Consumers talk about brands. They talk about brands to friends, family, and even strangers both online and offline, but how can marketers leverage those conversations to build brands?
That’s one of the questions inTV and InSites Consulting tried to answer in a recent online survey of 1,600 people in the U.K., France, Germany, Spain, and Italy. According to the results presentation, which you can see below, 90% of conversations about brands happen offline.
The good news is that brand sentiment is usually positive among people discussing brands and those discussions typically boost opinions about the brand among the wider audience in a positive direction.
Specifically, consumers indicated that brand conversations teach them new things about a brand or product and often motivate them to seek out additional information about the brand or product and to share information about the brand or product with other people. Moving down the purchase funnel, consumers also reported that brand conversations make them consider, choose, or buy a specific brand, and these conversations reassure them that they’ve made the right brand purchase decisions.
While the report clearly shows that brand conversations drive awareness, purchases, and word-of-mouth marketing, the intangible gains in terms of positive brand sentiment and developing an emotional connection between consumers and a brand are equally important. By leveraging brand conversations to not only share information and increase sales but also using conversations to reassure consumers and connect with them on an emotional level, brand marketers will build brand loyalty that will keep brand conversations and brand purchases going. It’s this perpetual marketing driving by brand conversations that brand marketers should leverage, fuel, and reward.
You can view the complete report by following the link above, which breaks results up into six categories: automotive, smartphones and tablets, banking, watches, travel destinations, and airlines.
What do you think are the best ways to leverage brand conversations? Leave a comment and share your thoughts.
Image: Flavio Takemoto
Susan Gunelius is the author of 10 marketing, social media, branding, copywriting, and technology books, and she is President & CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc., a marketing communications company. She also owns Women on Business, an award-wining blog for business women. She is a featured columnist for Entrepreneur.com and Forbes.com, and her marketing-related articles have appeared on websites such as MSNBC.com, BusinessWeek.com, TodayShow.com, and more.
She has over 20 years of experience in the marketing field having spent the first decade of her career directing marketing programs for some of the largest companies in the world, including divisions of AT&T and HSBC. Today, her clients include large and small companies around the world and household brands like Citigroup, Cox Communications, Intuit, and more. Susan is frequently interviewed about marketing and branding by television, radio, print, and online media organizations, and she speaks about these topics at events around the world. You can connect with her on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Google+.
