Brand Conversion

Building a brand as an individual or corporation is no easy task.  A brand is the market's perception of your persona.  A brand is defined by the feeling, culture, and people or person representing it.  While this might be a simple definition in text, it is much deeper of a discussion.  I hope to shed some light from both the academic and practitioner stand point. So let's dive in...

Creating a Movement to Get Others Involved

It doesn't take much to get others involved other than leadership. The best way to depict what I mean with this statement can be found in this TED talk by Derek Sivers. Check it out!

The goal of any brand or marketing initiatives is to drive positive value towards the perception of whomever is experiencing what you stand for.  In business, according to Kallayil (2015), consumers follow a clear journey that flows from recognizing the organization exists to the consumer defending the name of that organization.  The question then becomes what are specific things I need to do to build what I like to call brand conversion.  

If a brand is defined by experience to develop a feeling, we can then look at actions and organization is taking to enhance the consumer experience.  A brand is built from the inside-out and consists of focus on the ideal of service for service exchanges suggested in the service-dominant logic marketing theory.  Lusch and Vargo (2004) present research around this marketing theory that significantly impacts and supports consumer perception towards a brand.  In essence the consumer journey and marketing activities are co-created to drive value optimization.  However, this deep client/company relationship sparks the brand conversion process.

First, clients gain an understanding that the company is known for something.  As a result of the service for service exchange (some call this product focus groups), the consumer soon realizes that the goals of the organization are in lines with something the consumer cares about.  Next, the consumer claims that the organization's services or product represent their own personas and the seeds of brand conversion start to grow.  It's at this point clients and partners in the evolution become forgivers and defenders according to Kallayil (2004).  I submit that this is also the point the organization gains what some call "raving fans", "brand advocates", or "brand evangelists".  While many of these terms are interesting, I feel the best term that fits a true brand loyalist is that of brand evangelist.  Are you an evangelist of your organization's brand?  What is evangelism marketing and what are some ways such a marketing approach can bring value to an organization?  Take this 3 minute poll to help me along my research.

References:

Kallayil, G. (2015, March 5). Online Branding: Win Customers in the Moment [Video file]. Retrieved from YouTube website: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Of4az-LwS34

Lusch, R. F., & Vargo, S. L. (2004). Moving forward with a service-dominant logic of marketing: dialog, debate, and directions. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharp, Inc.