Couldn’t make it to this year’s National Retail Federation’s Big Show in New York City? No problem.

The keynote opened with SAP’s SVP of Retail Business Unit Lori Mitchell-Keller’s discussion of the millennials and how the new socially-conscious consumer has been wired since birth and is comfortably connected through social media.

In their keynote address, marketing strategist BJ Bueno explains the vital role core values plays in today’s business. He highlights three humanistic core values that are trending high among successful enterprises like Google, Coca-Cola, and many others: compassion, joy, and optimism.

Life is good CEO Bert Jacobs shares the inspiring story of how his $100 million lifestyle brand came into being and the ten core values that drive their business.

Watch BJ Bueno and Bert Jacob’s keynote address on NRF’s website >>

Recorded at Retail’s BIG Show on January 14, 2014.

In walking the massive floors of the National Retail Federation’s Big Show in Jacob Javits Center last week, we noticed the same themes and language echoed throughout the great halls of exhibitors serving the retail industry: analytics, big data, and other research tools—services and technologies for improving your customer intelligence in an effort to better compete and serve your customers.

With retail’s major shift toward statistical analysis and improvement of data-gathering technologies is important, its easy to arrive at the belief that all business decisions need not be made, but rather analyzed.

This important shift toward objective data and statistical analysis isn’t just happening in the retail industry but virtually every field of knowledge and inquiry. And this, ultimately, is a good thing. The more reliable objective data we have, the more accurate knowledge we have. The more accurate data CEOs have about their customers, their competition, and the overall marketplace, the better informed decisions they can make.

Armed with big data, chief executives have a powerful form of intelligence to access and mine in their pursuit of market dominance, brand loyalty, improved ROI, and greater profitability. What better way to become obsessed and knowledgeable about your customers than to have access to reports that highlight customer interests, activities, perceptions, behaviors, and beliefs associated with your brand.

The Dark Side of Consumer Research

All good things, however, can be taken to extremes. Objective data and statistics is one form of information. It is the kind of information technology can provide as well as the kind our logical, rational minds love. But we (and our customers) are not purely rational beings.

Humans often behave irrationally and any customer intelligence that doesn’t address our irrational side is incomplete and can lead us astray. And with raw analytics alone it is difficult to penetrate our customer’s psyche, to mine the unconscious motivations and less rational aspects of our customers.

This means that we can’t exclusively rely on technology to inform us about customers and markets. We need to tap into our innate human faculties as well.

The Missing Ingredient in Consumer Intelligence

Intuition and feelings are doorways to our customer’s irrational perspectives. When we learn to access these functions in ourselves, big data and market research can become an empowering servant instead of a dominating master.

Big data needs human assistance. We must learn to access our left brain (logic and reason) AND our right brain (intuition and non-rational) in our interpretation of consumer data.

Then, magic can happen. Statistics begin to dance and our customers come to life; our understanding of them (and perhaps even ourselves) finds new ground.

The Future of Market Research

Our experience shows us that CEOs who adopt a more humanistic understanding of their customers will become better leaders of their organizations and will be better equipped to interpret the massive amount of data companies will continue to generate about their customers.

These well-informed chief executives will lead their business to market dominance by better addressing the needs of their customers and their employees. They will be able to make superior decisions and spot consumer trends before their competitors.

We’ll discuss ways humanistic psychology suggests we can open up to these non-rational functions in an upcoming post.

Marketing thought leader BJ Bueno and CEO Dave Ratner reveal the advertising and marketing secrets for independent retailers at this year’s NRF Big Show Convention & Expo.

New York City, NY (PRWEB) January 09, 2014

Where do independent retailers go to get inspiration and knowledge for growing their retail businesses? Thousands of independent retailers will be attending the 2014 National Retail Federation Conference and Expo at Jacob Javits Center in New York City from January 12th to the 15th.

Marketing speaker, author, and founder of The Cult Branding Company, BJ Bueno, will share the stage with President and CEO of Dave’s Soda & Pet City, Dave Ratner, to illuminate the strategies and methods independent retailers can use to improve sales, customer loyalty, and profitability in their dynamic breakout session, “How to Advertise and Market Your Retail Business.”

As a loyalty expert and marketing consultant to major retail brands like Kohl’s Department Stores and Scheels, Bueno will share how focusing on your customer’s wants and needs is the secret behind explosive market growth. “Independent retailers can compete with large big box retailers if they invest in better understanding their target customers and finding creative ways to better meet their needs,” Bueno says.

A seasoned entrepreneur with almost four decades of retail experience, Ratner will share how independent retailers can use simple and cost effective methods to achieve consistent sales growth.

In this practical session, Bueno and Ratner will share the ten most effective ways to spend advertising dollars and how to create an amazing in-store retail experience that keep customers coming back.

In their keynote address, BJ Bueno and Bert Jacobs share insights on how CEOs can use core values to grow their retail businesses.

New York City, NY (PRWEB) January 08, 2014

Where do the nation’s top CEOs of major retail businesses go to share their experiences and gain new marketing insights? The National Retail Federation (NRF) is hosting their annual convention, “Retail’s Big Show,” at Jacob Javits Center in New York City from January 12th to 15th.

