Three ‘Whys’ Highly Successful Brands Know about Their Most Valued Consumers

Regardless of the strength of your brand and business, the most successful brands never take their eyes off the prize. That prize—growing loyalty among the brand’s consumers.

 

In a recent client meeting, after presenting learning on the lives of the brand’s target market, a category manager stated, ‘Thanks for reminding us about the challenges these people face in their lives. We’re prone to focus on getting more distribution or maximizing margin, so sometimes we forget we’re actually here to serve real people, real families.’

 

With that, we let you in on the key things strong brands know:

 

  • Why their target consumers behave in the manner in which they behave. Understanding the hopes, fears, values and challenges makes a target audience real, not just a demographic and not just a market size. Having this deep window into people’s lives keeps the brand and the messaging focused on the way to improve the target’s world

 

  • Why the brand plays an important emotional role in its users’ lives. What it is doing for consumers’ hearts, not just their heads. If you understand the rational and emotional ‘whys,’ this creates better communication, more opportunity for successful product extensions and the ability to stay true to that which the brand does best

 

  • Why a consumer does or does not switch brands. Gaining clear insight into the drivers of switching, above and beyond price, uncovers the essence of loyalty. That knowledge creates hard-working touchpoint plans that keep consumers coming back

 

Keep learning and keep understanding your target. Don’t get fooled by surface responses. Marketing is about brands and businesses doing things for people, not selling things to people.