Brand intimacy is a new-age paradigm that leverages and strengthens the emotional bonds between a brand and a consumer.By Zishaan Hayath
Over the years, brands have been making an impact with consumers by leveraging numerous strategies. While some brands lag due to changing consumer market landscapes, others thrive by adapting to the changing times and tweaking their marketing approaches accordingly. What appears to be a harsh truth for brands is that the consumer connect is a thin and pliable one. Just because it exists today does not mean it will continue to stand tomorrow, and it requires brands to preserve it with continual efforts. That said, here are some strategies that the most successful brands today leverage.
Investing in building brand intimacy
Brand intimacy is a new-age paradigm that leverages and strengthens the emotional bonds between a brand and a consumer. As things stand, it is an essential aspect of brand promotion as it is becoming a challenge to establish an emotional connection. This is due to the multiple options available to customers in terms of purchasing from brands and retailers and interacting with the same. The consumer world is not the same as before. Unlike the past, for consumers, an alternative option is only a tap away. As a result, the success of a brand now depends on its ability to reach out to consumers and build brand intimacy.
Furthermore, the strategy of brand intimacy is essential for brands trying to make an impact with consumers. Time and again, it is proven that emotion is the driving force behind purchase decisions and the development of long-term customer bonds. The majority of the decisions we make daily are determined by emotion and instinct, a clear message that to create impact and generate purchase decisions amongst consumers, brands should connect and appeal to consumers’ emotions. To that end, brands that leverage brand intimacy far outperform brands that follow a different approach.
Tapping into the potential of appealing to millennials
According to the U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs, U.S millennials will outperform non-millennials in the job market by 2030 by a margin of 22 million. That is to say that there is much to gain from building a connection with millennials as they are the future. Independence is one of the salient traits of today’s generation, and their purchasing capacity is something to note and tap into. As can be seen, millennials are the generation that loves instant gratification and emphasize speed, ease, and efficiency. As a result, there is great potential in understanding the needs of millennials and appealing to this class of consumers.
Ditching the celebrity route
Celebrity endorsement is a strategy that many brands have tried and tested over the years. But the effectiveness of it, as opposed to the past, wanes and can be disputed now. Having celebrities in ads may help with getting the outreach, but that won’t be enough if the ‘outreach’ is not an organic one, which is now the case. What is proving efficacious, though, is something else now. As things stand, a lot of brands are transitioning from celebrities to real life characters.
Having real-life characters gives brands more opportunities to focus on benefits for the users, who would influence their micro-groups thereby making their outreach a highly organic and bankable one.
Key Takeaways
It all boils down to building the right connection, which is again a very broad term. Brands can simplify it by investing in building a truly connected customer community, by finding out how their customers feel about them and spare no effort in nourishing that feeling into a force of impact. That said, the key is to project an image that exudes positivity and likeability. According to researchers over the years, customers feel connected with a brand when they have a positive ‘feeling’ towards that brand. And brands that build this level of connection by communicating with consumers and taking time out to understand and listen to their opinions are the ones that will prevail in this fast-paced, ever-evolving world.
The author is CEO and co-founder of Toppr.
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