At the risk of introducing another buzzword into the lexicon, we’ll give a quick description of what we’re doing:
Culture building adds interactivity to branding. It still requires all
the work of branding – defining who you are, promoting your attributes,
staying consistent, yada-yada – but it also requires the brand to
interact with customers on a personal level and attract them with a magnetic
force. Here’s an
analogy that’s less dry than this explanation..
Once your brand evolves into a culture, customers naturally build communities with other like-minded folks based on mutual identification. Really. A great example? The Trekkie community. Millions of people watched Star Trek but some wanted to share their experience of the show with others. Groups of Star Trek fans formed and voila, you have the Trekkie community. But it doesn’t stop there. The Trekkie community also includes subgroups – young Trekkies, old Trekkies, even anti-Trekkie Trekkies. Are the Trekkies self-sustaining? Yes, for decades they’ve been driving demand. Are they self-aggregating? Yes, their passion may be encouraged by the media but only true Trekkies hold Trekkie conventions.
So what are the benefits of spawning communities with your culture? Well,
by encouraging customers to form a culture outside of your internal organization,
you are essentially building lobbying groups for your company. These groups
can provide support on many levels, from providing feedback for future
product development to providing a database for future hires. Best of
all, they are self-sustaining (low customer retention costs!) and self-aggregating
(they build themselves!).
Whole Foods. Ben & Jerry’s. Apple Computer. Greenpeace. These are some of the most powerful examples of culture building companies. They have all have taken the time to get to know their customers, respond to their needs, foster a sense of camaraderie and encourage feedback. In turn, the customers have given each company’s brand a soul. They’ve also given them room to make mistakes. In the end, this symbiotic relationship develops and grows.
The best cultures are reflexive; with a company’s internal culture informing the brand’s external culture and vice versa. When both cultures are in harmony, employee morale can benefit dramatically because employees don’t sense a disconnect between their existence within the company and their company’s existence in the media.
Back in the olden days, business owners would talk to patrons one-to-one. Patrons shared their suggestions and needs through word of mouth interactions and the business owner would react. If a patron made a suggestion and the business owner delivered, the owner typically received the customer’s business and loyalty. That model still holds true. Only the dialogue between business owner and patron has become more complex, calling for more sophisticated forms of interaction. Culture building is one way to return to this mode of interaction, where customers and business owners enjoy a symbiotic relationship.
All that is left to do is be the culture! Live the culture with honesty, sincerity, and absolute consistency. It is your promise to the world. Once your culture begins to attract a critical mass of loyal customers it will begin to evolve into its own self-sustaining, self-aggregating natural community.
Transform your brand into a culture.
