Brand and Promotions Strategist
“Don’t design for the sake of design….design for solving for something.” ~ Brian Solis
photo from Brian Solis
In this insightful and candid interview (video below) with Bryan Elliott from Behind the Brand TV, Brian Solis (Author of The End of Business as Usual, Principal at the Altimeter Group and my favorite business marketing analyst) shares his intuitive and brilliant suggestions for how businesses can learn to adapt to this epic shift in business.
Understanding the “Connected Consumer”.
“Deliberate strategy that delivers a great experience.” More importantly - Pragmatic marketing brings the consumer in. Empowering the consumer to share and become part of the story in the stream.
The Connected Consumer demands a better experience. We’ve talked about this so many times and I honestly believe that moving forward in the Real Estate Industry, Brokerages and big box companies are going to have to redesign the customer experience like The Good Life Team has. Talk about “Disruptive”.
Make the time to watch this interview.
Last night my husband and I celebrated our anniversary. We went to Milestones Restaurant here in our town Langley. It’s a large corporate brand that we frequent who are doing an awesome job of building affinity with their clientele.
We had the most lovely waitress Devon (spelled exactly like my son’s ~ Yes we had a little chat about that 
) ~ she offered a wine tasting when we were struggling to try something new and delivered great friendly service throughout the evening…we mentioned it was our anniversary
We ate, we laughed, we toasted to another great year together… and when it was time to collect the bill Devon shuffled over with this lovely card with a personal message wishing us many years of happiness and an appetizer on her upon our next visit.
Now let’s be honest…its’ not the coupon…- it’s the THOUGHT. It’s the time taken to reach out….build affinity and make us feel as though we’re more than just clients. We shared an EXPERIENCE with Milestones and Devon. We shared a MILESTONE in our life actually. The card and hand written note are a lovely gesture that will go a long way to maintaining my loyalty and likely will celebrate many more milestones there in the future. 
This is the shift in business. Recognizing that it isn’t about BUSINESS. It’s about personal experiences and delievering service that cares and takes an interest in ME.
This morning I had the privilege of listening to Jeff Turner interviewed by Krissinta Wise on Coffee With Krisstina about identifying your IDEAL BRAND:
Most think its about pretty logos, tag lines and color schemes but at the end of the day…your brand is What people are saying about you. Are you delivering on your brand promise? Do you even know what it is?
When you think BRAND….Think ACTIONABLES!
Here’s Jeff’s Slides from this morning’s presentation! If you’d like to hear a recording of his interview, head over to Coffee with Krissina!
Shawn Achor author of ”The Happiness Advantage” founded Good Think Inc in which his work is the revolutionary finding that individual happiness and organizational success are inextricably linked. He’s poked a hole in our conventional thinking of ‘work harder and success will come and THEN you will be happy’. Truth is, says Shawn, with that thinking we sabotage ourselves by constantly adjusting the bar and measuring happiness based on external factors. Instead, how positively we perceive the world is what we need to focus on. He suggests, we retrain our brains to scan for positives and shift our perceptions and achieve happiness today! Happier people make more successful people. We’ve had it backwards ALL THIS TIME!
