{"id":82,"date":"2013-11-04T13:53:20","date_gmt":"2013-11-04T20:53:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/nika\/?p=82"},"modified":"2013-11-14T13:42:12","modified_gmt":"2013-11-14T20:42:12","slug":"six-secrets-from-googles-brandlab","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/nika\/?p=82","title":{"rendered":"Six secrets from Google\u2019s BrandLab"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Kim Larson, a brand building expert at Google\u2019s BrandLab<\/strong>, works with more than 100 global brands each year. As part of the Engagement Project, she shares how letting go can lead to more rewarding relationships.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Brands put a huge amount of time and money into getting their standards right. All this is crucial to establishing a brand\u2019s identity, but too much control will not help you to be more successful. The most important thing, on the contrary, is… Let go.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Here are six of the secrets<\/strong> of brands that do this well:<\/p>\n

Secret #1: Take a supporting role\u00a0<\/strong>Let the consumer be in the center of the conversation.The more flexible, the higher the chances to succeed. The idea isn\u2019t to leave the consumer alone. Instead you take part in the dialogue. .<\/p>\n

Secret #2: Control is an illusion\u00a0<\/strong>I came across an amazing quote in this article : \u00a0\u201cYour brand is what people say about you when you\u2019re not in the room.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 By opening channels where consumers can express how they feel about your brand, you can actually get more \u00a0power to influence what people say and address it \u2014 the good and the bad.(That brings us back to all the conversations about listening to your customer and deciding whether to engage or not).<\/p>\n

Secret #3: Make it easy to participate\u00a0<\/strong>Not everyone will want to put an effort and speak up. So you should try to be creative and come up some easy yet interesting ways to engage with the customers.<\/p>\n

Secret #4: If you open up, they will too \u00a0<\/strong>One of the greatest examples is \u00a0\u2018Our Food. Your Questions\u2019 campaign of \u00a0McDonald\u2019s Canada. The customers could post any questions they wanted and the company replied to all of them. This results in more and more questions being asked and a huge spread of the campaign. Here is one of great examples of the campaign:<\/p>\n