Jul 27, 2010
My Own Personal Cult Brand
I recently received an e-mail from my long-time car dealership (www.buddssaab.ca) announcing the exciting new (old) direction for Saab, “Spyker Chief, Victor Muller, says he can spark a similar renaissance in a Swedish brand once renowned for its innovative design and technology. ‘We’re going to be completely different to how GM dealt with Saab,’ he says. ‘It used to be a cult brand and it can be again. We don’t need to go out and find new customers – we just need to win back the ones we’ve lost,’ he says. ‘Saab customers were the most loyal and educated in the industry’. The fact that they left, means they must have been disappointed.”
Two things struck me in reading the announcement that I thought that we could all do with reminding of:
| 1. | Don’t alienate your core customer! Know them, love them, service them to death. They are your single greatest source of repeat and referral business. | |
| 2. | Know who you are as a company and avoid all temptation to stray from it. Truly, you don’t have to be the biggest company in the world to be great. If you doubt it, pick up a copy of the book Small Giants: Companies That Choose to Be Great Instead of Big by Bo Burlingham. Entrepreneur or corporate titan, it will change your outlook forever. |
My own personal cult brand? Yes, I am one of those Saab fanatics to whom Mr. Muller refers. Time to win “me” back. The lesson to all of us, don’t lose “me” in the first place: I am your bread and butter customer.
Category: Branding, Spyder Works
