Learning Hub | Mindful Marketing

News Flash: Your Brand Vision Isn’t Just About You

August 26, 2015 | Jon Teodoro

In an ideal world where pure business-driven tactics prevail, product-centric brand vision would generate leads, drive up profit margins, and establish a dominant presence in the marketplace. But your customers are more than quarterly revenue statistics to be showcased in front of hard-to-please executives. They are the reason you even have a salary. So…do you know who your customers truly are? Do you know where they work? Where they live? How they vote? What their hobbies are? Without the ability to envision why your customers specifically come to your company, your brand will share a level of marketing sophistication seen in your local used car dealership. And you don’t want that.
news flash: your brand visions isn't just about you

Before you even start thinking about storyboards and slogans, you need to create your brand’s “hero.” Call him/her your Batman, Super Mario, or Katniss Everdeen; you need to create a buyer persona. Don’t hesitate to create more if necessary. These are fictional representations of your strongest customers. They are at the apex of brand loyalty, or more specifically, brand affinity – they aren’t afraid to gush about how great your products are. But that’s not all. They feel involved and cherished by your company. Not to mention that your products fulfill their needs…and then some – be it through outstanding customer service or interactive marketing.

Quick criteria for creating a buyer persona:

  • How Old Are Your Customers? What Gender? What Income Level?
  • Where Do They Live? What Is Their Occupation? What Is Their Family Structure?
  • How Do They Get Their Information? How Do They Typically Vote?
  • What Kind of Hobbies Do They Have?

In short, try to create a Facebook profile of sorts of your most prominent buyers. Buyers – plural – if possible.

So we all know about the “Just Do It” moniker of Nike; the subtle humor of Viagra ads; and everybody right now is “Straight Outta [ ]” courtesy of Dr. Dre’s brilliant marketing campaign. But Nike caters to ambitious athletes/weekend warriors. Viagra…well…old gentlemen want to be young again from time to time. And Dr. Dre has a trifecta of his personal fans, N.W.A. fans, and prospective Beats headphone wearers on deck for some serious cash flow. They all know their audience. They all know what their audiences want. And subsequently, they have 20/20 brand vision. Do you?