The term “experience” is being used a lot these days — probably too much, to the point where it’s lost some of its value. The concept of building brand experiences isn’t a new one. After all, the way consumers experience a brand is a fundamental step of brand building.
The reality is there is more to building brand experiences than investing in some experiential marketing campaigns, segmenting your audience, and using events, content marketing, email marketing, ads, and social media marketing to share your stories.
Building a brand starts with building more than just products (or services), logos, and marketing campaigns. It starts with building perceived experiences.
Think of it this way — how does your product affect a consumer’s perceptions and emotional experiences while he or she is using it? What are the real and emotional user experiences? Together, you get a perceived experience that is the foundation of the brand.
All of your brand-related physical experiences (e.g., in-store, at events, in ads, promotions, and so on) must consistently deliver on the perceived experience that consumers expect to get from your brand. If both real and emotional experiences aren’t consistent, consumers will become confused with your brand and turn away from it in search of a different brand that does meet their expectations for it in every interaction (i.e., “experience”).
Brand confusion is the number one brand killer, so tread carefully. Ask yourself – what are you making? Don’t settle for products. Demand experiences — consistent experiences. Your customers will be happier and your brand and business will grow for years to come.
Originally published 6/17/13. Updated 1/2/19.
Susan Gunelius
Susan Gunelius is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Women on Business. She is a 25-year veteran of the marketing field and has authored ten books about marketing, branding, and social media, including the highly popular Ultimate Guide to Email Marketing, 30-Minute Social Media Marketing, Content Marketing for Dummies, Blogging All-in-One for Dummies and Kick-ass Copywriting in 10 Easy Steps. Susan’s marketing-related content can be found on Entrepreneur.com, Forbes.com, MSNBC.com, BusinessWeek.com, and more. Susan is President & CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc., a marketing communications company. She has worked in corporate marketing roles and through client relationships with AT&T, HSBC, Citibank, Intuit, The New York Times, Cox Communications, and many more large and small companies around the world. Susan also speaks about marketing, branding and social media at events around the world and is frequently interviewed by television, online, radio, and print media organizations about these topics. She holds an MBA in Management and Strategy and a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing and is a Certified Professional Career Coach (CPCC).
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We’ve been doing a lot of research about this lately. It’s nice to learn even more.
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Thanks for sharing the video! I strongly believe selling an experience will get consumers excited and more likely to purchase than just selling a product.
Brooklyn, I agree 100%!
This piece by Susan Gunelius is a sign of her genius. When you look for a way to go and grow you don’t want the to and fro of out worn rules of business. Susan leads you out of that maze and sounds more like Tolstoy who said you feel art when your feeling is the same one the artist had. And these are the perceived experiences Susan talks of. Let’s leave buzz words to the bees–as you learn to go with marketing theory, you drive right past the fads, to park next to “The Four Pillars of Social Media Marketing!” And you know what the first pillar is? Research! When was the last time your heard research was a pillar? The first time I heard it was In Susan’s book 30-minute Social Media Marketing: Now that I have shown you where to park I hope you check out the view?
http://www.amazon.com/30-Minute-Social-Media-Marketing-Step-/dp/0071743812/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1371579148&sr=1-1&keywords=30+minute+social+media+marketing
This is a great video, Thanks for sharing!