Do your clients know who you really are?
I’m not asking if they have had a face to face meeting with you or if you’ve shared a meal or a few drinks after work. I’m asking if they understand what really motivates you.
If you are a marketer, whether internally for your company or as a service for others, you spend your time building relationships. You connect people.
You connect the people who care about the same things.
You connect people who have problems and solutions.
You connect people who share common values, or work for a common cause.
You connect people with products they need.
To connect people, they need to trust you. They need to know why you are doing what you do.
Recently I read the story of Jimmy’s Iced Coffee, a UK company that started during the recession of 2008. Not a great time to start a business. Jimmy had a vision for bringing iced coffee to the UK (I can’t imagine how they survived without it for so long!).
But Jimmy is….well, Jimmy. He didn’t want to just sell a product. He wanted to encourage his customers with a shot of joy along with their cold shot of pure caffeine. Every interaction he created with his customers reinforced the message that while times may be difficult, you can experience moments of joy.
“Keep Your Chin Up” became Jimmy’s Iced Coffee’s slogan, and he used it well.
Really well.
Jimmy is a master at branding himself and creating customer experiences that showcase his unique personality and philosophy of life. UK coffee drinkers have found Jimmy pounding on their car windows while sitting at a traffic light (“Have an iced coffee! Here’s one!). They have seen Jimmy sitting drinking coffee in the rain dressed as a coffee cup. They know the ingredients in the iced coffee, because Jimmy created a video giving extraneous ingredients a kick in the backside.
Jimmy connects caffeine-deprived people with coffee.
Jimmy connects slightly off-beat and vintage people with other members of their tribe. They use the hashtag #JimmysPeople
Jimmy connects his customers with splashes of joy.
Jimmy allows himself to be transparent, authentic and utterly unique.
In return, the marketplace allows Jimmy’s Iced Coffee to be a truly successful brand.
