88. Bettering Your Brand Experience, Part 1
88. Bettering Your Brand Experience, Part 1
A few business lessons from 9000BC and earlier
I want to talk about the way you - and everybody else - experiences a brand. But before we get there, you need to understand a little history. Starting in, say, 9000 BC.
But first, there’s you.
Unless you’ve decided to go off the grid and live off the land, you need certain basic products to survive. Food, water, clothing, double roasted limited edition Brazilian coffee beans, pizza. You know, the essentials.
The way you get most products is simple: raw materials are bought by manufacturers, they are refined, processed, perhaps assembled and then sold. That’s how the economy works. This is known as the Product Economy and it’s been happening for many thousands of years. Pretty much since 9000 BC, like I mentioned above.
The Product Economy thrived solely on transactions. The transaction is driven by two things in this Economy: product quality and the buyer-seller relationship.
Loyalty is fragile in the basic Product Economy. Once someone finds a better product at a better price... zippo zappo zowie, the sale has moved to another vendor.
Enter the Service economy.
Service Economy
Somewhere along the way, somebody realized something monumental. Instead of just selling and trading hard goods or products and requiring the consumer to figure it out on their own, the seller could provide additional assistance and then charge a premium for it. This became known as the Service Economy.
In the Product Economy you buy snail oil and bat eyeballs to try and stop the demons in your head, while in the Service Economy the witch doctor examines you and works to create the right solution to reduce your craziness.
Got it? Good.
Today, product and service have become very much enmeshed. IBM, for instance, considers themselves a service company. Yes they make money selling computers and electronics, but they view those sales as part of a “business solutions” service mindset.
However, there used to be a time where product and service were more often distinct offerings. In fact, the onset of the service economy was fairly groundbreaking and had a significant impact on capitalism. All of the sudden, with a little extra effort, both revenue and margins could be increased.
You know what also increased? Competition.
With competition there comes a need to set yourself and your product apart.
Alas, this brought on the Experience Economy, which is kinda the thing I was trying to get at in the first place.
The Experience Economy
When customers began to have a pleasurable experience with a brand and its service, it was found that those people were more likely to return and purchase from that brand again.
Instead of just the product or service, it was the experience that mattered. This lead to a new, highly important learning:
The more pleasurable experiences a consumer has, the more likely that consumer will establish an emotional bond with the brand or product.
The stronger the emotional bond, the greater the commitment the consumer is willing to have in the brand.
Suddenly emotions came into play during the sales and marketing processes.
How does this relate to you and your experiences? You’ll have to wait until next week to find out more…
A Quote
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.”
- Benjamin Franklin
Some Tidbits
Corona gets in balance: Corona is the first global beverage brand to have net-zero plastic footprint. Plastic bad. Corona good. I’ll drink to that. Read more
Courage + Integrity: Here’s a great (short) interview Inc Magazine did with “Find Your Why” author Simon Sinek on the importance of courage and integrity in leadership. Watch it here
Top 3 Nuts: These are the best nuts around, according to a poll conducted with me: 1) pistachios 2) tamari almonds, 3) roasted and salted cashews
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