coming back. In sales, they say you have ‘spears and nets,’ though I am a huge advocate of building what could be considered ‘magnets.’ Instead of catching your customers, build something that actually attracts them. Use what your brand stands for and seek out the essence of the connective tissue between your customers and employees to provide entertaining or educational content that garners attention, or networking opportunities that broader horizons. Step outside of the products you sell, or what makes them different, and bring people together around what the broader brand stands for.

"Success is engagement" - Alex Tynion

This has proven to result in word-of-mouth marketing, which lowers acquisition costs, and deep customer loyalty, which provides continual value back to the firm in the long-run. Outside of lower acquisition costs and longer lifetime value, measure engagement and followership as metrics for success.

 - The Wrap-Up -

If we look at brands like Nike, Apple, and SoulCylce, all leaders in their respective categories, you’ll notice they have all evolved beyond this thing that exists separate from their customers and employees. Instead, their strategies are notably rooted in very intimate relationships, transparency and sometimes even collaboration. The followership behind these brands looks more like a tribe of rabid fans than a cohort of consumers that are ultimately indifferent, as long as there’s some value and the price is right. These brands have ascended above meer business entities to represent communities that share beliefs, experiences, and values.

Perhaps the biggest lesson is that you cannot assume that if you build the brand, the community will take care of itself. Instead, I would encourage you to engineer a community, and the brand will likely take care of itself.

 As a rapidly growing company, here are some ways you can get started:

• Make it a conversation
• Mix entertainment with substance
• Establish your brand as an interconnected universe of content, products, and experiences
• Measure success with acquisition costs, lifetime value, engagement and followership

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Thanks again to MBL Benefits Consulting, Fox Rothschild and Knotel for help making this happen.