Touch My Heart, And I’ll Touch Your Products

Yup – We, as marketers, are finally opening our eyes to this new marketing movement where we stop relying so much on our brands, and start relying more on our “Bonds” with customers. For those that don’t know, “Bonding” is a marketing strategy in which an emotional relationship is built between a product and its customers.

So it’s time to get intimate with our business’ prospects, and begin creating product / customer relationships that actually touch the emotions of the people that shop with us. As I said in my previous article, “ATTENTION– Marketing Has Been Re-Branded”, brands are great and all, but they aren’t as important as we’ve been making them out to be. I really don’t give a damn if your logo is featured during the Super Bowl, or on the front page of a small town newspaper – I want to experience, emotionally, what your product is all about. Because… “When you touch my heart, I’ll touch your products”.

I know a lot of you are thinking to yourself… “This sounds cool and all, but how can one possibly implement a “Bonding” strategy to a boring product such as a No. 2 pencil? There’s can’t be an emotional connection to a wooden stick with lead in it!”

My answer to that question is this… “I don’t know.”

I don’t know, because I don’t know your industry and what it’s all about. I don’t know what the product means to you, and I don’t know what it means to your customers. Only you can truly understand these important characteristics behind the soul of your business.

But what I can tell you is this…

Once you trust me, and truly understand and believe that your product, or ANY product, CAN benefit from the art of “Bonding”, you need to start over from square one with your business. Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean you should pack up shop, close the doors and start COMPLETELY over – I simply mean that you need to MENTALLY restart the business development process and imagine how you would create your product if you had a bonding strategy in mind. What is it that you could do to your business that would allow it to have an emotional connection with it’s customers? You really need to get creative here, and pretend that you’re an artist who’s trying to tug at the heart of an individual. And don’t be surprised if the process is a little difficult at first – Some of us have a little bit of trouble connecting with the Da Vinci portion of our being. Just rest assured that it is possible.

I wish I could say that there is a switch that you could flip in your head that would jumpstart a brainstorm on bonding – Unfortunately, there really isn’t a straight-forward approach to developing such a mindset. This is something that requires practice. You have to consciously think about your product, on a intense level, to find its emotional triggers. After you have tip-toed into this mindset, try to go deeper and LIVE this mindset. The more you work at this, and live the bonding philosophy, the quicker ideas will come to you. The bonding strategy that is going to catapult your product through the hearts of your customers will appear in your mind out of nowhere… when you least expect it. The subconscious mind is a powerful and wonderful force!

Not all artists were born with the gift of creativity – Many of them had to train themselves to become the spiritual influences that they are. Your product might not have initially been created as an emotional influence, but I guarantee it can become one with the help of your bonding persistence. Meditate on your product’s being, and really zone in on what makes it special to the people who use it… including yourself. Once you have your bonding strategy figured out, implement it immediately and watch how your customers begin to literally LOVE everything your business does.

“Touch the hearts of your customers, and they’ll touch your products.”

Tell me something bizMAVERICKS… How many of you already work with a product that effectively uses “Bonding” in its marketing game plan? What emotional triggers are your products tapping into? Has your bonding strategy proven to be successful?

Wishing you continued success…

bizMAVERICK…
Brad Williamson

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