In our previous articles, we looked at some elements of Branding but what new-age brands are striving for these days is creating a unique Brand Experience, and if you’re looking to build one, read through the end of this blog.
What is Brand Experience?
It is the behavioral responses such as feelings, emotions, experiences, and cognition elicited by a consumer when s/he interacts with the brand across various touchpoints. These touchpoints could be the brand’s logo, design, color, packaging, advertisements, messages, etc., either virtual or live.
There are several factors affecting your Brand experience and to precisely note it down, there are 6 of them:
Products & Services
Messaging and tone
Touchpoints
Business environment
Business operations
Personal interaction
Importance of Brand Experience
Now, creating a unique Brand Experience is called the future of marketing, but why exactly? Well, a brand experience will help a brand connect to a consumer emotionally so that both of them can have a conversation. The brand can offer what it had promised the consumer and the consumer can build a connection with the brand.
To point it out, the following is the importance of Brand Experience
Creating customer engagement
Audiences want to be associated with a brand that they can appreciate and establish a meaningful relationship with. And it is not enough for your brand to simply fulfill its promises; it must also provide value to their lives by being an integral part of it.
Brand experience uses your Brand story to improves connect with the target audience by creating new experiences that engage each one of them.
Trust building
Brand experience is a strategy of building trust with your audience through live events, touchpoints, products & services, direct interaction, etc. As a result, consumers become emotionally linked to your brand and may even promote it to others because of the trust that has been built.
Reaching a wider audience
It humanizes your brand in the eyes of your customers, letting them know that there is always someone working for them to provide outstanding services and products. Finally, when your consumers receive that human element through a uniquely created brand experience, your brand's exposure improves manifolds thereby attracting more customers to your brand.
Consumer feedback
A brand experience helps you interact with your audience and get real time feedback as well. Thus, a Brand Experience is advantageous to customers because it allows them to directly communicate their difficulties and concerns to businesses, allowing it to resolve them. And by directly listening to their consumers about their products and services, companies can improve them more quickly.
Well, now that you’ve understood what exactly is a Brand experience, let’s get to how you can make one for your brand.
What should you avoid while building Brand Experience?
While building a Brand Experience seems just a mere 5 step work, it’s more than that and probably a long-term process. And mistakes are bound to happen. Here are some of the most common mistakes and how you can avoid them.
You’re not connecting with the right audience
If you don’t have a defined target group, don’t who what their traits, demographics, behavior, and psychography is you can’t create a rich Brand Experience. So, you'll need to undertake market research to figure out who your target audience is, what your unique value proposition is, and who your competitors are. To begin, make sure you understand your target consumers and their requirements. You will be closer to designing a unique brand experience that people will admire if you understand your audience.
Failing to differentiate yourself from your competitors
You should first examine your product and determine what distinguishes you from the competition and helps you to stand out. To build a strong brand experience, you must first understand the differences between your firm and its competitors. These differentiators will help you build engagement for your consumers which will aware them how you’re better than your competitors.
Not working on bad consumer experiences
Top contributors to bad brand experiences cited by consumers are a lack of understanding of individual needs, no staff available to help when necessary, and delivering products/services that are not what are expected.
In order to create a unique brand experience, you need to work strictly on parts where your consumers are going home disappointed.
Best Examples of Brand Experience
Businesses use all possible consumer touchpoints to create a unique Brand experience. The following are some of the best examples from the Industry:
Starbucks
Selecting a coffee, personalising it with a name, a fast-paced counter, waiting on a comfortable sofa, having your name called out for the outstanding coffee, and enjoying it with free internet and an edgy feel were all part of the experience.
Apple
The brand experience that Apple has built is one of the reasons they have such a loyal following. All contact points, from advertisements to Apple Stores to product packaging, work together to create a consistent brand experience that emphasises innovation, style, and utility.
Nike
Giving customers more control over their products was a victory for Nike. Customers may personalise their favourite Nike footwear online utilising a variety of colour and design combinations with Nike By You. Through that, customers could add dip-dyeing, patches, and accessories to their shoes to their liking.
Harley Davidson
The motorcycle behemoth looks after its clients in a way that no other automotive manufacturer can match. When a consumer buys a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, the firm takes care of them. Customers are welcomed into the Harley-Owners Group's 325,000-strong family (HOG). Riders may connect with each other and with the brand through the group. It provides basic bike-related information, maintenance, and other bike-related difficulties to clients.
The customised, welcoming approach benefits the brand since people are able to interact with it more easily, which leads to improved trust.
Conclusion
To conclude, when a customer is charmed by a certain brand experience, they begin to form an emotional link with the brand. They become brand loyalists and advocates, purchasing the brand regularly and promoting it to others. Deliver on your promises, maintain authenticity, consistency, and honesty across all brand touchpoints, and maybe then, you can become one among the brands of the future too.
To quote Steve Jobs
“You’ve got to start with the consumer experience and work backward the technology- not the other way around.”