How‌ ‌to‌ ‌Develop‌ ‌a‌ ‌Brand‌ ‌Consumers‌ ‌Can‌ ‌Chat‌ ‌About‌

Let's play a little game. Say the first answer that comes to mind with questions 1-4.

1. Name an electric car company.
2. Name an e-commerce company.
3. Name an online search engine.
4. Name a furniture store.

I'd say it's likely that your answers were Tesla, Amazon, Google, and IKEA. If I wasn't 4/4 on your answers, then I probably have at least 3. Why do you think those business names came to mind first and not Waymo, Alibaba, Duckduckgo, and Walmart? Two words: People talk.

If you Google how effective talking about your product is, you will find that 92% of people trust word-of-mouth recommendations over other forms of advertising, based on a 2014 study published by Forbes. On top of that, 88% of people consider customer reviews as trustworthy as word of mouth, and 74% of consumers make purchase decisions based on word of mouth.

That said, building a brand people can chat about will go a long way toward improving your sales.

How Can You Make Your Brand Strong?

To garner good reviews about your business, you need to make sure the current customers are having a great experience. This is because most people share reviews not just because of incentives or vouchers, but because the product is something they love.

How can you ensure customers enjoy purchasing from you? The following are just a few ways to make your brand strong so that consumers will be more likely to chat about it:

1. Sell high-quality products.
2. Create a user-friendly design for your website.
3. Improve delivery speed.
4. Provide after-sale services.

A good experience is enough for 'okay' results in terms of getting people to talk about and recommend your products. However, if you are looking to take advantage of the full potential of word-of-mouth, you should consider implementing the following ideas:

1. Use sound bites

To encourage your customers to talk about your brand, you need to give them a clear sound bite. It can literally be anything about your product. It could be a specific feature, the experience, or the feeling that they get from using your product. It could also be your motto or some information on your logo or website.

Sound bites will regularly remind people about your product, making them talk about it more, generating free advertising.

2. Use visual triggers

Visual triggers work the same as sound triggers in that they encourage people to share with others. The difference is that visual triggers encourage people to take pictures and share them.

The best example here is Disney. Their theme parks are amazing and provide an amazing visual experience. Whether that was their goal or not, these structures encourage people to take and share pictures, increasing the hype of Disney.

In e-commerce, visual triggers can be designed by having a user-friendly and appealing website as discussed above. Additionally, your products should have a creative design and wrap that is unique from others.

For people to recognize your brand and for it to leave an impression, you need to focus on creating an impressionable logo. Coca-Cola does this best through its red logo with a script typeface. It is easy to identify and remember. What's more, their beverages are sold in unique bottles.

3. Provoke emotions

Most people share when they feel something. Nonetheless, you must manage the type of emotions you are trying to evoke from your customers.

In order for them to share your content, you need to create emotions that generate amusement, anger, or excitement. These drive your customers to take action and share with others. They are, however, less likely to share with others if your products leave them feeling sad or simply content.

4. Promote user-generated content

User-generated content is more shareable, hence very powerful in getting customers to talk about your brand.

As an example, the social media app, TikTok, has benefited lots of industries with the music industry getting most of those benefits. Lots of users post voiceovers and lip-sync to songs and share them with thousands of their followers, who do the same and share with their thousands of followers, creating a kind of cascading effect.

For businesses, one way to encourage and promote user-generated content is to start giving discounts for online posts that meet certain requirements. You can also start a competition using a hashtag that can be easily identified as belonging to your brand.

Doing this, and engaging with the content generated, is enough to make your customers shout your business name from the highest rooftop.

5. Encourage customer referrals

Most people wouldn't take time to review or recommend you to others unless they get something in return. This is where referrals come in. They encourage your already-satisfied customers to look for others in exchange for an incentive. You can also turn them into affiliates, giving you a higher number of authentic leads.

Let Acton Circle Help You Create a Strong Brand

Your brand is the cornerstone of all your marketing efforts. Without a strong, recognizable, and relevant branding strategy that people want to talk about, it will be difficult for you to reach your sales goals; but with the right one in place, any campaign can succeed. The key is finding the balance between investing time into building up your company's image and keeping costs low enough so as not to deter potential customers from buying what you're selling.

Unfortunately, creating a strong brand is one of those things that is easier said than done. The easiest and most cost-efficient way to create a strong brand that customers can chat about is to outsource your marketing efforts to a professional.

If this is something you're interested in, Acton Circle is here to help. Our team has been helping businesses build their brands since we were founded - no matter how big or small they are. We know how hard building an effective brand strategy can be, so why not let us do the heavy lifting for you?

Book an intro call with us today so we can discuss how our team could best serve you.