Secrets to Exploding Your Customer Experience

The ever escaping rally cry of what constitutes as “THE” customer experience (CX) in today’s ever changing world boggles brands regularly. In this moment, in any market, customers are demanding for quality experiences. Our consumers today are not just looking for one experience but in fact they’re looking to collect multiple experiences from multiple brands in real time. This poses as a real challenge especially for brand loyalty.

 Consumers are in some ways “experience cheating” on your brand, seeking the next thrill, the next “in” thing, that will level up their social status. So what exactly can your brand do in order to satisfy the experience appetite of today’s consumer? Many haven’t strayed too far from the continuum of social media posts and videos. But there are a few trends in CX that your brand can utilize to take it to the next level. It is through deliberate CX design that your brand will stand apart from the competition.

 Shock & Awe

There’s nothing like breaking out of the status quo box. The more your brand can delight your customers with engaging and creative experiences, the more they will pay attention. If we look at Gary Vee as a brand, what he says at times will surely shock you. He makes comments like, “You’re going to die soon. Do something about it.” Nonetheless it’s that kind of brutal honesty and shock that will garner attention.

Self-Improvement

Your customers want to feel good. They want to know that by consuming your product they will be better. For example Yoga as a collective brand is not only a lifestyle but the biggest attractant to the practice is for the bettering of your well being, both spiritually and physically. Thus yoga exploded as a worldwide phenomenon.

The Experience Venture

As the retail market for free standing stores shrink, many brands have gotten creative. They’ve devised a sort of cohabitation space within their retail stores by offering classes, events, or inviting a few celebrities to share their wisdom. Samsung 837 in NYC embodies this concept well. In their flagship NYC store they open their doors inviting the public to attend special keynote events. Apple has also announced that they will be offering additional courses in select retail stores, teaching photography and more.

The New Definition of Brand

The culmination of share and experience economy may slowly shift to Virtual Experience as a new brand definition. Though virtual is still in it’s infancy we see a rise of tech companies preparing for the next wave of snazzy tech obsession, from the Google Tilt Brush to Alibaba’s VR & AR shopping experience.

 The Virtual Experience economy will shatter the way brands have traditionally defined what it means to be a brand. No longer can they rely on a pretty logo, stunning websites, lavishly cool ads and defined corporate colors. Within the last 20 plus years the definition of brand has shifted so far away from where it started, a simple Norse word that meant to burn.

But are we truly ready to embrace this new virtual experience economy? Will it be a global phenomenon powerful enough to shift the way we conduct business? I mean we just started to understand the sharing economy. The questions will continually arise but it would be a total folly to not consider the fact that, yes your brand in the future may need to consider building a strategy around VR and even allocating dollars in your marketing budget.

 As of now we are not quite there yet. But what can brands do in the meantime? Connection is still the currency of brands. So in part it must be a focal point for brands to create a connection through emotions. That will be the strongest and most magnetic way to consumers’ brand loyalty.

So in order to create emotions it can be done through events, images, or the words you use. It can even be conveyed through the way you interact with customers both online and offline. It needs to be a deliberate, planned out approach that’s finely executed consistently.

In the end you what do you think? Is there any clout when it comes to the virtual experience economy? Will it shape the way brands are brands? Leave a comment with your thoughts would love to hear what you think.

Why Breaking Up With Clients Is Good For Your Brand

It’s hard breaking up with clients. Every business knows that serving clients is the lifeline of the brand. Many of us will take on clients knowing that they probably aren’t going to be the best clients for us. Yet we knowingly spend our time with them in order to hit our numbers.

But these might be clients who are extremely indecisive and 8 months later have still yet to decide on what color to use for their logo. Or what about those clients that only know how to speak down to you even when you’re trying to help their brand. What about clients that refuse to accept that they need to make changes to their brand?

When you come across these types of clients, you need to really assess. It may be painful having that gut wrenching breakup conversation but it can in fact boost your brand. Here’s the top reasons why:

1. Shows That You’re Serious

Your time is as valuable as anyone else’s so when you break up with a client, you’re letting them know that you take their time and yours very seriously. If a client can't appreciate that then you need to simply move on.

2. Spending Time in The Right Places

This will free you up to focus on clients who want to work with your brand. It may even make you happier doing the things that you love.

3. Creates Exclusivity

When you are selective of which clients you take on, it creates an exclusive image. The rarer the opportunity, the more clients are willing to pay. If you think about it, anything that’s limited edition is always priced much higher.

4. You Pick Your Perfect Clients

It’s important that you work with people you like. So now that you know what kind of client you aren’t willing to work with, you get to be picky as to which types of clients you will take on.