Brand intimacy is achieved when customers feel a deep, emotional connection with a brand. This is becoming an increasingly common goal for many businesses, as it’s been proven that emotions and instinct are most often the driving forces behind consumer behaviour and purchasing decisions, rather than rational thought.
Brand intimacy helps build loyalty between customers and the company; why would customers shop with competitors when they have an emotional connection with your brand already? As well as customer retention, the closer the relationship that you have with your customers, the more likely they are to pay premium prices.
Do you want to increase your brand’s intimacy? Here are some tips on how to do so!
Increase authenticity
Trust is crucial in an emotional relationship, and a great way to improve trust as a brand is to increase your authenticity. There are a variety of ways to go about this, but not all methods are suitable for every business type, so pick and choose which tactics work best for you.
Hosting real customer reviews on your site is a great way to increase authenticity; if potential customers can see genuine reviews they’re likely to have more faith in your product or service.
Engaging with customers is also important; an effective way to achieve this is by replying to all reviews and queries. For positive reviews, a brand thanking the reviewer for taking the time to leave it can go a long way in terms of authenticity. It goes without saying that all negative reviews are beneficial to respond to also, as potential customers want to see brands take responsibility for negative experiences and offer a positive outcome in return. Social media is another way to engage with customers in this way.
A final method of increasing authenticity is to be clear about what your brand promises to provide, and then consistently provide it. This shows consumers that you’re reliable, building on feelings of trust and authenticity.
Humanise your brand
Humanising your brand is vital for increasing intimacy, as it’s much easier to make a connection with a person, rather than a concept.
Many companies choose to add a ‘Meet the Team’ section on their website, with headshots, names, job titles and a short description for each member. For larger businesses, it would be nearly impossible to list all employees on the site, but having the CEO, founder or director, as well as those in customer-facing roles can assist in the humanisation of your brand. When writing people’s descriptions, try not to place the entire focus on qualifications and professional achievements, and feature some details on their lives and interests. This way, customers feel as though they know the staff personally; knowing the faces behind the brand solidifies the feeling of an emotional connection.
Become part of the routine
Making your brand, products or services a part of consumers’ everyday lives can help build intimacy. People become familiar with things they do or see every day, so including your brand in their daily routine helps you build a familiar connection with the consumer.
You can implement your brand into consumers’ routines by making yourself prominent in their space. This is easily done for businesses producing products that consumers use daily, but for brands not fitting into this group, creating a blog that is posted in regularly can assist with pushing your brand into the forefront of consumers’ minds. Producing regular content that provides value to the consumer will ensure they keep coming back for each post, reading and engaging with your messages. This can also be achieved through social engagement.
Storytelling
Emotional storytelling helps draw customers in and build a bond. There are many different ways a brand may choose to share stories, the method you choose will entirely depend on the nature of your business.
You may choose to share the founder’s story, depicting how the brand began. Knowing a business’ origin story helps customers understand where the dream first started, feeling more connected with the brand and founder as a result. You could also share customers’ stories or case studies of complete projects (if these fit with your brand). However you choose to tell stories, make sure that they illustrate the lifestyle associated with your company.
Emotional triggers
As brand intimacy is all about emotion, a great way to increase it is to focus on emotional triggers. Due to emotions driving purchasing decisions, using emotional triggers can help guide consumers to take the action that you want them to. Since the consumer is responding to their emotions, they automatically feel more connected with the company, especially when the emotion provides fulfilment. Use your understanding of your customers’ wants, needs and preferences when selecting appropriate emotions to target.
Brands can trigger fear in a consumer by giving them the feeling of missing out, such as with limited-time deals, offers and opportunities, but be careful playing with negative emotions if you are trying to build a positive feel for your brand.
A company can provide the feeling of belonging by creating something that consumers want to be a part of. You could create a social group or community and invite your customers to join. You could also keep track of customers’ birthdays and send them a discount code or offer on this date. This helps the customer feel as though they’re part of the brand.
Businesses can provide instant gratification to their customers by providing free gifts or discounts when making a purchase. This will help customers feel fulfilled with their purchase, and in turn, more connected with the brand.
There you have it; five ways to increase your brand’s intimacy. Is this on your marketing plan for 2023?
