by Sherjan Husainie, Founder of KIRO
In today’s commercial atmosphere, customers don’t just look for a quality product; they expect a brand presence they can engage with that feels real and authentic. More than ever before, consumers are seeking out brands that align with their values and standards, and might make buying decisions based on whether a brand “feels” right.
If you’re looking to create a brand focused on authentic customer connection, here are some methods to get you started!
Humanize at the Core
Communicate Values.
Figure out what your brand stands for and display these values in prominent places on your website; customers appreciate when brands are enthusiastic and verbal about what’s important to them. It can also be helpful to define what your brand stands against, as this can help distinguish you among competitors as a brand that’s working to fix common problems in your industry.
Showcase Leaders and Individuals.
Customers connect more effectively with people than they do with brands as a whole. Make spaces to feature company leadership and other personnel, as well as narratives about these people and their roles in the company. Customers who feel like they “know” someone at your company are more likely to engage with your brand.
Prioritize Social Media.
Social media is the best avenue your brand has to regularly demonstrate its identity, and it’s also the easiest way to directly connect with customers. Focusing resources on a responsive, humanized social media identity helps portray your brand as one filled with real people that care about the customer experience.
Strive for Quality
Focus on the Details.
When consumers feel good about a product, they feel good about the brand, and are more likely to become returning customers. Keeping a focus on consistency and quality at all levels of detail won’t go unnoticed by customers.
Invest in Presentation.
For many consumers, presentation can be just as important as messaging. Modern, unique branding and web design signal the same effort and quality in your product and tell customers that your brand is contemporary and suited to their preferences.
Stand Out from the Crowd.
Focusing on the unique aspects of your brand will boost discoverability, but it also helps increase consumer connection. Customers feel more connected to a brand when they feel like they’ve found something special. Your brand will feel much more authentic if it doesn’t look or function the same as all of your competitors.
Support Company Culture.
When your employees feel good about their workplace, that positivity will spread to your brand and its interactions with customers. An internal company culture that aligns with your values and empowers staff will project outwards, fostering stronger connections between staff and customers in the many places they interact.
Personalize Communications
Tailor at Every Step.
Wherever possible, customer communications should be tailored to their recipient to avoid the feeling of identical mass emails. When messages are customized by user and by context, customers feel like they’re interacting with real employees that have something to share, not just an automated email schedule or machine.
Real-Time Messaging Triggers.
With the wealth of options and information available to customers today, transactions are rarely conducted all at once; instead, customers might place an item in the cart, compare with other brands, or simply leave the website for a while before making the purchase. When executed well, communications tailored to a variety of customer behaviours can enhance connections by portraying responsiveness and care.
Center Customer Feedback
Respond Effectively and Quickly.
Your branding and product are the primary ways that you engage with your customers, and their feedback is the primary way they engage with your brand. By regularly collecting and acting to resolve complaints, your brand can be seen as one that doesn’t just feel genuine, but truly cares about its product and the customer experience.
Monitor Multiple Channels.
Customers don’t just express feedback in direct avenues like reviews or support interactions. It’s also important to monitor things like forums and social media channels to gain a fuller understanding of how consumers are engaging with your brand.
Scale With Systems
Create Customization Guidelines.
Working with your brand’s customer engagement team to create systems for personalizing messaging can empower them to represent the brand in a consistent manner while remaining adaptive in a wide variety of contexts. As your business grows, customization guidelines will allow engagement staff to strike the perfect balance between responsiveness and brand consistency.
Document Patterns
Tracking successes and pain points in customer interactions will provide you with lasting data on what has and hasn’t worked in the past. Knowing positive trends to uplift and negative signs to address will allow your brand to continue improving its connection infrastructure as it scales.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you design a brand that feels authentic?
An authentic brand can be created by highlighting personnel and values, prioritizing social media responsiveness, investing in product quality, and personalizing customer communications.
Why is it important to design a brand that feels genuine?
Customers expect a brand presence they can connect to and feel good about supporting. When a brand feels like it’s run by a group of passionate, visible people with clear values, customers can more easily identify it, driving lasting loyalty and authentic engagement.
How do you create authenticity at scale?
To create a genuine brand presence that can scale with company growth, create frameworks that describe where to focus on customization and where to stick to established brand messaging. This allows brand representatives to adapt to a variety of situations while adhering to a consistent set of brand guidelines. Documenting customer feedback and patterns also helps keep brands responsive as they grow.
Why is social media important for brand authenticity?
Social media is the most regular avenue for a brand to engage with its customer base. Implementing a consistent, human-first outward social media strategy will display a sense of care and connection. Posts that feel like they were written by people, not a machine, will drive better engagement. It’s also important to provide rapid, effective responses to customer concerns; a reputation for caring for the customer experience drives repeat business.
Sherjan Husainie is the Founder of KIRO, the world’s most advanced chiropractic brand. He studied Aerospace Engineering at the University of Toronto and Financial Engineering at UCLA Anderson. Before founding KIRO, Sherjan worked at Google and was a Vice President in Investment Banking at Morgan Stanley. His mission is to make modern, accessible chiropractic care available to 100 million members globally.
