I've moved. I'm now over at : http://shib.posterous.com/

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What's the best thing since sliced bread?

"This is the best way."

"He is the best."

"That is the best."

You see "best" and phrases such as this are subjective.

What is "the best" in one persons eye is not "the best" in anothers.

This is something we come across heavily in our daily lives, however the best way to do things is dependent on who is doing them and who they are speaking to.

The problem in making things "the best" is that by doing so we become complacent, best practise, best strategy, best approach. They are all things that are said to avoid exploring and testing different rountes. We become lazy and unimagnative, we don't want to test new ways of doing things because we already know the "best" way, but like I said "best" is subjective so we should never settle for best unless we can truly prove that our chosen is the best for all parties involved.

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One of the things that happens naturally as you begin to work on a brand is that you begin to learn the in's and out's of it. What every product does, what every acronym stands for, how every product was manufactured.


Don't get me wrong, this is all great to know - the only downside is that you can often get too close to the brand and begin to assume that customers have the same level of respect and understanding about the brand as you do. When, in reality, the brand is likely to be a very small part of their life, only thinking about it when they are in the buying zone for that particular product.

Instead, don't learn everything about the brand you work on, be ignorant to the jargon as a customer would be, look at the market how the customer would and become closer to your customer's mindset not the mindset of the company's CEO.

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Smiling is contagious.

Simple thought but it rings so true.


Brands spend so much time to understand social media and everything around it. Twitter, Facebook, blogging...you know the usual stuff.

All they really need to understand is that their current customers are the (new) media.

This by no means is a new theory; word of mouth has always been and always will be the most powerful vehicle for selling products. However, customers are now more powerful than ever. If they give your product or service a bad review that may put off potential customers.

Contrary to popular belief, brands CAN control this. How? By creating outstanding products and under promising and over delivering at every stage of the customer journey. Not simply making customers a sales statistic, creating and harnessing a relationship that these customers will want to talk positively about. Complacency can damage a relationship, just because they have bought your product doesn’t mean they will buy again. Just think about a personal relationship. Someone you know only becomes a good friend after you have worked to develop the relationship. It doesn’t simply happen after one encounter.

Brands need to stop concentrating on the media and concentrate on what has always mattered. The product and the customers. Creating great products and great relationships.

 

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