The secret ingredient to building a love brand.
Drumroll please… Love!

This may seem like one of those, “well duh!” moments, but somehow it seems to be the missing ingredient in how we build and market our brands today. 

We get so focused on the product benefits, how to differentiate from the competition, how to push sales and promote the brand, that we forget what’s most important. Love. Connection. Belonging.

More than a label

A love brand may seem like an elusive label as love is an emotion that cannot be controlled. There is nothing rational about love. Love is not about the best features, the lowest price or the widest distribution. It is about something much more meaningful. An emotional bond that transcends any of the benefits that your brand has to offer.

Just think about a brand like Harley Davidson. It is not about the motorbike itself. It is about a sense of belonging to a community, a shared lifestyle and set of beliefs.

Now think about the qualities that you share when you love someone.

Trust. Respect. Admiration. Shared values and beliefs. Loyalty. A deep connection which is so strong that you no longer have eyes for anyone else.

On the other hand, if someone lies, cheats or shares none of your values or beliefs, you will very likely move on.

Love and brands

So what does this mean for your brand?

If you want to become a love brand, you must act like someone who is worthy of love.

You must be honest.
You must demonstrate integrity and respect for all of your stakeholders.
You must be anchored in a strong sense of purpose.
You must not dilute who you are for fear of losing appeal to the many.
Instead, you rally a tribe by being bold in the stand that you take.

These are the ingredients you need to start a love story.

But for the relationship to thrive, it also needs to be nurtured. And that’s where marketing comes into play.

How to build love in a world that lies?

The issue is that marketing today is no longer trustworthy. Brands cheat by twisting and exaggerating their claims. They pay influencers to promote their products and cut their prices to undermine the competition. They push the latest ingredients or product updates. More benefits, more features, more consumption.
Instead of taking a strong stand, they wait and belatedly react in the face of world catastrophes.
Too little, too late.

In order build a love brand in today’s world, we must disrupt what marketing has become.
We must reinvent the rules of the game. Shifting from selling to serving and from audiences to communities. Beyond talking about a brand, we should be talking about a creed. A set of beliefs which guide your brand’s actions.

Brands like Patagonia or Apple, in its early Steve Jobs days, have excelled at building a sense of belonging behind shared beliefs. Nurturing their communities to further their purpose and become modern love brands.

Love brands don’t have clients, they have fans! Fans that talk about the brand and further its purpose. This is how you start a movement. This is how you become a love brand that cannot be ignored.