The secret marketing formula that every big brand name uses
By Deart Bullari
Marketing is a very strange thing when it comes to schemes and strategies. Sometimes it is very hard to understand. It is undoubtedly the most effective tool for a brand name to impose its products.
Of course, nowadays with the introduction of new technologies and new trends, it is harder for a brand to impress an audience, yet they always find a way to grab the attention, and once they get it, most of the time it is game over for the consumers.
It is extremely hard nowadays to achieve the level of implementation and interaction that some of the most distinguished brand names have.
Take a look around your home. How many brand names can you identify?
Then walk around your neighborhood and observe how these brands have found a way to incorporate themselves with their products among us.
They have found a way to live with us. Some of those brands have been there for generations and generations, some of those are baby boomers or overnight sensations, so the question is:
How do they do it? How do these brands find a way to incorporate themselves into our lives, how do they “win” us?
Most of the “Fortune 500” start their marketing endeavors with a simple method, made exactly for us consumers to fit in this pre-programmed journey.
It is a journey when sometimes we don’t know we’re part of and sure enough, we find ourselves moments later purchasing the latest product of a certain brand.
“The Funnel”
The funnel is a marketing scheme designed for customers to follow certain steps through the journey, and divide this journey into certain layers. As we go down the funnel I will explain the concepts behind each layer and key aspects.
Awareness
Everything in our lives, being that business you want to buy or trying to impress somebody the first step towards it is awareness. They should be aware of your existence.
The same happens with brands. There are many thousands of brands that we don’t know of because they cannot market themselves as better as some others do. That factor indicates that the brands that do better marketing are the ones we are aware of.
Especially nowadays with social media and digital marketing, awareness is key for a product to be known.
First, the consumer knows the product, knows the brand. Consumers learn about a brand’s new campaign because they grab our attention through advertisements on social media, online media, or mainstream media.
Good companies know how to grab our attention. Good companies know how to make us aware of them, as we step from the first phase to the next.
Consideration
Now we’ve all been in this kind of situation in life. How many times have we found ourselves one click away from purchasing products having double thoughts?
In this second phase, we are considering our relationship with this brand. Will we take it a step further and buy their product or, will we turn the other way.
Best brand names find a way to make an inviting proposal, and here good marketing takes over. The proposal is key for the brand at this moment.
Most of the time, social media plays a huge role in this category and we consumers find ourselves wandering around undecided about using any new product or sticking with the ones that we are already familiar
Proposal and presentation are key in this phase.
Conversion
At this stage, we are through with our inner dilemmas. There is no more turning back at this stage because we’ve made up our minds. At this stage, we have decided to create a relationship with the brand.
Most successful brands have an easier way to get faster to this stage than others.
Just think about the brands and products you are more drawn to. There is no question on price, proposal, or awareness whatsoever.
For something that we are drawn to, we hurry up and buy it.
In the market that we live in nowadays, these brands are deeply incorporated into our lives and have marketed their way into becoming necessities.
Some other ones have a harder way down the funnel, that is why the funnel acts differently, for different brands. We now find ourselves entering the big brand family.
Loyalty
It might seem like Dante’s journey through the stages of hell going downwards. Like Dante, we are stepping further and further into the unknown, and as Dante had Virgil we have our brands to protect us and take care of us.
In life, we need to have someone that takes care of us. Most of the time its family, a girlfriend, a boyfriend or it can be a group of friends.
As humans we need security. We need someone that makes us feel safe and through that feeling, we develop something that is called loyalty.
We love people who take care of us and show love towards us, and we are loyal to them.
We love football teams that give us those passionate feelings, and that is why we have loyal fans for more than a lifetime.
We love our significant other, so we are loyal to them. We trust them.
Brands act the same way. Successful brands don’t see consumers as money making machines, but they treat them like family.
They care about them so they treat them in the best way possible. They become loyal to their brand and it’s hard for other brands to create another proposal that will draw away their clients.
From being aware, to considering their product and then buying it, to being loyal to it. That’s good marketing and deep down we are all loyal to a particular brand.
Advocacy
Now, this last stage is very interesting because it might be the beginning of something new.
Have you ever loved a product or a service so much that you can’t help it but recommend to your friends and family?
Successful brands are very smart in doing one thing. Showing effort at the beginning of the journey, and let consumers play ambassadors for them. They became their advocates. It is the most genius move a brand can make.
The “Fortune 500” and big brand names that have been around for decades, what do they do?
They don’t even need to market themselves anymore. Apple doesn’t, do you know why?
Because your best friend can’t stop talking to you about how good his new iPhone is. Netflix doesn’t need to brand his name anymore because all we talk about is that movie or series we are hooked on, not to mention the Nike Air Jordan. We all know what I am talking about.
There are many strategies and many levels that various brands adapt to get to this stage, but the ones that do it properly?
Well, they find themselves within a goldmine of family consumers that are their brand ambassadors, and sometimes they even get emotional about it.
It shows how deep of an impact these brands have on us because we said it’s a big family, and what does a family do?
They take care of us and we take care of them. This is what successful brands do. This is how good marketing is done.
