Roadmap to resilience

When it comes to brand resilience, human connection emerges as the linchpin of enduring success. The journey towards becoming a brand that is robust in these difficult times is guided by two fundamental principles: empathy and transparency. Embracing these two pillars of human-centric thinking will create the strong foundations needed to weather the storms like the ongoing worldwide economic difficulties.

There are four key strategic actions brands can take now, providing a roadmap towards the cultivation of meaningful and enduring relationships.

1. Know yourself

   Knowing who you are as a brand is the strongest rudder you have to know how to react to a changing world. It requires introspection. As a brand, spend time understanding what makes you unique, the role you want to have in the world, and the people you want to build relationships with.

   That self-knowledge is a filter against blindly chasing trends, and instead considering what your take on them can be, and what you bring to the picture that adds value to your audience. It means that what you project is aligned with who you are and want to be.

   Authenticity is a requirement. That authenticity and sincerity are what guides your actions. Those on the other side know where you stand, and feel acknowledged and respected, opening the path to a real relationship.

2. Know your customer

   In knowing yourself as a brand, you can gain a real understanding of who the right people are for you. People who will connect with you and aid long-term, sustained growth. Rather than a fixed profile, that comes through a shared mindset. That is what is most important when it comes to crafting the brand experience and the relationships with your people.

   Staying close to customers helps brands to evolve. The two-way dynamic of modern human-brand relationships also means brands learning from people. A brand is not something static, and stagnation quickly turns into regression. Evolving with the help of close customer bonds allows for shaping the brand into the best version of itself.

   For that, you have to really, deeply know them. Big data can only provide half the picture. It can help to scale activity, but it cannot help understanding of what makes an audience tick, what their needs are beyond the surface, and why they do things in the ways they do. That is the kind of insight that shapes unique experiences and is the platform for innovation – the ultimate competitive advantage. Get in a room with them, ask them questions a number of times, observe them in their actions, and get to the heart of who they are and what they need.

3. Prioritise memorable moments of value

   There needs to be a focus on adding real value to the lives of your people. Understanding their needs and meeting them. That is at the core of a mutually beneficial brand-human relationship. Your purpose is to help them. To be an asset in their lives, and vice versa.

   Crafting experience around the depth of understanding of the people in your base makes for something memorable for them. That basis of empathy, with constant thought towards the other person and what would create the best brand interactions for their wants and needs is what elevates the relationship.

   That empathy not only allows you to meet needs, but to create new moments. To innovate. It means building the experience across every channel through the lens of the person on the other side, incorporating tech and other tools with real consideration of how it improves the brand experience.

4. Evolve with your customers

   The conversation now is two-way and constant. We must be sure to understand people’s shifting needs, how they want to engage with you, and changing cultural landscapes. This is particularly important as the world becomes more connected, and diversity within customer bases is growing so much.

   Direct questions provoke clear, direct answers. Those are an invaluable currency for understanding customers, observing how their needs change over time, and how the make-up of customer bases changes with that time. But if you choose not to ask the important questions, those vital answers will pass you by.

   In knowing your customer better, you know their world better. You see the full depth of what that person is and could be, and how your brand can be with them on that path.

There has never been a more urgent need to invest in human-centric thinking. It’s time to forge connections that build mutually beneficial, timeless relationships, and add genuine value to people’s lives. That, more than anything else, is at the heart of resilient brands.