Any major global brand today has learned to sustain itself by building a connection with its community. Developing a sense of involvement in the brand's push is what gives the community that connection. There is a need for mutual trust between the brand and its community in order to get this feeling of "involvement".
Brands for long, therefore, have been trying to find ways to involve their community in their projects. In this long-going search, crowdsourcing is one of the few tactics that have stood the test of time. Major brands like Coca-cola and Nissan to everyday global chains like McDonald's and Starbucks have tried, tested and found success by adopting this tactic in building their brand value and community strength.
As we have discussed earlier, Lego is another brand that has recently taken crowdsourcing to its next level. By using innovative crowdsourcing methods, Lego made itself the benchmark for building a substantial community. Today, we at MainCross intend to discuss this elementary business tactic that has infinite potential in today's online setup to expand with the help of vertical networking and platform building.
What is Crowdsourcing?
One of the underdogs in the Bundesliga which has gained recent success and popularity, Union Berlin, is one of the biggest inspirations for crowdsourcing strength to run any brand. Although taking this particular club is not ideal objectively, as they are completely fan-owned, it is the best possible example of a greatly run brand with the aid of its community. Let's discuss what crowdsourcing exactly is.
Crowdsourcing is the process in which brands get the aid of their communities in building their monetary and intellectual assets. Such a process shows the biggest wealth for a brand; its community. Many brands have used crowdsourcing from time to time in order to develop their value and network.
Multitude of perspectives
With the involvement of a community, brands could find the nature of the ever-changing market. Each member of a community who is an expert at a specific aspect could bring in a very rich perspective that has not been looked upon by the brand. This also lets the brand understand the market needs, enabling them to bring their unique essence to their upcoming projects without compromising the trends.
Collaboration with the community
Making active co-creation campaigns with its communities lets brands create innovative products under the choices created and voted by the fans. This also lets brands empower members in their communities depending upon their contributions. When such projects come to fruition, brands also get an idea of what the community wants and expects out of its upcoming projects.
The recent campaign launched by Citroen where it built a car with the choices of its communities is a very relevant example of giving power to its communities in a positive way. Designs created along with the collaboration of its communities let the brand take inspiration for its next projects after it.
Another possibility of creating such events is also finding prospective talents that could contribute invaluably to the company. Somebody who already has a passion for the company with a brilliant skillset is an added advantage for any brand.
Brands have been using various interactive games and quizzes for a long time in both offline and online settings across industries and regions. This helps them to connect more with their communities. Such events enable brands to get out of their rigid templates of designs and bring creativity to their innovations. When the communities feel that involvement in the brand's projects, it creates a natural influx in its numbers and thus the brand value along with it.
Building an identity
Creating a local connection with the community lets the brand build an identity that resonates with its base. Crowdsourcing plays a massive role in building the identity of a brand. As we say, it's the customers who decide the brand and its products. If the brand is in connection with its community, its products are also in a unique landscape that fits itself in the community.
Creating offline campaigns and incorporating local features of the base into their marketing projects will also let the brand speak out its unique identity. This identity shall also bring in more customers to the brand due to the unique essence of their products.
Data Collection
By analysing various crowdsourcing practices, brands could bring amends and learn about the customers' likes and dislikes. This analysis can be conducted via the results obtained from various practices such as feedback forms and surveys. Collecting such data can also help the brand to face challenges of similar degrees in the near future.
Conflict Resolution
When a brand faces a problem, its community can help to find the best possible resolution. Crowdsourcing ideas and solutions for any ongoing problem will help the brand grow stronger. This also helps the brands to predict any future challenges and find ways to evade them with the help of their communities.
As we talk about conflict resolutions, one major conflict history has shown that brands find it tough to get out of is their financial constraints. Any brand under financial constriction can move towards various crowdsourcing methods such as crowdfunding and marketing for investors through events and campaigns.
Brands have also faced roadblocks in finding an innovative future product which was in the end helped by crowdsourcing practices to find a resolution. Therefore, any brand with a slight challenge can always depend on its community to find an answer.
The End Line
Crowdsourcing is and will be the foundation and the future of brand growth as we have been pointed rightly time after time. MainCross intends to help brands save time and effort to connect better with their communities by creating a one-stop platform for all needs. Because it is clear as daylight that it is the people who lay the bricks for any form of growth.
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