Marketing thought leader, author, and founder of The Cult Branding Company, BJ Bueno, hosts an exciting keynote address, joined to the stage by CEO and cofounder of the successful lifestyle brand Life is good, Bert Jacobs.

Today’s retailers must work hard to understand the subconscious motivations and needs of their customers. In their engaging talk, “Optimism, Compassion, and Joy: How Selling the Right Mindset Can Grow Your Brand,” Bueno and Jacobs will illuminate how knowledge of a brand’s company culture and core values can provide an effective approach to attracting more customers.

“Companies that consciously identify their organization’s core values,” explains loyalty expert BJ Bueno, “have an easier time projecting those values into their marketing strategies as well as the overall retail experience. This strategic focus helps clarify branding initiatives and to attract more loyal customers who are in alignment with what the organization stands for.”

Attendees will learn how to bring a thriving positive energy to their brand experience from one of today’s most optimistic brands, Life is good. Bert Jacobs will share his experiences and insights on building a multinational retail brand from the ground up with a simple affirming message.

What is a Brand?

Brands are funny things. You can’t just go to the store and pick up a pound of brand. There’s no brand app to download. You can’t go to the Brand Store and buy brands to make your organization more appealing to your customers.

Brands have to be created, and you might be surprised to find out that you’re not the one doing the creating, at least, not the only one.

A brand is a relationship, formed and shaped by all the emotions and ideas that the customer associates with a product or service that create a distinct customer experience. The stronger and more unique the customer experience is, the more robust the brand becomes.

A brand is a co-authored experience—a mutual relationship that lives between the customer and the brand.

The company sets the intention of the brand, and customers interpret their own meanings based on their experiences.

The ultimate definition of your brand is determined and owned by your customers when they evaluate their experiences with you.

How Customers Perceive Your Brand

Your customers’ perceptions of your brand are far more multi-dimensional than you ever imagined.

Everything is in there, including all things real or perceived, rational or emotional, physical or sensory, thought or felt, whether in form or function, planned or unplanned.

You could say a brand is all the good advertising you run, all the bad advertising you regret, your best and worst customer service stories—virtually everything that your enterprise does and the public’s perception of those actions.

This includes the good, the bad, and the ugly. Collectively, this conglomerate determines the customer experience and, therefore, the marketplace’s perception of your brand.

You do not control your brand. You can control what your brand does, but how your brand is perceived is entirely up to your customers.

Your brand’s messaging and actions define the parameters of your customers’ experiences, but your customers come to you with their own frameworks of education, experience, and emotion which influence how they interpret your brand and feel about your organization. The combination of your actions and your customers’ perceptions is your brand.

What is a Cult Brand?

Cult Brands have mastered the art of building meaningful, long-term relationships with their customers. Cult Brands exist in every industry.

Successful brands need to be consistent. Cult Brands need to be consistently amazing.

Cult Brands understand that their brands belong to the customers, and only the customer’s voice counts.

Rather than engaging in a meaningless attempt to dictate to the customer what they should want, a successful Cult Brand embraces its customers by anticipating their basic human and spiritual needs. As a consequence, Cult Brands achieve a level of customer loyalty unprecedented in traditional business.

Cult Brands—companies with unusually high levels of brand loyalty—have learned to serve a special group of customers. Harley riders, Mac users, Parrot Heads, Trekkies, MINI drivers, and the like represent a core group of people at the heart of each brand. We call this special breed of customers Brand Lovers.

Embracing Your Brand Lovers

Brand Lovers aren’t born. They’re made. Cult Brands are deliberately, continually engaged in building strong, meaningful relationships with their best customers. While brands that have the Merchant Mindset chase the next sale, Cult Brands chase the next conversation.

Cult Brands look for ways that they can play an integral role in their best customers’ lives. They embrace their customers like members of a loving family, providing a safe community for them to be who they really are. These brands are bold and courageous—often disliked by many, but loved by a precious few.

A Precious Few Is More Than Enough

A small legion of Brand Lovers will do more for the growth and sustainability of your business than all the transactional customers in the world. Not convinced? We’ve found that Pareto’s Law (the 80/20 Principle) generally holds true. As little as 20 percent of your customers can drive roughly 80 percent of profitability.

For many businesses, it costs five times more to acquire a new customer than keep an old one. Most importantly, the customers who love you the most—your Brand Lovers—spread the word and create new customers for you (just ask anyone who owns a Mac or an iPad).

Before you can embrace your Brand Lovers, you need to know who they are. Are all of your customers contributing equally to your profits? It’s unlikely. There are certain customers who choose you more often and purchase from you over a longer period of time (customer retention). These precious few are the lifeblood of your business.

Do you know who your best customers are? Without this knowledge, you can take yourself out of business or your competitors will do it for you. With this knowledge, you’ll be able to start cultivating brand loyalty and transforming your company into a Cult Brand with all the power and profitability that comes with that position.

