Today, every brand is caught up in a power struggle.
On one side, sits your company comprised of your employees, your product development, your service, sales, marketing, operations and more. And then, on the other side, sit consumers – including your current, past and future customers.
We all know the brand power balance is shifting every day towards the consumer, who expects a strong customer experience online or offline. Yet far too often, companies rely on legacy marketing tactics and customer research thinking to keep pace with this shift.
We must think differently.
To deliver better customer experience, brands today need better strategies – such as co-creation – to not only engage with consumers, but also to meet their high expectations.
With that in mind, you may be wondering, what are the necessary considerations when your brand is ready to launch a co-creation journey to design new products, services and experiences hand-in-hand with consumers?
For starters, the co-creation journey takes vulnerability. That means your brand must be willing to actually venture out into the market and engage with consumers to hear the good, the bad and maybe even the ugly about your company, its employees and/or your own industry.
However, it’s not enough to simply hear what consumers have to say – you must also be listening to what the market tells you, and then actually embrace it.
Co-creation requires you to provide customers (and at times, non-customers) ownership by giving them a seat at the design table. By bringing these consumers inside the walls of your organization to work hand-in-hand with your employees, you will create a meaningful partnership.
Additionally, co-creation requires your brand to provide clear and consistent communication with your employees and external partners to set proper expectations around roles, responsibilities and possible outcomes from the process.
Now, every brand’s co-creation journey may be different, but there is one thing that must be consistent – and that’s commitment.
Because, in the eyes of a consumer, there is nothing worse today than a company that makes a promise it doesn’t end up following through on.
So to review, there are six considerations for your brand to take stock of before embarking upon a co-creation journey:
1. Vulnerability
2. Listening
3. Expectations
4. Partnership
5. Communication
6. Commitment
These six considerations are key to making any relationship – personal or business – a healthy one.
They’re also what so many companies talk about, but fail to actually achieve, when it comes to their customer experience.
Read AE Marketing Group CEO Brian Walker’s original column at Customer Think and find more thought leadership in our Brand Lab Series™ publication at Medium.