The brand and the unbearable lightness of being

It's not just budgets that are the problem. The problem is the head and the brand will increasingly be the keystone, the backbone of a company's success and it applies to everyone

Today it's you who has to go towards the public to convince them to enter your factory, you have to commit yourself to being and not just having.

Branding is that somewhat vague thing that everyone talks about, which somehow hovers like a ghost in all marketing strategies but which ultimately remains there, like a ghost that no one sees except a medium but whose everyone would really need.

My reflections arise from a concrete fact: Andreas, they ask me, I have this service, how can I do lead generation and attract customers? The problem is that if you approach the problem from the head, the client runs away, if you face the issue from feet maybe you have the chance to evangelize the customer by getting to the head, maybe. And so we tend to talk about the system, about the practical solution implemented without conscience and we rely on the guru. But in reality the guru is not needed, the head is needed, the one we have forgotten by reversing the process. And he also serves the heart.

Today, lead generation techniques applied to social networks work, but they happen to work well when the user recognizes himself in the person speaking, when he accepts and shares what he says and when the so-called message emissary has recognized authority. Of course! Well said! But where does this even recognized authority come from? Mica falls from the sky like a manna, not all of us are Jesus Christ. And it is here that the client gets lost and then ends up having no arguments, ends up having no more arrows for her bow. And it's a big problem. And the problem becomes more complicated because the path to reach the "consumer" has become more complex. On the contrary! We are at the sore point where the customer who comes to us gets stuck: it is not the consumer/customer who comes to you, it is you who must go to him and it is you who must open the door of your company and let him in when he finally has realized that maybe and just maybe, you could be the solution to his problem.

And this is how a landing page linked to a fan page, made according to all the sacred executive trappings that the rules of the web prescribe, doesn't work as it should. Why? What is missing? The head.

The basic questions that a potential customer unconsciously asks themselves are:

• Who are you? (Identity)
• Why do I have to come to you? (Promise of Value)

Have you ever tried to approach a guy and put your business card in his hand by telling him in 10 words on the fly what you do? It does not work. Indeed, generally what you arouse is almost a feeling of annoyance which in some cases is not expressed (and it is a problem) in others it is (and you can run for cover). If this is multiplied by the numbers that a social network like Facebook can put in place, the damage that can be done can also be well understood.

But the scenario changes completely if you try to walk around a square handing out business cards being a well-known and authoritative person. So? So the customer's question about the landing page that works badly needs to be answered starting from the head. Dear customer, yours is a brand identity and brand positioning problem. To simplify the concept: marketing is the branch of the economy that studies and applies systems and methodologies for customer loyalty, says Philip Kotler, basically, you see what you produce by applying the rules of marketing. But in such an interconnected, clustered and complex world, it no longer works, we need to change the paradigm to "produce what you know how to sell". Ah! Beautiful there! You no longer sell the product or service but you sell the image you give of yourself and this heavily affects the final sales figures.

In the end, all in all they are simple concepts. What makes me better at selling than another? Good at selling or good at CONVINCE? Convincing, or persuading... Isn't advertising also called PERSUASIVE communication? And to persuade, isn't it perhaps necessary to be persuasive? You need to arouse approval, you need to satisfy, you need to get into people's hearts because in the end they remember you not for what you did for them but for how you made them feel.

All of this therefore cannot be built with a good communication campaign, this even becomes ineffective if not counterproductive if it is not supported by behaviour, by example. Here is one of the main problems of web agencies, the example! These sell social media marketing services but they aren't on social media, they don't move, they don't have engagement even on a personal level, nothing. What example is it?

There is no trick and there is no deception. If you are sexy, convincing, if you behave consistently, you can only win.
If you are present with a Fanpage on Facebook and a user contacts you asking if he can CHAT with someone, the worst thing you can do is reply like this: "If it were possible for you to come to the office, you would do something welcome, otherwise call 059/ 999999”. Own goal. It means that you don't have time, that you're there on FB by chance, you don't know the medium and you have no respect for the user despite using an absolutely courteous tone. BE CONSISTENT.

It's not just budgets that are the problem. The problem is the head and the brand will increasingly be the keystone, the cornerstone of a company's success and it applies to everyone, including professionals, lawyers, accountants, doctors, not just companies like or don't like it, today it's you who has to go towards the public to convince them to enter your factory, you have to get your hands dirty, you have to commit yourself to being and not just having.