Building Your Brand, One Touchpoint At A Time

Any time we experience anything, it becomes part of who we are and how we think. You read a newspaper article about an issue that's affecting your community, that becomes part of your existence. You listen to a particular piece of music in the car on the way to work. Part of your existence.

They're all building blocks for the future.

An example: my girlfriend has been reliving... I don't know, middle school or something, for about a week now, watching "Charmed" on Netflix (for those of you who don't know, it's a show about three sisters who happen to be witches. They fight on the side of good against evil. It's fairly cheesy.). From time to time, I've been in the room to catch some of it. Now, no matter what I think of the show, whether I become a fan or not, whether I like it or not (ahem, gag me with a spoon...), that show is part of my existence now. At some point in the future -- and I know this is coming -- something is going to happen and I'm going to relate it back to "Charmed" (and then I'm gonna go sit in the penalty box and feel shame).

But I don't think that's a bad thing. When I make a decision, I want to use every piece of my experience to make it. I want to be sure, beyond any reasonable doubt, that it's the right decision. Heaven help me, but "Charmed" is going to play some role, significant or not, in a decision I make some day (hopefully while I'm trying to vanquish evil... but it could be when I'm trying to pick a movie to watch on a Friday night). And it's all because my girlfriend found it while she was flipping through Netflix.

Customers are that way too. They read a review online. They interact with your cashier. They notice a mess on Aisle 7.

They test your product.

It all makes up part of their existence as a consumer.

All of those little notions, all of those little building blocks set the foundation for how we make decisions. Are you building a solid foundation for your customers to experience your brand?

Hello! Thanks for checking in! My name's Pete, and with my partner Don, I'm trying to get our marketing firm, Pollinate, up and off the ground. We'll be back every week with a new version of "Confessions of a Port Jeff Startup." Hopefully it'll be funny, hopefully you'll stick with us to see where we take it, and hopefully we'll all learn something along the way. Questions? We can be reached at PollinateBranding.com or @PollinateBr!