Why your brand should be like Cheers
Afternoon, Everybody! When I travel to Boston to meet with my Spreadshop homies there, I can’t help but think of the old TV show CHEERS. If you’re too young to remember it, well guess what, we have YouTube to fill you in…
Cheers was essentially about a group of friends who gathered at their favorite bar. Like any well written show, you get to know the regulars, you get to know the staff. If you know Cheers then you know what it means when someone yells “Norm!” It was maybe one of the most perfect television shows of all mankind. I was too young to get all the adult jokes. This show gave us the national treasures like Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson.
You don’t have to go watch this show to see what I’m about to throw down. All you need is to listen to the very catchy theme song and examine the lyrics with me to find out why your brand should be like Cheers.
“Making your way in the world today takes everything you got…”
Boy, It sure does, don’t it? Especially for you young hustlers out there holding down more than one job or working on your passion projects at night. Your personal brand should convey to your fans that you really do care about what you’re doing and ultimately the customers too.
“Taking a break from all your worries, sure would help a lot. Wouldn’t you like to get away?”
Don’t we all want to get away? So many people are “working for the weekend” or engaging in escapism of all kinds. Some are even living in virtual reality more than the real one. Your brand should be like the safe place where they know they can land at the end of a hard day of adulting.
“Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name… and they’re always glad you came.”
This is probably the most important part. Not only should your brand be a welcoming place for your customers to hang their hats, but you know their name when they get there, maybe even have their favorite beer waiting for them. And their spot is always reserved — “Norm!” The brand shouts when he walks in.
There are a lot of fancy third party tools and Bots that help brands do this, but nothing really can beat YOU as the brand owner getting in there and engaging with your customers.
“You wanna be where people see, their troubles are all the same. You wanna be where everybody knows your name.”
Lastly, your brand should engage in conversations with your fans and customers. Whether you’re a bigger brand or a personal brand, you should stoke and encourage engagement by liking every comment a fan makes, answer their questions, and start real conversations with them. Why is this so important? Amazon and the heavy hitters know this and practice it often. You may not see it Day to day but their engagement teams are actively working to “turn those frowns upside down!” Amazon has said in the past one of their great successes is taking an upset customer and making them into a lifelong fan of the service there. When a fan engages with your content on any level it’s a chance to connect and turn them into super fans.
If you can visualize your personal brand as a location like a corner bar, what would it be? How are you engaging with your customers? Hit me up with your best tips in the comments. And by the way… there’s no better place to start selling your custom merchandise than with Spreadshop! Launch your free Spreadshop today and tell us about your brand here in the comments.
