If you’ve paid attention to McDonald’s marketing, you’ll notice that it’s all focused on love—emphasizing the lovin’ part of I’m Lovin’ It. By doing so, McDonald’s has tapped into something that other successful brands have realized: love sells.
I’m not talking about fake, manipulative love that gets customers feeling all gooey inside and therefore hankering for a burger. No—it’s real, authentic relationships that sell. If you’ve seen their Super Bowl commercial, McDonald’s is branding itself as a place where close family connections and friendships can bloom. “Come and eat here,” it says, “and have real family time.”
What they’re doing is writing their narrative—telling a story that fills a hole in their customer’s lives. In a world of electronic distractions, people crave deep, meaningful relationships and quality time with others. Notice that McDonald’s commercials say nothing of the food, and that’s because they aren’t selling just food anymore. They’re selling love.
We’re no longer in an era where you can make a really good product and leave it at that. People want to attach to your brand story, they want to know what using your product says about them. Just as wearing a designer label shows someone’s taste and using a certain electronic product comments on someone’s tech savviness, so also should your product say something besides “I am a widget, and I do what widgets do.”
Do you know what it says? Can you answer the following blanks?
– Our customers buy our product because they want to feel ______ about themselves.
– Our customers want to get ____, ____, and _____ out of our product.
– Our target customer is someone who _______.
– Our product serves _______ purpose in our customer’s lives, but it also helps them with _______.
Your product can’t just be one thing—it needs to fill multiple holes in your customers’ lives. If you aren’t willing to figure out what that is, I can promise your competition is and has.
What does your product or brand offer your customers other than its primary function? Tell me about how your company offers solutions to multiple parts of people’s lives. We might just feature you in a future post!
As a speaker and author, Curtis Zimmerman has impacted over one million people with his life-changing messages and award-winning programs. Curtis is an expert at transforming organizations by inspiring individuals to live their lives at performance level.
Want to be inspired? Check out his podcast The Next 24 Hours.
