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How to reach out to consumers’ concerns, or even be their spokesperson, without getting lost in the race for likes? How to engage, arouse interest, while avoiding the “parrot” effect? Where to place the cursor?

The risk of single speech in an ultra-competitive environment

We live in an era of hyper capitalism, with all the advantages and disadvantages that this fundamental [FB1] movement represents. The advantages obviously revolve around greater accessibility for brands, which redouble their ingenuity to cultivate links with their audiences. And yet, this advantage carries with it a growing problem: the advent of a single speech market.

On equal terms, all the same?

All brands, emerging or established, can now subscribe to a social listening offer capable of detecting the terms used by Internet users, and adopting the famous language of the consumer; build an inbound marketing strategy to get closer to famous customer interests; strengthen their expertise through a controlled discourse. The risk is that brands, forced to compete in genius to speak the language of the consumer, end up merging in the same language. Since all the competitive advantages are now accessible to all, the noose is therefore tightening around the elements of differentiation. In our oversaturated industries, authenticity has also become a hard commodity to find. How to assert yourself, position yourself without giving an impression of “already read” to your audiences?

Choose rather than scatter: brand value.

In a guidebook on the meaning of entrepreneurial adventure, David Hieatt gives an interesting idea to ensure that you keep your identity in all circumstances. “Ask yourself if your brand is salable: if the concept that carries it can be sold and reused without noticing a difference, then your identity is not sufficiently worked out”.

The idea would therefore be to refine your intention, to the point that the identity you wear is clearly identifiable. The intention is reflected in the value that the brand wants to carry: choosing a specific commitment rather than scattering over all the themes (environment, innovation, ecology, avant-garde, proximity, etc.). It is therefore necessary to make choices, even if it means separating from part of its audience when it does not share our value. Brands like Evian and Netflix have taken this position by defending their commitment to LGBTQ + communities, not hesitating to alienate some of their customers … to gain more engagement from their loyal customers.

Respond rather than promote: the power of search.

The search engines have integrated a significant functionality: if we enter “how to build a brand identity”, we will see at the top of the page the extract of an article selected by the search engine, that we will be able to read in full. Brands use this tool to insert summaries, short explanations in bullet points and guidelines, aware that the reader often does not go so far as to click on the site link.

Immediacy requires, this use modifies the way we read results: it is up to brands to adapt their content by including a satisfactory start of response from the start, before developing their subject.

Free yourself from “worn” speeches.

“Benevolence”, “authenticity”, “transparency”, “empathy”: so many terms used by everyone, to designate everything, to the point that their meaning is blunted. This is what a language specialist, Jeanne Bordeau, deplores. By dint of scraping the same rope in the same place, you end up wearing it out – and breaking the bond with the audience. To renew it, it is now necessary to return to the most understandable language possible, to simple words, to those which are not too connoted by the times and customs.

Let us remember the old adage: it is through dialogue that we build ourselves, through interaction with others that we know ourselves. However, for there to be dialogue or interaction, there must be two. It is therefore time to initiate the merger between the language of brands and that of consumers, to re-establish a dialogue and recreate richness in customer relations.