Marketing is for Humans: In 2020 this is what matters.

[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″][et_pb_row][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text] Don’t Forget It’s People We’re Talking to It’s 2020 and time to really look at how we use marketing and branding to connect. Not just with products and cool tech solutions but communicating and connecting with individuals, not just as customers but as people – the ones who are supposed to buy our brands and care about the company that makes them. It’s really time to keep this at the forefront of brand marketing and shaping the customer experience. It’s Not Just About Product Features So much of brand marketing and business to business marketing is about the details that don’t seem relevant, things that many companies say are unique to their brand stand out, that look good and want to sell a complex solution to a problem you didn’t know you had. What’s essential to understand is what matters is what actually affects people. Brands are solving people’s problems, whether technology-focused or not. It could be home security with Nest, getting you to the airport in a Lyft. Keeping in mind that humans matter in these transactions. And for people who are customers, it’s essential that brands become even more important as more technology floods the market, offering new choices, simplifying transactions and making our lives better. Solving Real Customers’ Problems Builds Loyalty Part of what drives new companies and many startups is their cool new technology. The revolutionary idea that changes everything. There is a constant tension between what the engineers want to design and what the customer actually needs in this process. Too many times the technology or numbers get in the way of understanding customers and their problems. Why do customers need your solution? How does your brand represent a real connection to a problem? The single biggest feature on new microwaves is the 30-second reheat button, not all the complex cooking and reheating features that often get ignored. Keep consumer products focused – for the way people actually use them. Making An Emotional Connection The stories and brand representatives we speak through are incredibly important to how a customer connects to a brand. That emotional bond people have with Disney through all the years of watching and sharing experiences with family are what drives the connection and meaning of the brand. This emotional connection is built into all the experiences they create through the movies, video and theme parks they’ve created. Now, with Disney+, they’ve built this connection into all their content. Within three weeks of their channel launch, they already had 20 million subscribers. Pay Attention and Be Relevant  Getting through all the advertising and marketing thrown at customers, like you and me, is so difficult with the clutter of clever but often irrelevant marketing and brand messaging shoved at us. This means really understanding consumers, specific customer groups and relating to their needs and their values. The challenge of the 2020 presidential elections will be who will be truly relevant to the right voters?  With so many candidates and so many messages is it trust, fear, or envisioning a new future that will connect with people? This year will be very interesting to see this plays out. Standing for Something Lastly, I think this will be the year in which companies and product brands will focus more than ever on building their brands around what they are committed to in the world. Brands must keep their customers’ values in front of them and stay aware of why it’s important. This will build value and loyalty beyond the next quarter’s bottom line for companies. Keep in mind they are selling and marketing to humans.   [/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]