Just once.
But like so many others, this has never been the case.
I walk by a Starbucks in mid-town Manhattan or drive by a
Dunkin Donuts in the suburbs at 8:15 am on a work day and I see lines.
Why?
Maybe it’s just that people need their caffeine fix, but
nonetheless they are standing in line – or in the case of the drive-up at
Dunkin’ Donuts, sitting in their cars in line. But let’s get back to “why”.
What makes people want to stand in line for a product?
Well, emotion has something to do with it…and maybe in
the case of coffee, taste as well. Why else would someone stand in line at the
Starbucks and pay nearly 5 dollars for a product they could get somewhere else for
much less – or even for free at their place of work.
I guess there is something to this thing they call
emotion.
So let’s move past coffee. Maybe you were one of those
people who waited in line last fall for the latest iPhone to be sold. Or perhaps
you’re the person who, when handed a Fed Ex envelope, opens it immediately even
though there may be many other mail items in front of it. Would you have done
this 30 years ago before Fed Ex begin began spending millions in advertising
dollars to promote what their brand experience was going to be? But today,
after all those millions have been spent, we all KNOW that a Fed Ex package
means open me first.
Maybe it’s easy for the large consumer brands to drive
our emotions because, after all, they ARE spending millions of dollars to drive
awareness – and play with our emotions. And when we think of famous brands,
they are usually the ones that come to mind.
But how does a local business do this. And aren’t they
brands as well.
How can small to mid-size businesses get people to stand
in line for what they sell without spending millions? Maybe for starters they
need to play more on the emotional side than the functional side – like
Starbucks, Apple, Fed Ex or Dunkin’ Donuts.
For example let’s say you’re a local insurance agency that sells the usual range of products to individuals, groups and businesses. You know, everything from life, disability and long-term care insurance to liability or malpractice insurance. Your website probably outlines all the products and services you sell, there’s likely a tab about the agency owner telling how he/she has been doing this for the last 20+ years and of course there’s an area for people to contact the agency.
What could be more functional? That’s good…right?
Well maybe not entirely
Buying insurance, especially for individuals, is
emotional. It’s about protecting your spouse, children or business in the event
of an accident, or worse…death.
One of the driving reasons to buy insurance is fear…fear
of something going wrong. Insurance provides peace of mind. What can be more emotional than not having peace of mind?
So if it’s an emotional purchase, why does just about
every small to mid-sized insurance agency take a highly functional approach to
their marketing and brand messaging?
Haven’t the people who own these agencies ever seen a Fed
Ex commercial? Or walked by a Starbucks or Dunkin’ Donuts at 8:15 am on a
Wednesday morning. And I would think some of them own iPads.
And I’m not picking on Insurance agencies here. Just
about every other small to mid-sized business does the same thing. They are all
brands – but they don’t seem to want to act like their more famous consumer
cousins.
Where’s the emotion?
These small to mid-sized businesses are brands too. Maybe
the problem is they don’t know they are. And that’s just Brand NonSense.
