2 Super Easy Ways to Improve Brand Admiration
Brand Admiration is a fairly new concept introduced by a few really cool marketing researchers who go into extensive detail on this subject in their book, Brand Admiration: The Exponential Effect of Brand Trust, Love, and Respect.
What is Brand Admiration?
Brand Admiration is defined as unconditional love for a company, which consists of 3 parts: Trust, Love, and Respect.
Pretty self-explanatory terms right there – but important ones, nonetheless. They are all part of the customer experience. In my previous post, I talked about branding and highlighted the point that your brand is defined by your audience, and only influenced by you.
One way to control your influence is trust. So, here are two quick and often overlooked ways to build trust.
Way 1: Write an awesome FAQ page.
That’s right! Front and center, man! A well-constructed FAQ page can tell a story and can tell your audience who you really are. A story that screams authenticity and trust, two things that are needed for a real relationship, gives your brand some verisimilitude (for all you fancies out there).
Here are a few quick notes on being cool with your FAQ page:
- List your questions in an order similar to what someone would go through in their journey through buying your product. The order will keep the story going just like it should, and will add to the lifelikeness of your brand.
- The FAQ page needs to be a human with real words and real personality, not robot jargon with intricate details that only an insider would understand. However, you can use insider robot-jargon, but only when it shows your expertise.
- Show your brand voice! This section is where you should really embrace your tone. If you’re funny and clever, then run, Forrest, run with it! If you are serious and matter-of-fact, then speak candidly.
- And I don’t think you have to call it a FAQ page. I feel like that’s mid 90’s Netscape, dial up internet lingo. Call it anything; just make sure it brings value by telling your customer what it’s like working with you or buying from you.
Way 2: Use your employees to tell the story of your brand.
This could make a lot of companies nervous, and I get that. I mean, you think Pinckney wanted to give me the keys to the blog so I could run the Ferrari off the edge of the driveway, like Ferris?
Not at all! But, if it does nothing else, it shows the human behind the brand, and that is more important than everything else.
Follow some of these pointers to build a relationship with your brand:
- Tell a story about a common customer problem and show one of your employees fixing that problem. Make it fun! Act your little heart out. YouTube, Facebook Live, Snapchat, and Instagram are now built for telling a great story with video. Use them, that’s where your audience is.
- Write a human-interest story about people on your team. Find the interests and hobbies of those on your team that match up with the core values of your company, and go with it. Telling this story is one of the best, cause it’s authentic not only for your audience, but for your team!
Telling real life stories will convince others of your company’s lifelikeness. It’s important not to simply convey what you think are truths, but to fit your truth to your audience. Using these two methods will allow you to do this quickly, and can easily be converted into content to spread across digital media – like social media posts.
Otherwise, you’re just using social media to argue about politics and trying to convince someone that thin crust pizza is better than deep dish.
Never gonna happen, kids.
Brand Admiration came out October 3rd, so until you wrap your paws around it, we will wait in anticipation, just like Ralphie Parker waiting on his Red Ryder Carbine Action 200-shot Range Model air rifle with a compass in the stock and “this thing which tells time.”
A sundial, Ralphie. It’s a sundial.