Customer Engagement Created by Building Community

Kyle Hermans

Kyle Hermans

Guest

Play Video

Leading brands create customer engagement by building community. Brand innovation expert Kyle Hermans has helped dozens of global and local brands create evolution and change for the future of their business. Kyle Hermans has a fascinating, and entertaining take on how to use community in brand building by creating customer engagement. Since the advent of social media, building community and customer engagement based upon the ideas, and suggestions of passionate members of the brand community can lead to sustained growth and consumer loyalty.

Branding was originally about visual identify. Now it’s moving into some interesting places of also “What does it sound like?” “What are the words, what is the music? What are those jingles? What is the tonality?“ And of course, deep down it’s also needed to connect on a very deep level to the emotional system, “Can I emotionally connect to what this company is saying and doing? Do I emotionally connect to how this company makes me feel when I think about it, when I watch those commercials, or interact with their products?”

Customer engagement in the brand evolution and brand innovation process is now essential.

In This Episode, Cheryl and Kyle Hermans Discuss

  • The 21st century meaning “brand” and how branding has broadened to include customer participation in brand innovation.
  • The pressures of building a brand in the digital age.
  • Branding is a means of building community and connection.
  • Kyle’s work in bringing different aspects of an organization together to create collective problem-solving.
  • Disruptive innovation begins with envisioning a solution to a collective problem or need for change.

Key Takeaways

  • Branding includes building community and customer involvement, resulting in currency in the form of customer engagement.
  • Currency is the trade agreement you make with your customers which is at the heart of your brand.
  • Winning brands offer tremendous free value before asking for the sale.
  • Focus on helping one small, niche group in order to get very clear on your brand positioning and direction.

Brands need to build a different type of currency and connection point in order to create that community aspect around them.

Brands need to build a different type of currency and connection point in order to create that community aspect around them.

—Kyle Hermans

CONNECT WITH US