The Ceaseless Cheering of Raving Fans…. It is every marketing professionals dream for their brand. What Aspirational Factors in the New Century produce the Global Sizzle that will create the next multi-billion-dollar sensation; that more than being a “flash in the pan”; possesses “Sustainable Winnability”.
There is a cocktail of psychological factors that create a “Signature Brand.”
Time is the ultimate currency in the New Century and any service or product that creates greater convenience possesses a jump start in its ability to immediately capture the attention of their next customer in that first five seconds. Smart People know this and wisely use every precious moment of this limited resource.
Creativity and Innovation, the ability to take complexity and simplify it in a manner that is intuitive, is a spark that stimulates our Emotional Intelligence. This is further amplified to a new level of interest if its technological ingenuity is the foundation of its advancement. I am continuous intrigued by the process of Creativity, which is the highest acuity of human endeavor. How someone envisioned a pile of rocks into a cathedral, empty passenger seats in cars to a billion-dollar industry or tinkering with transistors in your parent’s garage that transformed into a global life changing super global phenomenon.
Creativity is the “Lingua Franca” of the New Century. Those gifted individuals that can produce concepts or content drive the Global Culture. This dynamic is accelerated in its digitization on to a Global Platform; a stage of unlimited potential. This is a huge leveling factor in the New Century, as the best ideas that are projected in the most creative imaging can compete with even the mightiest corporations for pennies on the dollar. Still more exciting, is the remarkable return on investment that is quantum, for in a moment it can capture vast amount of their competitor’s market share.
Convenience and Creativity when teamed with Cost creates the recipe for success. The ability to do it faster, better and for less expense is the innovation of our times. These three factors become the nurturing energies that builds the reputation of any emerging Signature Brand.
Yet, these are just the boring fundamentals that must be brilliant in their constant formation and re-evaluation. They are the excellent quality chocolate in the expensive candy bar. The Global Sizzle comes in the wrapper and how it expresses Aspirational Dreams that are the quintessential essence of the human spirit. These light-filled images are what people remember. The core brilliance is but the mere orchestration, for people are only paying attention to the words of the song. As one of my students said to me, “I don’t always understand everything that you say, but long after you’re gone, I remember how you make me feel.”
It is this “Sustainable Feeling” this is the critical ingredient. A tough task to accomplish in this 24/7 world of noise that is nonstop buzzing in our heads.
The core ingredients of Convenience, Creativity and Cost will be that bright shiny object that sparkles better than all the rest in that “Opportunity Moment” but how does your product become an essential part of their lifestyle?
Being more of spiritual person than a hard-core entrepreneurial type, I am a purest that holds a simple premise… Make a Product that Improves the Quality of People’s Lives. With this selfless objective, you have already become the air in the balloon of your Aspirational Image.
One of the sad truths that I have absorbed from this very “sleazy” Presidential Election, is how much people long for the better angels in their life. I experience it in the corporations which utilize my services, where they are willing to invest in training experiences for their employees, that nullify the negative mainstream culture and insert the corporation’s Aspirational Unifying Vision.
New Century Raving Fans are looking for the same essence and the ability to wrap your product with a Distinct Image Footprint that produces Experiential Wonder. This all begins in the Signature Platforming of the images that represents you in the digital medium. These series of cumulative images are the projected form whose repeated experiences, psychically layers the brain and stimulates many positive neurotransmitter responses. This configuration become the matrix and Imaging Mindset that long after the sip of Coca Cola has faded from your mouth, your cerebral cortex keeps telling you; it’s the “Real Thing”.
More than mere business transactions, your product desires to create experiential moments that humanize and uplifts people. This is the Feeling Investment that will elevate your Signature Brand to the lofty distinction where Raving Fans create your Loyalty Culture.
Loyalty Culture is the remarkable gift from your customers and the Emotional R.O.I. for the care you have extended to them. Let’s not be mistaken in its rootedness, for it is not the three “Cs” that nurtures Sustainable Winnability but the fragile art of internal perception which even the slightest dink can rapidly take the air out of your Signature Brand’s Aspirational Balloon.
Recovery from this is difficult if not impossible; for few if any get a second change.
I have become fascinated by the concept of Loyalty in this temporary world of “Me First” and disposable “Drive Through” Culture. In my younger days, I was enamored with intelligence and “smart people”. As my life’s Summer, has turned to Fall, my shift has found it new beloved human quality; Sincerity. Having met all too many emotionally infantile “smart people”, a spiritual person like myself is always looking for truth. When I meet the intellectually gifted, I now make a quick one minute assessment; are they clever or sincere?
As you can surmise by the phrasing of the question; clever equates to an absence of authenticity. This level of Sustainable Authenticity is the constant battle your Signature Brand must zealously wage. More than just the authenticity of the three “Cs”, the emotional reciprocity and genuineness of your organization is what will keep you on top.
In researching this my next book FANtastic, I have studied the etymology of Loyalty. These are the qualities your New Century Raving Fans more than cognitively want to experience but emotional want to believe that you represent. Reliable, Devout, Honest, Supportive, Excited, Faithful, Invested, that Zealously possesses my favorite word here; True Heartedness.
These are the nine words that every organization that desires to be the next New Century Wonder Product should focus in their customer engagement efforts.
As simple as it may appear these nine words are the command and control of your organization’s Emotional Intelligence, which is the ultimate motivational impetus of anything that is Aspirational.
These FANtastic Feeling Factors are the Lingua Franca of Raving Fans and the spice of your Global Sizzle, as they exhilarate your Signature Brand’s Distinct Experiential Wonder. In the truest measure, they are the love you bring into the world that inspires the eternally hopeful human spirit to rise…. Seeking better days to come.
