It has never been more important to turn your brand into a service. Jaded, time-poor, pragmatic consumers yearn for service and care, while the mobile online revolution (it's finally, truly here!) makes it possible to offer uber-relevant services to consumers anywhere, anytime. Basically, if you're going to embrace one big consumer trend this year, please let it be BRAND BUTLERS!
So what is BRAND BUTLERS… With pragmatic, convenience-loving consumers enjoying instant access to an ever-growing number of supporting services and tools (both offline and online), brands urgently need to hone their 'butlering skills'*,that is, focusing on assisting consumers to make the most of their daily lives, versus the old model of selling them a lifestyle if not identity.
* For more on what makes a great butler, see wikipedia,org under 'Butler'.
Here's why consumers are embracing these BRAND BUTLER-style services:
Here's why consumers are embracing these BRAND BUTLER-style services:
- For consumers, time, convenience, control and independence are the new currencies: this need requires Business to Consumer (B2C) brands to turn many of their 'campaigns' if not all interactions with their customers into broader services. In short: a shift from 'broadcasting' to assisting.
- Relationships with brands are now more down to earth and less reverential. From individualism to eco-concerns to decreased spending power in developed economies: for consumers, the practical and pragmatic rule.
- Yet, in uncertain times, there's also a consumer longing for institutions that truly 'care', which is more about showing empathy and providing customers with a status fix than being purely practical. This too requires brands to master more service-oriented personae.
- On top of all of the above, the current mobile online revolution (hey, it took more than a decade of breathless predictions, but mobile internet usage is now finally exploding around the globe) is shifting these consumer expectations even further into the always-on, instant gratification online arena. For brands, this means that there are now endless creative and cost-effective ways to deliver on this need for assistance, for 'butlers'.
Build a BRAND BUTLER omnipresence
While many brands now offer at least a few stand-alone BRAND BUTLER-esque services, very few brands have an integrated (or, holistic) BRAND BUTLER strategy in place yet.
That means a major opportunity to be amongst the first to roll out a cohesive suite of services, embodying the essence of your brand. And with brand essence we mean:
That means a major opportunity to be amongst the first to roll out a cohesive suite of services, embodying the essence of your brand. And with brand essence we mean:
· What are you about as a brand?
· What themes?
· What benefits?
· Is it 'connectivity'?
· Inside information?
· Convenience? Hope? Health? Speed? Reliability?
So, fine-tune your theme(s), and let them be at the centre of any BRAND BUTLER brainstorming.
The resulting, ideal ‘BRAND BUTLER OMNIPRESENCE' would be a mix of (discreetly) being there when customers want you to be there, and pleasantly surprising them with your presence when they least expect it. For simplicity's sake, this omnipresence can be divided in online and offline activities.
The resulting, ideal ‘BRAND BUTLER OMNIPRESENCE' would be a mix of (discreetly) being there when customers want you to be there, and pleasantly surprising them with your presence when they least expect it. For simplicity's sake, this omnipresence can be divided in online and offline activities.
Want to know more go to….Source: www.trendwatching.com
