Visionary Marketers Build a Cult Personality Around Brands
Businesses struggle to become strong brands that are known all over the world. Marketers of a company are primarily responsible for building the brand, and in some cases, visionary marketers can create a cult personality around brands.
A cult brand is one that fosters a strong sense of belonging among people who share the same culture and passions. It is often connected to a particular product category or customer segment.
Therefore, customers do not follow the brand simply for its product but because they believe in their connection with the brand meaning that they share the same values as the brand.
Visionary marketers can build such a cult personality around brands in various ways, including:
Relatability
An excellent strategy that marketers use to create cult followings around brands is making them relatable. They will find aspects of everyday life or a portion of life to which they can tie their brand or product. A great example is Coca Cola advert about sharing a meal at the dining table which is relatable because we do eat with our loved ones.
The brand might achieve relatability through the product's function, packaging, customer journey, or customer service. It could also be a single characteristic in people they want to attract, such as a need for superiority meaning they want to feel better than other people.
Developing a cult following comes easy once people can relate to the brand meaning there is a shared aspect between the brand and its followers..
Personality
People often don't think of brands as having personalities, but they do. Considering a brand is a company's identity, it can have a personality, and cult brands often have strong personalities. A great example is Apple which has traits like creativity, courage and innovation.
Supplementary reading: Your Logo Is Not Your Brand
The company may showcase its personality in a myriad of ways, including the packaging or label. Even a roll label from StickerYou can be used in a cult brand's packaging. The idea is to humanise the entity, and there is no better way than to give a brand a personality with human traits.
Once that is achieved, people can develop emotional connections with the brands, and they will follow the brand based on the values they share.
Culture
Another outstanding way to create a cult brand is to develop a culture around it. Culture encompasses the ideals, values, and behavior of a particular group of people.
A brand can achieve cult status by having customers become part of a specific culture that others also want to join. Harley Davidson is a great example of a brand that has a culture of courageous and adventurers motorcycle riders which many people admire.
A great example of this is luxury brands that often sell a culture of opulence and success that many people want to be associated with and spend money to be part of.
Cult Brands Value Customers
No matter what you may say about cult brands, they care about their customers. No brand can ever reach cult status if they ignore its customers. Such brands will often provide outstanding customer service that develops strong brand loyalty.
They may also involve customers in the marketing or product creation processes, making customers feel highly valued. People prefer being part of something bigger themselves and that their opinion matters.
Therefore, if you want to develop a cult brand following, you should learn how to make customers feel valued, and they will reward you by being loyal customers that promote your brand.
You can make customers feel valued by giving them discounts, responding to their feedback and offering public support if necessary.
Brand Story
Every brand with a cult personality and following has a great brand story. People's brains respond to stories instinctively, meaning that if you have a great brand story, logic and reasoning come second to emotional responses.
Therefore, you should create an intriguing and memorable account about your brand that people can connect to for years. Your employees will be your best storytellers in this regard. Stories can communicate various elements better than any other medium.
Make the story authentic and emotionally compelling. Though your product might be a great solution to a problem, it won't be what people think of it first; they will think of the story.
Read more: The Power Of Storytelling To Connect Authentically With Your Customers
Cult brands offer a lot of insight into what it takes to create strong brand loyalty. A brand with a cult personality has a deep connection with its audience, which allows it to endure the worst of times.
If the brand suffers losses or has its reputation smeared, its cult following will stick by it and continue being loyal customers. A brand story will help maintain the following as well as showing customers how valuable they are.
You can use the insight in this article to create a cult brand of your own which is a sure recipe for success.
Be sure to check out the media below:
If you want to read more on the topic above, there is a good compilation of articles in this amazing learning app called Necole. Necole is a state of the art learning platform that curates personalised learning just for you. **SPECIAL OFFER - Use this code ABETTERME and get a 5% discount on your subscription to Necole. To find out more about Necole or to subscribe, click here.
Business
Tags: Consultant Corner
This article is published by the editors of Leaderonomics.com with the consent of the guest author.
