The Orbea Chronicles: Part 3 – The Conclusion

The last week or so, I’ve been discussing my girlfriend Toni’s quest for the perfect bike. I’ve identified why she bought the way she did and what could have happened to make Toni a “cult-like” follower for the brand. I won’t go into detail, you can go back and read for yourself. But, I’ve had a lot of response from this series and have been asked to elaborate a little on some key points.

Toni has actually commented on the part two post with some great insight into her thought process and what she would have liked to see post sale. I found something very interesting in what she said. “Especially as an athlete new to cycling, it would have been very exciting to have received an email from them. It would be great to have some sort of communication to interact with them and be able to ask questions.” This quick statement has completely proved my theory on the transition of power in the marketplace. There is a HUGE transition from marketers “pushing” messages to consumers “pulling” information that is pertinent to them as an individual. Consumers now want to be engaged in a conversation and have a voice in a relationship. Toni’s want to have a conversation with Orbea, is a natural occurrence and a change that we, as marketers need to adapt to.

So, How Do We Adapt to These New Communication Styles?

In Part 2, I outlined a few strategies Orbea could’ve taken to move Toni from excited customer to a passionate brand advocate. As I pointed out, the end goal for the brand is to integrate itself so deeply into the lifestyle of the customer that the brand begins to define the customer as a person. With that being said, I have broken down a strategy that Orbea could’ve taken to create this level of advocacy.

5 Strategies To Personality Defining Brands

Social Branding Strategy - Great results come from great strategy. Knowing what to say, how to say it, and who to say it to, puts your brand in a very powerful situation. Whether continuing a relationship from post sell to advocacy or reigniting a lost relationship in the social sphere, you need to know who you’re talking to, how to engage, and how to build the brand position.

Cult Creation - As illustrated by @Big Boy “The first rule of Orbea Club is - you do not talk about Orbea Club.” This is exactly the mentality you want your loyal followers to have, especially in the cycling community. To have a sense of belonging to a specific culture or community, really enhances certain emotional aspects tied to the purchase. Creating and engaging in these communities online will continue the culture creation as well as fuel the already burning loyal fire.

Viral Campaigns - Brands don’t go viral by themselves. It needs power, a voice, and a following. By simply creating a platform and empowering your loyal following, you can create a viral awareness that no advertising could mimic. These strategies could include having a YouTube channel and having seasonal Orbea Rider contests. Showing how Orbea fits into their life. How does cycling effect the rider and their world.

Interactive -Interaction is a determining factor for customer experience. The more experience the customer endures the more they will be involved. By interacting with loyal followers, you will enhance that loyalty as well as keep your brand on the top of mind for repurchase, cross sell, and up sell abilities. Some strategies for customer interaction could be Orbea branded iPhone or Facebook applications that could track mileage and capture goals. This would give Orbea a chance to engage again with that individual as they’re striving for their goals. Other strategies…Twitter Contests, Blogger Outreach, Orbea Trail tracking on Google maps, How to ride Wiki’s, etc.

Network Site Development - The days of one website is over. Networked sites are the future. Messages and components are communicated for highly targeted, highly defined niche segments. As Toni mentioned in her comment “The information on their website is limited, and I would like to learn more about them.” I know, from looking at the Orbea site is that it has tons of information. But what if, Orbea had a Networked Website? A specific page for the Dama TDA outlining every aspect of the bike; How it fits into the Orbea Culture; RSS Feeds from the ‘real time’ blogosphere and social sphere; Give both Orbea Pros and Weekend Warriors voices on the same platform (Orbea Rider blogs - how Orbea helps them compete) & (Weekend Warrior blogs) …

Conclusion

In conclusion…Riders want a voice and to be engaged. Give them voice and you will get advocacy. Enough said. Here’s some more “voice from real riders.” Are you listening?

“I bought it [Specialized Tarmac] because I too am a bike snob and it had the component group Ultegra with Dura Ace rear - you know what I am talking about. It was the frame, components and the paint job. What a great ride and I can’t wait for Spring to get back out there. Emotion runs high…”

- @Dave

“This was the bike [Orbea Onix Dama TDA] that would make me pumped for every single upcoming ride.”

