@brandsconf

Yesterday I spoke at the @brandsconf held by Jeff Pulver in New York. The theme was the humanization of brands, meaning that brands are people too.

I loved the format where each speaker gets 9 minutes to present. Forced me to stay totally focused with ... wait for this ... no powerpoint slides!!! I felt so free ... weeeeee.

But seriously, the format allowed a lot of people to present their points of view, without allowing anyone to dominate or get lost in rhetoric. You know what I mean ;)

My point of view? It's through an incredible brand experience that a brand becomes real, authentic, meaningful and yes, human. But how you create that brand experience is the tough part. You have to start with a deep, thorough understanding of your consumer, and then you have to create an emotional connection with her that is beyond compare. A connection that truly adds value to her life more than just the functionality of the product.

Then you have the chance of being incorporated into her heart and soul and can try to build a personal relationship that hopefully she shares with her friends.

Social media has certainly helped. With the dialogue that we are able to create with our consumers, we now have a real brand voice and real brand personality in ways never before possible. We can speak "with" consumers, not "at" them. We can join their communities and listen to their needs and wants. Gosh, as brands we can be human!

The funny part? The entire audience was on their mobile devices and laptops the entire day. But it was by no means insulting to the speakers because the audience was tweeting the entire time! That was a first for me, but really cool to read all the play back. Live tweets in the lounge made it fun too. All of our name tags had our Twitter names -- me, @jimjosephexp.

Thanks to all who attended yesterday's @brandsconf and a big thanks to Jeff Pulver for not only organizing it all but also for allowing me to participate. I loved it. It was also personally very cool to have people in the audience who had read my book -- thanks for all the love!

What's your experience? Jim.

PS - "The Experience Effect" is listed as a top book for small business but I need your vote! If you don't mind, click here to cast a vote for my book. I appreciate it.