Do You Suffer from Brand Narcissism?

Marketers create brand trackers, charts and graphs about how our brand exists in the world. We host focus groups - showing 75 variations of a logo to a bored room of "volunteers." We obsess over our competition - but only in the ways we think we are better. 

It's called Brand Narcissism and it's an easy trap to fall into that doesn't serve our bottom lines. But we've got something you can do about it!

As we learned from our conversation with Devora Rogers of Alter Agents, brands need to take a customer-first approach to their marketing. And that starts with understanding your customers' experience, not forcing them to tell you what they think about you. 

"Brands have functioned for a long time in a really narcissistic way," Devora explains. "That's not a way to operate in a world where shoppers are more promiscuous; they are more open, they have more choices, they can do anything they want with anyone they want.”

In her book, Influencing Shopper Decisions, Devora explains that engaging with your audience's experience instead of focusing on your brand is a much more interesting way to approach your marketing.

When you think of the customer first - you are asking more interesting questions. What moves them? What drives them? What inspires them? And asking those kinds of questions unlocks the key to better marketing. 

Neuroscience is an amazing way to get information about your audience directly from their brains as they engage with brand experiences. It's the antithesis to brand narcissism because you are putting the customer first and building from there. 

With Known, you can measure your audience's experience and their emotional connection using the smartwatch they wear every day. It's just like magic . . . but it's science. 

Using Known, you can measure your customers wherever they are: in the store during a shopping experience, while navigating the UX of your digital experience, while watching ads you make, and more.

You get second-by-second analysis and a report card from the full experience.

If you want to learn more, you can watch the second-by-second analysis of an ad we tested or learn how easy it is to setup an experience with a short video.

The report card the platform generates is easy takeaways to share with your collaborators, with share links to the full analysis. Your next steps are clear and actionable - saving you time in understanding what will improve your customers' experience with your brand by putting them first.