Shawn shared his theories at TEDx Talk and as you watch it you’ll feel happier! Let’s just say Unicorns are mentioned 
This post was generated by Dashter
Matthew Shadbolt – @Corcoran_Group
@darrinfrie You should ask @professionalone @1000wattmarc @tericonrad & @chris_smth about this: http://t.co/elVFCRcC (cc @david_marine)
And this is what started the WHOLE discussion! Trust Matthew for stirring the pot and getting us all thinking this morning! Watch the video ~ Darrin Friedman presents a bit of a controversial opinion on the concept of Agent Centric Branding… and earlier this year Matthew and I played with this idea briefly when he moderated my panel with Michael McClure and Debra Trappen at Inman Connect in New York. (Jan. 2012)
Michael McClure – @ProfessionalOne
@TeriConrad What’s their “why?” It’s that simple, IMO. #BRANDING
Teri Conrad – @TeriConrad
Do they inspire? #brands @corcoran_group @darrinfrie @ProfessionalOne @1000wattmarc @Chris_Smth @david_marine
@ProfessionalOne @TeriConrad @GoodLifeTeam The issue is that saying ‘we’re an agent-centric brand’ is completely redundant. All RE firms are
sean carpenter – @seancarp
RT @TeriConrad: Value led story is what inspires. I DO think new CB campaign is on right track. @professionalone @Corcoran_Group @GoodLi …
BUT do consumers really shop agents or neighbourhoods? @david_marine @Corcoran_Group @darrinfrie @ProfessionalOne @1000wattmarc @Chris_Smth
And here where it gets a little interesting…. So David Marine (Senior Director of Consumer Engagement for Coldwell Banker) and Matthew Shadbolt (Director of Interactive Product and Marketing for Corcoron Group) both come from the corporate marketing world. Each incredibly experienced and well respected. I would argue they both do a fabulous job for their respective brands in terms of ‘inspiring’ and creating ‘value’ for both agent and consumer. But we veered off the path a little and began to discuss the value and importance of metrics….
+100 RT @david_marine: @TeriConrad key word there is shop. they don’t shop agents as research shows they go w/ 1st agent majority of time.
David Marine – @david_marine
@TeriConrad @Corcoran_Group every agent has a dif reason for choosing a brand. splits/tools/recognition but it all goes bak to brand value
@TeriConrad @david_marine I think that @darrinfrie’s video is a classic example of why people go with the first agent that calls them back
@1000wattmarc @TeriConrad @david_marine @darrinfrie @professionalone @chris_smth Our web, mobile & customer data tells us the same thing
Marc Davison – @1000wattmarc
@TeriConrad @david_marine @corcoran_group @darrinfrie @professionalone @chris_smth —> our research says Neighborhoods.
At this point I suggested that data is often so skewed and that I would like to see more common sense utilized….do we REALLY need the data to tell us this stuff because I’m thinking most of us know this intuitively.
“@Corcoran_Group: @TeriConrad Data always beats opinion
@TeriConrad @david_marine @billublin “Data is the soil in which ideas grow”
@corcoran_group You have a strong sense of what will work – you develop a ‘hypothesis’ and then stats back it up. @david_marine
billlublin – @billlublin
@tericonrad You know what Disraeli said about statistics http://t.co/lQC5vFcn cc: @Corcoran_Group @david_marine
And here’s the quote by British Statesman Disraeli (And NO – I had no idea Bill! )
Bahaha
In my humble ‘non quantified’ opinion I believe that there is some common sense here… Ask the ‘Consumer’ what they care about it, and whether its been statistically proven or not I believe they just want solid service and faith that they’re getting a good deal. Where the ‘Brand’ may come into play is in the ‘perception’ that they’ve had the best and herin lies the opportunity.
Consumer behaviour is based on psychology and we know that people are ‘justifiers’ and will find a way to convince themselves that they’ve chosen well, even if they’ve hardly made any effort at all to ‘shop around’. What Corcoran Group does exceptionally well is create a ‘customer experience’ that INSPIRES and is generous with information that consumers want like ‘best restaurants’ and ‘places to shop’ and how to avoid lines etc…all the while carving out mind share and elevating their brand status with scrumptious pictures and defining ‘what’s COOL in Manhatten’! What Consumer OR Agent wouldn’t want to brand align with that?
Of course there is a need for Branding. Of course there is a need for Metrics. But I love what Gary Vaynerchuck says: “What’s the ROI of your Mother?” There are certain impossible-to-measure intangibles that must not be ignored. In fact I’ll go further….I think that’s where it gets REALLY interesting and juicy!
Thanks for the great discussion and mind stir this morning Matthew and David
****For further reading on the psychology of Social Business read @briansolis (Principle at Altimeter Group) latest article: The 6 Pillars of Social Commerce: Understanding the Psychology of Social Engagement
