What Comes First, The Idea Or The Consumer?

Using creativity to build a leading brand

Over the past few weeks I’ve covered the “whats” and “hows” of marketing and creative leadership, so today I want to tackle what I believe is the most important piece of the puzzle: why!

Why is ‘why’ most important? Because this is your purpose, cause, or belief. It’s why your organization exists, why you get out of bed in the morning, and why people should care.

When it comes to entrepreneurship and building a brand, most people quickly fall in love with a sexy idea and put all their efforts into building a strategy around it. Although this might feel right when you’ve landed on an idea you’re excited about, if you get tactical too fast, you might actually lose sight of the consumer.

Before you do anything, it’s always best to take a step back and remember who you serve… always the consumer.

Successful and iconic brands build their plans on real insights, asking themselves: Who is the consumer? How am I going to make their life better?

If you ground everything in your consumer, the idea will actually emerge itself. If you get tactical too quickly you’re missing out on building a relationship with your consumer which in turn will keep your brand from feeling authentic — and we all know in this age of hyper-connectivity, authenticity is key to cutting through the noise of everything else grabbing at your consumers’ hearts and minds.

Without building a personal and authentic relationship with the consumer, marketing will just be marketing.

When building your idea, whether you’re a mom and pop shop or a large brand, you need to always know who you’re serving so you can repeatedly serve them well. Take a step back and think, ‘has this been done before?’ — if you’re not filling a unique need of your consumer, your idea won’t stick.

A brand grounded in their consumer always needs to figure out their proposition before getting tactical. What does your brand enable for the consumer? Is it a promise, a dream, or an unmet need? What does your brand enable the consumer to do. How are they getting more out of life because of your brand or product?

If you change out your logo, will this idea still stand? If it does, then your proposition is not unique to your brand. Consumers should have a clear takeaway from the experience of your brand, if they’re not, then you’re not solving a real problem or serving a need and there’s a disconnect.

Without figuring out your ‘why’ it’s hard to solve anything for your consumer. You need to understand why you exist, otherwise, what’s the point?

Let’s take a look at Apple.

Many companies make computers, but Apple has always had a strong ‘why’. In everything they do, they challenge the status quo. They challenge the status quo by making beautifully designed products that are simple to use and user-friendly. When you think of Apple you have a very clear picture of who they are and what they stand for. They make their consumers’ lives easier, and although they have multiple offerings, they know their consumers inside and out.

Like Apple, we should all aim to innovate and do something that has never been done before, even if we’re just selling cotton t-shirts. We can only be successful if we know who we’re serving, what they’re looking for, and how we can help make their lives better.

No matter how successful a company gets, like Apple, we need to think fast and adapt to our consumers’ needs. This is how creative leadership comes about.

JOIN ME!

I’ll be hosting a webinar next Wednesday, May 23rd at 10AM EST where I’ll dig deeper into the ideas I’ve discussed here.

I’ll be unpacking secrets behind how I’ve helped global brands become even larger international icons by connecting with consumers on an emotional level.

I’ll be sharing these valuable brand building tools that will help you grow your business in a strategic way.

Join me for a thought-provoking session!

OVER TO YOU

Have you made it a point to keep your consumers at the heart of building your brand? What companies (large or small) do you think have been able to do this successfully?

ABOUT ME

I’m a modern marketer building and growing brands in today’s fast-changing digital landscape. My leadership and ability to define clarity in chaos are rooted in the teamwork, discipline, and strategic thinking I experienced as a soccer player throughout my youth in Brazil and as a Division-I student-athlete at Clemson University.

Learn more about how we can create the next generation of leaders here, connect with me on Linked In or follow me on Twitter!