The Money Is In The Experience

BBF 11 | Customer Experience

Think of the most successful brands out there that have a loyal following like Disneyland or Apple. Now ask yourself, what did they do right to become what they are? More specifically, what did they have to offer? In this episode, Gerry Foster shares what these brands teach us when it comes to branding our businesses – experience. Learn why customer experience is key and why money follows suit when you give an excellent one to your audience.

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The Money Is In The Experience

Not long ago, I was reading a famous quote from Walt Disney, the creator of Disneyland. It was regarding an interview that he conducted about how he came up with Disneyland, the reasons for it and what did he think was the key to its success. He shared in the interview that Disneyland was a work of love for him. He didn’t go into Disneyland just with the idea of making money. In his eyes, he wanted to create a magic kingdom. Something from a branding standpoint that will combine fantasy, history, adventure and learning all together with a whole variety of recreation and fun designed to appeal to everyone. In his eyes, he felt that the Disneyland brand was something that could never be completed. He saw it as an evolving masterpiece that will continue to grow as long as there was imagination left in the world. Imagine that. As long as there was imagination left in the world, he felt that there would always be a Disneyland.

People are not buying your products or your services. What they're buying from you is the experience that your brand provides. Click To Tweet

The point of all of this is that he never just saw it as a place. He saw it as this gathering park where people could come and experience something like no one else and no other place could provide. He said, “I want Disneyland to be, most of all, a happy place. A place where adults and children can experience together some of the wonders of life, of adventure and feel better because of it.” That’s the point of this episode, which is for you to understand that people are not buying your products. They’re not buying your service. They’re not donating to your nonprofit. You’ve read about me sharing a little bit about this, but what they’re buying from you is the experience that your brand provides. You could say that the Apple brand is about simplicity. You could say that the Harley Davidson brand is about freedom. The significance of experience as a brand. We’ve also ground the simple fact that we as consumers, as human beings, what we buy into are things that we feel.

We as consumers and as human beings buy into things that we feel. Click To Tweet

Feelings stay with us because human experiences are always things that we can remember. Think about it. Think about when you decide to go into Starbucks for a cup of coffee when you can go to 7-Eleven a block over, even perhaps next door and get the same size cup of coffee for a whole lot cheaper. Think about why you might decide to go into a Subway as opposed to a regular deli shop. The reason why is because of the experience, particularly at 7-Eleven versus Starbucks, because at Starbucks they know that they’re selling more than coffee. They’re selling the place where people can gather. They’re selling a place where things are happening. You might think of Starbucks as a gathering for some social life. It could be that people are sitting there all day long and enjoying their coffee, reading the newspaper, in their smartphones or whatever. When you start to look at the crowds at Starbucks, you might say that the Starbucks crowd tends to be more the young, the hip, the Millennials, the cool people, whereas you might see more blue–collar workers when you think of 7-Eleven.

Customer Experience: What you decide to give your customer and what they’re paying for is not your product or service, but what you will do for them and how they feel with your brand.

The money is in the experience because the experience that you decide to give your customer and what they’re paying for is not your product or service. What they’re paying for is what your product or service will do for them in terms of how they will feel as a result of experiencing your brand. All great brands are defined by the experiences that they give. Think about that. You can pick any kind of brand in any category and you’re going to associate something with that brand name that ties in with how that brand made you feel.

Some people, for example, decide that they want to listen to music from Spotify as opposed to some other downloadable station for listening to music. Some people may prefer to drive a certain brand of automobiles because they feel that particular brand is going to give them ultimately what it is that they want to experience from that brand. You’re already starting to see here why big branding in particular and how it can translate to you as a small business owner is so critical because you have to give people a reason to choose you. If your reason that you’re giving someone ties in with all ultimately the experience that they’re going to receive from you, then you are not putting yourself in the best position to have a brand that sticks in the minds and the hearts of your customer. That’s the essence of what it is that you provide.

Feelings stay with us because human experiences are always things that we can remember. Click To Tweet

If you’re going to flag now what that experience is, then make sure that you back it up with the appropriate actions because actions speak louder than words. Since experiences form our memories, then we must do everything that we can to deliver. Think like Walt Disney. Think like a lot of the brands that you purchase and are loyal to in terms of how they make you feel. Think about how that’s going to impact the prices that you charge. We’ll have a separate episode on that topic alone, because when people can receive and experience from you and your brand unlike no one else, how much should you charge? What you should charge is what the customer is willing to pay. That puts you in a much better position to be rich, successful and to live a happier and more joyful life. Until next time. Take care.