First: Connect! Second: Communicate!

Rick Warren once said

“If you want to connect with people you’ve got to start with their needs, not your own. That’s how you make the initial connection. There’s an old chinese proverb that says : “Seek to understand before seeking to be understood””

This makes me think about the brands that communicate!

There are big brands, the giants everyone reads about in Wall Street and charts and then there are small brands, the ones you bump into on a daily basis because you need to use their products in a way or another. The big ones have budgets, statistics, resources and a desire to be a trendsetter on the market and boast about making the first steps. And the small ones just want to connect with the client in order to sell a service or a product.

The problem with small brands is that they simply don’t recognize the opportunities to connect with the client.

Let’s take as an example this years heat!
In Cluj Napoca (Romania) everybody was running from the heat. Everybody was hiding near buildings and especially in malls and stores with air conditioning. Great heat, mon cher, great heat! People wouldn’t come outside. Everybody was hiding and looking to stay inside. My walk through the center of Cluj helped me realize the real reason small brands didn’t communicate with the clients – it wasn’t because they did not want this, but they simply did not recognize the opportunities of “connecting people”. As an example, during this heat wave it would have been pretty easy just to bring out a water tank with personalized cups with your company or store. And besides that water machine have two chairs and an umbrella. Personalized with your brand, of course. Because you’re not doing this just out of the goodness of your heart, right? People willing to drink your cool water would be guaranteed during that heat wave. The certainty that they’ll be back tomorrow is unshakable.

Come on, you’re practically satisfying a need and a desire! Well…this is marketing!

The second example is about those rainy moments when everybody is running through the city trying to hide from the cold autumn rain. How much would it cost you to buy 10 or 20 umbrellas, in your brand’s color, personalize them and then hire a few boys and girls to walk through the city and “shelter” those running from the rain? Well…certainly not as much as a 3 times layout in a local magazine.

In conclusion:
If you want to connect with people you’ve got to start with their needs, not your own.