Training Brand Influencers
April 29, 2008 by Susan Gunelius
Filed under Brand Loyalty
I’ve written before on my marketing blog about the importance of online influencers in terms of generating an online buzz about your brand which leads to word-of-mouth marketing, new customers and increased brand loyalty.
Today, I came across a post on The Brand Elastic that discusses brand training, direct to consumers, which discusses how companies like BMW and Sephora are creating customer training programs such as the BMW Performance Driving School and Sephora University to teach customers how to get the most from the brand and products.
The post led me to think about the incredible possibilities training brand influencers could open. Can you imagine the degree of enhanced brand loyalty participants in these training classes are likely to experience? And that enhanced brand loyalty will certainly lead participants to talk about the brand even more, possibly becoming brand evangelists if the experience is memorable and impactful enough.
I’ll be interested to see what other companies open brand “universities” for consumers. Will this become the next big thing, bigger than animated logos?
Naturally, these sessions will have to be branded as more than just training classes, but there is no denying the power of creating brand ambassadors.
What do you think?
You can read more about the role of online influencers in People Don’t Trust Web Ads on my marketing blog, MarketingBlurb.
Image source: Flickr
