When you think of a person you know or a famous person you will automatically map out a pre-determined view of them. This is built up within your sub-conscious from past memories.
Business is the same
Businesses, like people, have character. They too form a pattern of thoughts and emotions from experiences you’ve had from using their products or services.
Try this exercise; think of the following businesses and take an instant snapshot of how you feel about them.
- Apple
- Your bank
- Amazon
- The current Government
- Virgin
I threw a couple of controversial ones in there (bank and Government), to get that immediate knee-jerk reaction, but they too are strong emotions.
Now think of where these emotions come from. Is it the products and services themselves, their viewpoints (of which you respect or appose), or is it the interaction you’ve had with their customer-facing people? Like people, businesses work hard at nurturing a positive, wholesome, happy emotion in your sub-conscious that invites you back.
If you run a business it goes without saying you are working hard to get that positive emotion attached to your company.
That’s great… but how
- Have direct access between you and your customers
- Pick up on any slight grumbles on forums or social sites and resolve ASAP
- Use friendly colours, fonts, words and images on your website and marketing
- All your messages are consistent
- Enthuse and tell everyone who’ll listen
- Hire the right people – energetic, not energy-zappers
- Build excitement and a yearning for your stuff
- Use Quora, Getsatisfaction and offer services to connect
- Produce quality products and services
- Encourage referrals
- Go viral – see Guerilla marketing http://qurl.co/guerilla
Please feel free to share your comments or indeed your experiences, both good and bad with us…