Small Business Marketing with Barbarians

“Barbarians!  Barbarians! My kingdom for Brand Barbarians.”

That famous quote is from William Shakespeare’s “King Richard III”.  If he was in Marketing, instead of frittering his time away being a playwright, that is.

So what is a Brand Barbarian?

People talk about “Brand Ambassadors” (I know I have) and they are wonderful to have on your side.  They are the ones that pipe up when the conversation gets around to something related to your product.

However at the cocktail party that is social media, the ambassadors politely wear your flag on their lapel, while the barbarian inspires with her passion (often from  atop the buffet table).  Instead of waiting for the conversation to flow the barbarian will guide, or damn near commandeer, the conversational boat.

BB’s defend your honor when you aren’t there. They are the first responders when your brand is in peril.  Met an Apple Fanboy on a forum and dare to impugn Mr. Jobs?  That’s the classic Barbarian.

People with tattoos of your logo (Harley), that own everything bedecked with Red and White waves(Coke), that carve your logo in their hair (Nike).  Those are the shock troops in the war for market share.

So what are the first steps of getting your own horde?

Build them a castle.  First you have to give them a great product/service.  That is the castle from where they launch their invasion.  Nobody wants to support something that can’t be bothered to support itself.

Crappy product and services that leave you wanting don’t have barbarians.  In fact the competitor’s barbarians put their (theoretical, hopefully) heads on pikes.

Allow people to feel that the product is theirs, it is theirs.  It is their widget, iPod, bike, vending machine.  People own the experience and the brand, not you.

Be a good King or Queen.  When there is a problem you need to do whatever you can to resolve it. People love to defend companies and products that went the extra mile for them.

I paid for “a”, but I got “a, b, c and they threw in d”!  When your customers know that you have their back they want to have yours.

When you talk about someone that you have known forever isn’t one of the most telling bit of information that, “he was always there for me.”?

Arm Them. Give them ammo things to convince unbelievers.  Give them content and make it shareable.  These are the slings and arrows that your Barbarians can use to protect and grow your brand.  Great content, articles, video anything.

Something that is cool and relates to the brand and can be co-opted and owned by your horde.

Anyway those are my thoughts.  If you have any comments feel free to post them below.  You can also follow me on twitter at travisabaker to hear my random daily thoughts.