What all brand managers can learn from outdoor guides
This article is first in a series on branding in the outdoor industry and adventure tourism.
Anyone with an MBA will tell you the customer is always right. But this doesn't mean you're wrong, it's a matter of perspective and taking responsibility for the customer's experience, because afterall, you made it.
Outdoor guides do this better than anyone, and we can all learn something from how they do it.
Tuning in to each clients' individual needs, they provide just the right amount of management and encouragement so they get the best outcome. This is about building a relationship based on trust. Push it too far and you've got a client over-stretched. The best guide will bring them back and turn it around so that even after a few tears it's a positive experience that they'll never forget.
This takes monk-like humility, compassion and emotional intelligence on another level to tune into each individual's needs, and leave them in a better place than where they started.
Now read that again and replace "outdoor guides" with "brands" and you'll see where I'm going with this.
Serving the customers needs is where good branding starts and ends. Everything else is just navel gazing.
"The toughest thing about the power of trust is that it's very difficult to build and very easy to destroy. The essence of trust building is to emphasise the similarities between you and the customer."
- Thomas J. Watson, CEO of IBM from 1914 to 1956
The relationship between guide and client is built on the basis that the client is trusting someone else with their life, which has the habit of focussing the mind.
The outdoor guide archetype
What does an outdoor guide actually do?
In a nutshell, they create an atmosphere of trust underpinned by safety procedures, the right equipment and strong communication. This provides a platform for safe adventure, fun, and an opportunity for clients to be vulnerable enough to learn something new about themselves. The clients are left beaming and fulfilled, our guide is an absolute legend.
All of this took planning and careful execution with the client always front of mind.
I can't think of a better archetype for how businesses should be approaching everything they do, especially their branding.
In this article I've use an archetype of an outdoor guide to help me describe abstract brand concepts. Archetypes are also a useful tool in understanding your own brand. If you've got 2 minutes I have a fun exercise for you, If you were a cheese »