You can always tell “ego brands.” They are the heroes of their own story, it’s all about them and they could care less about the value, satisfaction or delight of their customers or clients.
C’mon: I KNOW you’re thinking of an example right now!
Great brands like Apple, Starbucks (yes, despite my break up with them), Disney, Nike, Tom’s Shoes, Virgin America, Zappos all make the customer the hero. It’s about their needs, their experience, what the brand says about them as a person.
It’s about delighting the heroes of their story: their customers. (Tweet this!)
Good story structure always has a protagonist facing an antagonist to achieve his or her ultimate goal. Without the conflict, there is no good story. Who wants to read about Cinderella being this perfectly happy young girl who went to a ball and married her prince?
Yawn.
But throw in some mean stepsisters, a deadline of midnight and her unhappy life standing between her and her prince and – BAM – you get a riveting classic.
Your customer is the hero, the protagonist. Their pain points and unmet needs are all the conflicts they face. And your brand is the handsome prince. But never forget that the story is called Cinderella – not The Handsome Prince. It was never really about the prince. The story is about her.
How do you make your customers or clients the heroes of their own story? How do you solve their problems, remove the conflict and utterly delight and surprise them?
This post was inspired by a video I recently saw from Scotland’s Celtic football club – my husband’s favorite team from back home. This young boy is one of the team’s biggest fans and they have adopted him as their own, often having him in the team huddle (click here for the video plus full backstory). This moment will leave you in speechless tears of joy. The brand could have just celebrated its own win that day. But the team chose to share it with their biggest fan. This – THIS – is how you make your customers – your fans – the real heroes of the story.