- @Toni

“I know exactly what you mean by brand loyalty, Paul. However, I might put a little different spin on what you have discussed as wearing your brand as a badge. I almost feel like I have a closet loyalty to Giant. I love my Giant road bike, but when I was shopping around for the frame to build it up I felt guilty buying it…But when comparing apples to apples, a light, stiff, and aero frame is exactly that, no matter what the brand. So we can buy based on emotions, and do so without guilt.”

- @Dr JET

Open for Conversation

As always, I am always open to conversation. Feel free to reply publicly with a comment or contact me using any contact information on my “Contact” page. Happy Riding.

How to Build a Brand - Overview

To build a brand in today’s environment is nothing we’ve ever experience. Gone are the days of “pushing” messages to the masses and hoping for success. Consumers want to be engaged and communicated with on an individual level. The goal now is to create a brand that becomes malleable for the individual consumer as it pertains to their personal needs and lifestyle through open, two-way conversation. Here’s a quick overview of the process from the last week’s posts. Enjoy!

Part 1: Segmentation – Build niche segments of highly targeted, highly defined individuals and find where they are in the communications world.

Part 2: Messaging – Create a “segment story” for each niche segment with the core brand message permeating throughout each story.

Part 3: Brand Awareness – Utilize a strategic mixture of traditional and content (social) marketing to build awareness in your niche segments. Get the individual segment members to raise their hand and engage with the brand.

Part 4: Engagement – Treat your customer and prospect relationships like your personal relationships. Continually converse, listen, learn and grow. Create experiences together to further your position in the consumer’s lifestyle.

Part 5: Adapt – With technology moving so quickly, you need to be able to adapt to utilize new and emerging communication strategies.

What do you think?

Part 4 – How to Build a Brand: Engagement

Welcome back…The past few days we’ve been going step by step to build a brand in today’s business environment. Part 1 discussed segmenting the population to highly targeted, highly defined individuals. In Part 2 we described how to create “segment stories” with the core brand message being communicated effectively to each niche segment. Yesterday, in Part 3 we began building awareness using a strategic combination of traditional and non-traditional tactics. So, basically we left off with our segment individuals raising their hand to engage with our new brand. Now what? Conversation.

This is the really scary part for most marketers today. In the past we have been “pushing” messages until the consumer purchased. Easy. Now, the goal of marketing is to create and maintain customers by building a brand that is malleable and will fit into the lifestyle of the consumer based on their personal wants and needs of our products/services. The only way to create this type of brand is to have an open, two way conversation with each consumer who raises their hand. Conversing with a consumer is a scary beast. What if we mess up? What if we say the wrong thing?

Marketing a Brand is like Building a Personal Relationship

We all have personal relationships. That’s the reason we are engaged so much in the social media realm; to maintain old and create new personal relationships. So why would we be afraid to do this for our brand? The basis of any relationship is communication. Think about how you met your best friend, your spouse, your business partner…It didn’t just happen. It was a series of communications that lead to self disclosure, identifying commonalities, and living experiences together. That’s how marketing should be handled today. Like a new relationship of a best friend, spouse, or business partner.

It’s not brain surgery on how to figure this out. Listen and give. Listen and give. Grow on what has happened in the past. Laugh, joke, cry, experience things together… That’s how you create a malleable brand that will become part of an individual consumer’s lifestyle. Think about your life without your best friend, spouse or business partner…scary, huh? Imagine having our customers feeling that way about our brand… What a great feeling that would be!

Use Technology

With the technologies that we are currently using as marketing silos (database or CRM marketing, social media, email, texting, personalized direct mail, personalized urls, etc), we are fully capable of creating a system that would be able to build these types of relationships. Once the consumer raises his/her hand to begin a conversation, we append it in a database. Then each and every conversation or communication point with that individual needs to be appended to the same database. With this information, we can listen to their wants and needs from our brand and give it to them. We can customize marketing communications, converse in the public social sphere; suggest customized product offerings, etc… Basically we would be able to create a brand that would fit perfectly into their individual, personal lifestyle. We grow with the consumer.

Conclusion

Don’t stop the conversation when the consumer actually raises their hand to learn more about your brand. Dive in and converse back. Learn about them and disclose information about you and your brand. Participate in consumer relationship building like our own personal relationship building. Engage. Relationships like this take time, consistency, dedication, and action. Don’t be afraid of your customers… Engage with them.

Your thoughts

What are your thoughts? Is it possible to create a relationship system utilizing technology? Leave a comment and let me know. Check back tomorrow for the conclusion of the series…Part 5.