Marketing Through the Lens - Podcast Episode 103

Through the Lens - Ep. 103 - Your BRANDdentity - Build a Loyal Community around your Brand

Hello ALL! I am Nate Sampson and I welcome you to this week’s episode of “Marketing Through the Lens” empowering you, the online community, to craft better video content online. And if you’re currently creating video content, let’s see it! Yeah! Drop a link in the comments and I want to mention my favorite video and creator on next week’s podcast.

Today’s podcast topic is ‘Your BRANDdentity - Defining & Building a Loyal Community around your Brand.

So I’m sure you’re asking yourself, what is this guy talking about, "building a community around your brand." Well, what I mean is that you're building a culture around your business by assembling a group of avid supporters who are just as passionate about what your brand does for them as you are. But you have to have inspiring and informative content that is strategic and consistent with your branding to get your community engaged and interacting. P.S. this does not mean that you’re corralling all of your prospects together to bombard them with your sales pitch or automated email campaigns. Keep it social, not sales-ey as I discussed in my last podcast episode.

So, why is building a community around your brand so important, particularly for small business owners? Well, for one, it can help you establish brand loyalty. When people feel like they're a part of a community, YOUR community, they're more likely to support your brand and become an advocate for your business. Word-of-mouth marketing is incredibly powerful, and perhaps one of the greatest ways to find others who align with your BRANDdentity is within this community of like-minded people.

So now you’re probably saying, “Yeah, I get the community thing now but what is this BRANDdentity?” And no, I’m not just making up words… but yeah, I just made up that word. (Clever, huh?) But for good reason. Your BRANDdentity is how you define the culture of your brand through your messaging and unique collection of values, and visuals, including video content that inspire purpose and passion to your community of supporters. Let’s use perhaps one of the most famous brands, NIKE, for example who have built a HUGE community around their BRANDdentity. And if you haven’t figured it out, Nike’s BRANDdentity isn’t just their tagline, “Just Do It” but also how they visually present this concept within their marketing. This includes those awesome videos of athletes in slow-mo “just doing it” by training hard, drenched in sweat, veins bulging, pushing for that final rep. (gets small free weight) And yeah, I’ve been there… But most importantly, showcasing these athletes being the best versions of themselves as it relates to sports and fitness. This goes to showcase the fact that you may be buying shoes, hats, or other apparel from NIKE, but that isn’t what they’re selling. NIKE is selling a mindset and a lifestyle of the athlete that gives their audience something that they can relate to. When developing your BRANDdentity, be like NIKE and sell the dreams and aspirations of your audience, not what you’ve got “hanging on the clothing rack for 30% off (valid for today only, BTW).” Yeah… Yikes… Talk about Cringe. If NIKE had led their marketing campaign talking about deep discounts or what type of fabric or zippers they use on their clothing, they probably wouldn’t be anywhere close to the brand they are today. So when you get the urge to regurgitate your sales pitch with your online video content, be like NIKE and Just DON’T do it.

So now that we've established what a BRANDdentity is and why building a community around your brand is soo important, let's talk about some practical ways that you can do just that with your online audience through the use of video content.

As mentioned previously, you should have the answers to these questions before moving on: What do you and your business stand for? What are your values that people can relate to & be in support of? And What makes you and your business unique? Once you have asked and answered these questions for yourself, you can start to attract people and build a community of those who share those same values and interests. You’re creating and inspiring a culture around your brand.

So, in practice, one great way to attract people to your brand is through the use of a strategic video campaign within groups and forums on social media. Platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn actually allow you to create a group where like-minded users can ask questions, engage, and build community with each other. These groups should focus around topics & ideas relevant to your business’s values & unique perspectives within your industry. This can be an incredibly powerful tool for building a community that will rally in support of your brand, when done properly. And now you’re putting great use to (what’s that word again?) yeah, your BRANDdentity. As with any video marketing campaign, the key is to be consistent, ask sincere questions, and authentically engage with your group members. Social media is not a one-way street where you post, post, post and expect everyone to react to you. People expect you to engage and be conversational, just as you would in the real world. Respond to comments, share some of the great information your user’s have posted, and ask for feedback to keep your community growing and your users impassioned to be a part of it.

So, having put all of this into practice, you are now well on your way to building your BRANDdentity to entice a community of engaged participants to rally around your brand. Again, and you will hear me say this often, the key is to be authentic and consistent with you and your brand in how you talk about your brand, and to always engage with your community on a regular basis.

Before I close out this session of “Marketing Through the Lens,” I did want to mention a few other businesses that have successfully built communities around their brands.

One great example is Glossier, a beauty brand that's known for its minimalist packaging and emphasis on natural beauty. Glossier has built a loyal community of fans through its social media presence and focus on customer feedback. The brand routinely encourages its followers to share photos and reviews of its products, and even features some of these posts on its website, offering their users a way to really be a part of the brand and culture built around their products.

Another example is Patagonia, an outdoor clothing and gear company that's known for its commitment to sustainability. Patagonia has built a community of environmentally conscious customers by sharing information about its environmental initiatives and partnering with like-minded organizations. The company also encourages its customers to repair and reuse their clothing instead of buying new items, further reinforcing its commitment to sustainability. Again, building and inspiring a loyal customer base who’s ideals and values align with that of the company’s.

And one last example: Lulu-lemon, a fitness apparel company that's built a community of customers who are passionate about yoga and other fitness activities. Lululemon hosts events like free yoga classes and workshops to bring its customers together which really is a prime example of building a community around a brand. The company also encourages its customers to share their fitness goals and achievements on social media using its branded hashtags, further reinforcing the idea of a community of like-minded individuals.

So, as you can see, understanding your BRANDdentity and building that community around your brand can be incredibly powerful for small businesses. Not only does it offer an avenue for prospective clients or customers to engage and ask relevant questions to you and among themselves, it helps you to establish credibility with your audience and build a brand loyalty around your business.

That's all for today's episode on “Your BRANDdentity & Building a Loyal Community around your Brand.”

Please reach out to me with your questions, comments, complaints, or grievances and I can always schedule a time to make myself available to chat. You can reach me on all of the social media channels linked on my website, SocialProVideo.com

Thanks for tuning in, and I, Nate Sampson, will be back next week with another incredibly valuable episode of Marketing Through the Lens. Now you get in front of the Lens and link your videos in the comments. I want to see how you are presenting your BANDdentity to the world and will be giving a shoutout of my favorite video and creator on next week’s podcast episode. See you… on the other side of the lens.