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Designing a Customer-Loyal Brand.
1. Challenge, Challenge, Challenge!!!!
Competition is everywhere. Everyone knows the given choices like never before, customers are more demanding. Quality differences are shrinking. Companies all know the same things and have the same technology and there are no real secrets anymore. The problem then becomes how to differentiate yourself.
2. Products are Becoming All Alike.
How to create a distinctive brand when all products and services are becoming alike. Some companies use design to distinguish themselves. And this is not just product aesthetic, but the total customer experience. Concerning the product it’s using human factors, ergonomics and aesthetics to create a user friendly experience. On the customer experience side, where they feel welcomed, are able to interact with you and want to repeat the process.
3. The Cost of Change
How to draw attention to your product and then make the leap to customer loyalty. Making the customer think less and increasing the trouble to switch is a way to create a customer - loyal brand. If it’s too complicated, the manual is unclear, or the physical design is misleading this causes the customer to think more and maybe think about another brand. It’s like your old familiar old store you have been doing business with for years. Going to another store is confusing because of a different layout. The level of thinking is reduced with your customer - loyal brand and the cost of change is high. This is what you want to achieve with your brand. The product itself, the manual, to “opening the box introduction” are all part of the desired brand.
4. The Customer as Co-creator of your product.
The misconception is you can outsource the creation of your brand to designers and marketers. It is thought you can give direction to a consultant and they will come back with your brand, so it’s really just a thing you buy. You must realize how important it is for you the marketer of a product or service, to know what’s going on out there. How people use yours and everyone else’ s product. Make the customer the co - creator of the product. Form a design team with your customer, it’s just good business.
5. Innovate Continuously
The essence of a customer - loyal brand is understanding. You must clearly understand your customer’s needs and anticipate future needs. By doing this better than the other guys, you create the right customer values and leverage them with your innovations. Anticipate and change your product, your process and yourself. You have to innovate continuously.
6. Whose Cattle is it?
Branding originally comes from making a mark on your livestock to identify your cattle. So it’s all really about whose cattle it is and does your customer know it’s your cattle and your quality.
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