Next time you go to a supermarket to do your regular shopping, watch people get lost to the world as they slowly fill their baskets. Their minds are in a whirl doing a million conscious and unconscious calculations per second. It’s easy to imagine this because you do it, too. That little voice in your head that never shuts up goes a mile a minute as buying decisions based on old stories and new curiosities are made in consultation with the sensible and emotional systems of your brain. It is a totally absorbing, totally human process. And in the end, after all the subliminal cogitation is said and done, it simply has to do with the way you feel about the vast product array before you.
Great brands work by coming to us in the subconscious seconds before we make the buying decision. As you wheel your cart down the aisles of your local supermarket, looking at the magnitude and multitude of colorful options, you are absorbed in making flash decisions that involve feelings about what will taste good, what will clean the best and what will be good for the health of your family.
Whether you are buying Armani glasses or a particular brand of orange juice, the principle is the same: you are using a four-letter word that starts with F to make yourself feel better. That word is feel, and how your customers feel about your brand in comparison with others isn’t a casual question. It is the crucial question.
My new book, How Does It Make You Feel: Why Emotion Wins The Battle of Brands, is the story of how a brand creates customer loyalty with emotional connection. It tells by example how to be a leading brand, as well as a leader of brands. It talks about what to do and what to avoid in brand creation and brand maintenance. It tells the stories of great brands big and small, with insights on how they got to be where they are. It will be out this month on Amazon.com.
I’d love to hear personal experiences about how a brand made you feel, despite all the rationale for or against that brand. Please share your experiences here or on Twitter and include #howdoesitmakeyoufeel #HDIMYF. Don’t forget to follow us at @Brandtrust and @BTCEO for more book release updates!