Develop a Brand Lover Strategy For Your Business

As we’ve seen, there are many different types of marketing strategies. Naturally, different marketing strategies are appropriate for different businesses at different times and in different marketing conditions.

In our firm, we mainly focus on brand loyalty strategies because we have found (with the help of our clients) that this strategic focus works well in up and down markets. By focusing on your best customers, you continuously learn about your business is especially for and find ways to better serve these special customers.

These Brand Lover Strategies, as we call them, helps you differentiate your brand and make your competition irrelevant while guiding your business towards greater profitability. Put simply, it works.

Marketing is the practice of allocating resources to gain awareness and consideration from future customers for purchase of a product or service. Marketing is about creating customers.

A brand is a relationship, formed and shaped by all the emotions and ideas that the customer associates with a product or service that create a distinct customer experience.

A brand is a co-authored experience—a mutual relationship that lives between the customer and the brand. Branding is the process of cultivating relationships with your customers on tangible (logos) and intangible (emotions) levels.

Brand loyalty occurs when your branding efforts are effective.  Your customers develop an emotional bond with your brand. They become loyal to your products and services. (Degrees of loyalty vary, of course. See “Brand Loyalty Continuum” section here.)

Why Building Brand Loyalty Is Important

When you help develop a strong bond between your brand and your customer, magic occurs. You can naturally increase customer retention. Frequency of purchase often goes up. You command a greater share of wallet from your customers as you become more meaningful to them and more worthy of a business relationship.

If you’re successful at building brand loyalty, your customers will help you grow your business themselves, helping you harness the power of word of mouth.

Do you need another reason? It can actually makes your business practices more fun and engaging as you’ll be building relationships with real human beings. It can make you feel more human too!

Attend Our New Marketing Seminar on Brand Loyalty

Building brand loyalty rarely happens by accident. Cult Brands are skilled at creating customer evangelists, but you don’t have to be a Cult Brand to reap the benefits of brand loyalty. You can model the marketing and branding strategies of Cult Brands by understanding the psychology of your customers: what drivers the behavior behind customer loyalty.

We’ll be exploring this topic in greater detail at our next Winter Marketing Seminar on December 6th at the Ritz-Carlton Orlando. This intimate seminar, “How to Build Brand Loyalty: The Art of Getting Your Customers to Love You,” will explore ways your brand can develop stronger emotional connections with your customers.

You’ll meet other like-minded marketers and exchange ideas to help you grow your businesses in this fast-changing marketplace.

Former Chief Marketing Officer of PetSmart, Ken Banks, will also be sharing how your company can develop a more resonant brand and reach more customers by understanding the four “Buying Styles” your customers have.

Not All Cults Are Created Equal

For some people, the word “Cult” is enough to make the hair on the back of their neck stand up. Thoughts of Jim Jones and David Koresh spring easily to mind. These renowned cult leaders certainly had their followers, but they didn’t lead them anywhere good.

It’s important to understand that there are both benign and destructive cults: benign cults don’t harm their followers; destructive cults do. The fanatical devotion exhibited by Apple aficionados and Harley owners exhibit behavior that is certainly cult-like, but no one is harmed as a result of their affections.

Benign cults build their members up; destructive cults tear their members down.

We turn to Rick Ross , one of the nation’s leading experts on cults, for a more in-depth explanation. For over twenty years, Rick Ross has studied cult groups and has helped rescue family members trapped inside cult compounds.

Destructive Cults

Ross describes destructive cults as “groups with an absolute authoritarian figure at the top of a pyramid scheme of authority where there is virtually no accountability for that leader.” This is where you see the Jim Jones type of dynamic at play: the leader is a super-star who has absolute control.

Cult Brands are different because it’s not at all necessary for people to know who’s in charge for them to form a relationship with the brand. Lots of people know Steve Jobs was at the core of Apple’s success, but the average customer doesn’t know who is at the helm of IKEA, Whole Foods, or even Harley-Davidson.

Destructive cults hurt, harm, manipulate, and often brainwash their members. The leader of a destructive cult really doesn’t care about the well being of its members. In fact, such leaders openly exploit and abuse their members, usually for their own personal benefit.

Benign Cults

Benign cults have one trait in common with their negative counterparts: the intensity with which the cult members are attached to the object of their affection. Ross describes a benign cult as “any group of people that are intensely devoted to a person, place, or thing,” but where the relationship between the follower and the cult is harmless, benign, or even positive.

Benign cults are never destructive. They don’t harm or injure their followers either physically or mentally. Benign cults have leaders who are accountable to the group, and the leaders value the feedback of their followers.

Benign cults are inclusive. They welcome anyone who wants to belong. There’s no price of admission—you don’t need to live in Key West to be a Parrothead: simply being enthusiastic about the brand is enough. This is an important point of differentiation from destructive cults, which are exclusive, shutting out anyone who doesn’t fit a specific set of criteria.

The important thing about benign cults is that they help fill the emotional wants and needs of their followers in a positive way. There are clear, easily identifiable, objectively observable benefits that are derived from membership in a benign cult.

Why People Join Brand Cults

Watch this presentation to get a better understanding of why loyal customers often gather together: