Is it really possible that more people love Satan than Dow Chemical Well, according to the trusty Google search conducted by Bob Garfield and Doug Levy - yes. When you type in the words âI love Satanâ you get 293,000 hits, and when you type in âI love Dow Chemicalâ you get just 3.
And so begins âCanât Buy Me Like: How Authentic Customer Connections Drive Superior Resultsâ, a tale of what it takes to woo customers these days as skillfully woven by Bob Garfield (@onthemedia), Host of NPRâs âOn the Mediaâ and Doug Levy (@douglevy1), the Founder of CEO of MEplusYOU, a leading strategic and creative agency that believes authentic relationships fuel astonishing brands.
I received a review copy of this book just this week and couldnât wait to tell you about it as soon as I finished reading it. I think it contains vital mind-shifting information for every business; large and small.
Top Down Telling and Convincing is Dead in Todayâs Grassroots âRelationships Eraâ
According to the authors, weâre evolving into the relationship era. If you remember any marketing class youâve ever had or marketing book youâve ever read, youâll recall that marketers define their history as beginning in the 17th century with the âProduct Eraâ which stayed with us into the 1950âs. Then there was the âConsumer Eraâ which started around 1965 and ran up until âfive minutes agoâ (according to Garfield and Levy). This was a time where large brands thrived by simply finding out what consumers wanted and then giving it to them.
âCantâ Buy Me Likeâ is all about the next step in marketing - âThe Relationship Era.â This book outlines exactly how this era has disrupted business as usual. This is a time where human needs, human values and human connections will define your success or failure. The currency of âRelationship Era Marketingâ is not awareness; itâs belief.
Discover How Successful Companies Are Measured and What to Do to Thrive
Itâs not enough to say that things are changing. You already know that. What âCanât Buy Me Likeâ does is get to the root of what triggered the change and why you need to have a firm grasp of these events so that you can make the necessary changes and run your business better.
You may be tempted to write all of this off as a passing fad or some kind of social media-driven drivel. This would be a huge mistake. The concepts of âauthenticityâ and âcustomer connectionsâ may have started out that way, but they have become the DNA of successful and profitable businesses.
The book goes into detail of companies who were simply going through the motions of top-down marketing campaigns such as McDonaldâs, who created a mess by asking for authentic customer stories without building the required trust and engagement from their customers to pull it off. Or United Airlines who destroyed 25 years and billions of dollars of Gershwin ads when over 12 million people viewed the âUnited Breaks Guitarsâ YouTube video from a dissatisfied customer.
The lessons in this book are clear and lasting; you have to pay to play in todayâs likeability arena. And paying means paying attention to the core values of your company and actually living those values beyond the posters and ads that you put out in the marketplace.
Youâll read about how companies that have put their values where their ad dollars are have come to reap the rewards:
- Patagonia, which earned credibility with their âDonât Buy This Jacketâ campaign that explained their companyâs commitment to their âCommon Threads Initiativeâ and urged their customers to be conscious consumers.
- Panera Bread, which doubled their per store sales by focusing on creating a welcoming environment while spending just 1% of sales on advertising. (I know what they mean, I prefer Panera to Starbucks simply because there is free wifi and they donât blast distracting music.)
- P&Fâs Secret Antiperspirant grew by simply rallying behind the idea of female fearlessness.
What Will âCanât Buy Me Likeâ Do for Your Business
If you get anything from this book, itâs that the days of âcorporate speakâ and top-down message control are over. The good news here is that this frees you up to really build a profitable business around your true commitments and the reasons that you started your business in the first place.
When I talk to my clients, I often have the impression that they think they have to be âprofessionalâ and they have to do things âthe right way.â It finally dawned on me, after reading this book, that much of this mindset comes from the now obsolete ways of top-down marketing.
Iâve been telling everyone who will listen that your marketing has to be a true reflection of who you are and what you are committed to. When you try to put a face on your brand that is anything less than that, you will either go broke trying or fail.
If youâve been looking for the right way to inject your true values and personality into your marketing, then you have to read âCanât Buy Me Like.â Youâll walk away with a whole new outlook and future for the life of your business, and for the business of your life.