Insights From: Your Hidden Path to Building a Better Brand with Tamsen Webster

​Find The Red ThreadToday at the American Marketing Association in RTP we had opportunity to hear speaker Tamsen Webster talk about "The Red Thread". Tamsen is the executive producer of TEDxCambridge, “idea whisperer,” and brand marketer.
A lot was shared on wisdom in marketing and business like why the process of branding doesn’t create great brands. What “consonance” is and why it’s key to driving action. And the universal template for meaning and how to use it to build a better brand.
Here are my top 5 insights gained from the event today. I hope it helps you.

1. The key to better branding and customer perception of your company is to close the gap between how customers see us and how we want to be seen. The gap that matters isn’t the one between how we’re seen and how we want to be seen. The gap that matters is the one between who we want to be seen as and what we already are seen as. Perception vs. Reality.
2. People don’t buy brands, they buy meaning — they buy what the brand means to them. Meaning requires no gap. A brand that doesn’t make sense internally to someone's experience and heart, will not make sense externally. Must deliver first a really valued good experience that mean's something to the person. The brand then extends upon that meaning to make an already good perception even better. To get the connections we truly want with customers, we have to close the meaning gap first. Then marketing can help air cover on top of this solid foundation for supportive push in exposure, presence, and deeper engaged relationships to further build upon that brand.

3. We make meaning following a universal, yet unique to each situation, “Red Thread.”  For something to have meaning for us, we have to see the "Red Thread" that ties it all together. And that means we need something other than branding. We need to find the Red Thread that connects the who, why, what, where, and main thing why people need and value the product, service, and company. The "Red Thread" is that special place in the heart and mind of the customer that makes sense to them and gives them meaning about your product/service/company.
4. Remember the five step process: 1. Goal: What is the goal customer wants to achieve with you and focus in on deliver that goal. 2. Problem: What is the problem you help them solve and ensure your offering a great solution that drives results on that problem 3. Ideas: What ideas do you give that offer to help overcome these identified problems 4. Change: What positive change do you deliver that result in goals being obtained 5. Action: Identify the actions needed to accomplish change, implement the idea, overcome the problem, and deliver the solution. Then execute on these action items!
5.Good quotes from presentation:

• "Nothing killed a bad product better then good marketing"
• "You can't solve a product problem with a good marketing message or campaign"
• "There is no good brand for a bad company. No bad brand for a good company."

Overall a great AMA event and represented well by RTP professionals. Tamsen Webster did a great job presenting the concept of "Finding The Red Thread". If you follow this advice shared I believe it will help us all build a better brand and most importantly be smarter about building the best product first to ensure a strong brand can follow suit!

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