We’re not in Kansas anymore

Not too long ago, a brand’s output used to be just as good as its offering. It was a simple premise that worked well, providing executives with return on investments and audiences access to premier products or services that best served their needs.

However, in this era of constant change and disruption, this process has altered, pivoting the emphasis from a brand’s USPs to the messages that it associates itself with and the outreach that it commits to consumers. A more connected, wiser audience drove this change as technology and media put the power in the hands of people to voice their opinions and beliefs on a global scale. This placed companies on full blast and opened them up for constant scrutiny.

Consumers are no longer just a marketing metric; they have become highly valuable stakeholders who demand transparency and integrity at the corporate level and expect meaningful products, services and commitments. This completely redefined the market, whereby brands that don’t align with customer beliefs risk losing everything they have built. In essence, brands are now no longer just owned by the companies or people who invested in them — every consumer is now as important as a shareholder.

It's not easy keeping up with customer values, but doing so stands as evidence of a company that is able to easily shift its standing towards gaining a competitive advantage, thereby nurturing an audience that would ascribe it to sentiments and messages that resonate with them. Brands stand to gain much by tuning in to their consumers where they are online and heeding to the presented insights to hone their market presence.

Companies that stand for something bigger than their brands and take actionable steps towards larger, more social-conscious causes are more likely to build long-lasting relationships with their customers, creating a community of supporters who would be rooting for its success. 

The traditional view of the ‘customer as buyer’ is deemed irrelevant and no longer delivers projected results. Companies must take it upon themselves to create a community of engaged brand stakeholders working together to cement the present and pave the way into the future. By involving customers to identify shared values and areas where the company can make a difference, a brand stands to reap the biggest possible reward: a supportive audience and customers who can relate to what the brand has to offer, thereby empowering its overall business model.