HOW DO YOU CREATE CUSTOMERS FROM PROSPECTS?

How do you create customers
from prospects?

Prospects are customers you haven’t yet sold. Persuading them to see the world your way is a challenge. But conceptually, it is a simple challenge:

You must take a brand that people
have fundamentally ignored.

And reinvent it for them.

Brands that rebuild and reshape
the future, successfully attracting

new generations of customers, do
exactly that.

They reinvent and redefine
themselves.

And they find ways to do it
without destroying the relationships
that built the business in the first place.

Of course, reinventing a brand isn’t just about repackaging, or being younger, or running a different kind of advertising campaign -- all of which, actually, can be helpful.

Over the past decade, famous brands like Chanel (notably in fragrances) and luxury marketer Burberry (fashion and accessories) have been extraordinarily successful because they work with their essential DNA. Both brands manage existing products and develop new products for new audiences in perfect harmony with their authentic origins.

As they open new windows to the allure of their brands, they continue to be cherished and respected, even as essential core matter is reworked, re-purposed and
re-presented, and new matter created.

Simple isn’t the word for this.

The work of reinvention requires a genius of its own -- a mixture of curiosity, insight, inspiration, love and affection, and deep respect. Sometimes, even a little irreverence. And as every brand maestro will admit, nothing happens without
classic craftsmanship that reflects tradition and innovation that defines the future.

Doing all this successfully defines the genius of those who inherit and
manage great brands.

< Thoughts on brand expansion