Become Customer-Obsessed, Sell the Feeling

Now more than ever, customers value companies that interact with them. Gone are the days of bombarding the audience with billboards. It’s not enough to simply provide what customers want to buy. They buy brands that “get” them. This is why brands need to be relentlessly relevant to their customers or be left out.

The open secret to building a brand that is forever relevant is to have a customer-obsessed mindset.

It is not only by knowing what the customers want but also a deep appreciation and understanding of the customers themselves – what they hate, what they love, their motivations and aspirations.

From here, the brand will reap the reward of customers becoming obsessed with the brand.

How big brands are doing it? #

One way Tiktok does it is through content personalization. The For You Page (FYP) is based on what the algorithm knows about the content you like to watch. In return, people are glued to Tiktok.

Riot Games’ customer obsession is rooted in their culture, where every department asks how player-focused they are. It became a long game of understanding how to get to their audience to get them. In return, they are rewarded with a strong following that selling in-game cosmetics became a walk in the park.

For most startups today, building in public not only attracts investors, it also grows the product with its growing customers. It makes the customers part of shaping the product better along with the brand narrative they can get behind.

As the business becomes empathetic to its customers, the customers also become sympathetic to the company.

How can your brand be like them? #

The key to the customer-obsessed way of doing business seeing your customers as people, not transactions

1. Knowing thy customers deeper. #

Just asking how to get the customers to buy more only looks through a transactional lens. This tends to make marketing teams only rely on sales data and market performance. While helpful, it is not the full picture.

Include the bigger world context of your customers’ conversations in your market research.

It will reveal opportunities where you can seek common ground and shared interests with your target audience. Then the answers to the common approach will come easily.

You may wonder why entrepreneurs like Andrew Tate are hosting podcasts, talking about life and expressing their beliefs when they are really just selling online courses. You may think that podcasts and Youtube videos are revenue streams for them, and you’re right. But the courses they sell to their podcast and Youtube audiences is where the huge sales come from. It made Tate $11 million in a month.

This is them understanding the greater world around their target audience.

2. Emotional connection is the greatest differentiator #

People identify with brands that make them feel seen, felt, and understood.

They are not only after your products’ superior features or your high degree of service and support. They are also buying the status and the feeling of having your product or service. And establishing common ground and shared interest with your target audience is key to knowing that relatable feeling you want to evoke on your campaigns.

The online gurus of today are not only just showing off their lavish lifestyle, they are also selling their audiences the dream. Andrew Tate is not only expressing his spiky points of view, he’s also identifying with his audience and making them feel understood. Startups build in public not only to improve their products with realtime feedback but also to evoke the feeling of being part of the product journey.

Selling the feeling = leading the buying

The currency to embracing changes #

The market will change, the needs and attitudes of your customers will inevitably change, and competitors will imitate your success. Your customers’ trust and confidence in your brand is your currency to these inevitable tides.

In your brand strategy, make sure you’ve understood your average customer. Make this your first step so you can easily put yourself in your target audiences’ shoes.

By understanding your target audience, you can find shared interests and common ground that can help make your brand more connected and relatable. This connection can help build a stronger relationship with your customers, which will lead to increased sales and loyalty, and sustained relevance.