Building A Consumer-Focused Brand Can Be Challenging. Here’s How To Make It Inclusive And Innovative

All brands are created from the top-down — they start with the company and filter down to the customer.

But that doesn’t mean it should only be influenced by the company’s leadership team.

Strong brands are often a two-way street. They aren’t built in a bubble and then forced on customers.

Instead, smart companies leverage their customers to help build consumer-focused brands.

Of course, it’s not always easy to do so. If you look around, you’ll notice a lot of branding is about an aesthetic or a certain level of coolness. Take Gucci, for example. It’s an iconic luxury brand, but you don’t really get the sense it’s about what the customers actually want or how they feel.

To build a brand that embodies its customers, you have to listen to them. You have to stay focused on what they say and how they feel — and then use that to influence your strategy.

Here’s what it looks like to build a truly inclusive brand:

Begin by gathering as much feedback from customers as you can.

It’s possible to create a strong and authentic brand just by listening to your customers.

In fact, when our team at ThirdLove did our first real branding, some of the core tenants came directly from interviewing our customers.

For example, we got the idea for launching our Nakeds line from customers who told us they wanted more color options that matched their skin tone. The shades we were offering weren’t working for them, and they made that clear to us. Other feedback also resulted in our half-size options, and our choice to use models who were as diverse as our customer base.

But you can only get great customer feedback if it’s clear you want it.

You want to encourage customers to share what they love — and what they don’t — about your product. You have to put in the work to get tracking in place, so you have the data and information you need to make intelligent choices.

When you do begin to see trends in the feedback, you have to be willing to implement it into your brand. Start testing the ideas your customers give you to see what resonates.

That’s what being consumer-focused is all about.

Understand how your customers’ requests fit into the broader business.

You’ll find that your customers come up with a lot of amazing ideas.

After all, they’re the ones who actually buy and use your products. And there’s nothing wrong with accepting their input to change the look or feel of your products.

You just want to be sure you’re not alienating your core customers in the pursuit of a brand that only a few people want.

For instance, over the years our customers have submitted requests for a white bra. If we decided to make it, I’m sure we’d sell a fair amount. But realistically, that isn’t something we’re going to do because it doesn’t have the same aesthetic value as our current product line. And it doesn’t fit our goal of providing neutral colors that flatter and match women’s skin tones.

You can’t fulfill every single customer ask. So you have to examine both the magnitude of the requests and the rationale behind it.

There are a lot of nuances in what fits within the scope of your brand. Just remember, you’re walking the line between pushing your brand forward and keeping your core customers happy.

Default to your customer’s voice as often as possible.

In the early days as a company, it may be difficult to default to your customer’s voice instead of your brand’s voice. But as you grow and become more comfortable as an organization, you’ll come to lean on your customers.

As this happens, you’ll begin to hear a constant refrain: “What did the customer say? What do they think of this?”

The conversation will revolve around how customers are reacting because their voice will become part of your branding.

For instance, when we were launching our extended sizes line, we had a number of women test the bras beforehand. While they were giving feedback, we also asked them about messaging options for an upcoming brand campaign — and the messages they chose ended up being the campaign headline and hashtags.

You can come up with good ideas just sitting around and brainstorming. But asking your customers for their opinion is always more relevant and valuable for your brand.

At the end of the day, it really comes down to communicating with your customer as much as possible.

If they can recognize themselves in your brand, that’s success.