Engage with Your Customers

ENGAGE! How to Turn Your (Bored) Customers into Brand Fanatics is a course developed by the world-renowned author, consultant, and professor Dr. Michael Solomon, and is endorsed by the Marketing IMPACT Council™. While others have tackled this topic, only Michael has done so in the comprehensive, educational, practical, entertaining, and naturally engaging way that is a trademark of his style. 

This topic needs to be taken seriously by everyone at any level, not just those in marketing and sales.  And it’s applicable to consumer, business, nonprofits, and member-based organizations.
 
Let’s Talk About Engagement

First, the bad news:
 
            Did you know that the average consumer is exposed to between 3500-5000 commercial messages every single day?   It gets worse:  That consumer only pays attention to a very, very small minority of those messages.  The rest (sometimes literally) go in one ear and out the other. 
 
            Did you know that despite marketers’ best efforts to differentiate their offerings from other brands, in many cases consumers endorse the idea of “brand parity” – “they’re all pretty much the same.” 
 

Doesn’t that make you crazy?

 
            And, did you know that consumers don’t buy things because of what they do?  They buy them because of what they mean.  That’s why it’s crucial to tell a captivating brand story that makes people want to be a part of it.  Look at the most successful brands, and you’ll quickly see this: Think of Apple, Nike, Lululemon, the Ford Mustang, the New York Yankees, the Chicago Cubs (or Manchester United), the Beatles, Dyson vacuums, the Catholic Church, the Survivor TV show, L’Oréal cosmetics, Ralph Lauren, Coca-Cola, Chick-fil-A…
 
 These brands leave their competitors in the dust not just because they work well (nowadays we usually assume that for the most products will pretty much work as promised).  No, they’re icons because they inspire DESIRE.  Brands like these have found a way to connect with consumers in more emotional, even visceral ways.  And it’s that passion that keeps them on top (for now, anyway).
 
It’s no secret that engaged consumers are incredibly valuable to companies.  Well-respected research firms including Gallup, Forrester Research and Nielsen have documented the substantial lift in sales when customers are passionate about the brands they buy (note: Dr. Michael Solomon worked with Nielsen to measure this impact!). 
 
Now, the good news:
 
In this course, we’ll share some of the techniques that must-have brands use to move buyers from apathy to DESIRE.  It’s based on the simple (yet elegant) AIDA Model:  Awareness, Interest, Desire, and Action.  This widely-used framework reminds us that engagement doesn’t happen overnight.  Instead, we need to move customers through a series of stages as they progress from simple awareness to (if you’re lucky) a burning DESIRE for the brand.
 
Let Michael help you turn your bored customers into Brand Fanatics!