by Lynne Gordon (@lynne_gordon) The ‘Reason to Believe’ — that building block of classical marketing concepts — has long been a topic of debate among brand-builders. Does my brand need one? What’s the most convincing choice of Reason to Believe (RTB)? And how should I communicate it in a compelling way?
In a quest for convincingness, brands often suffer from RTB overload without delivering the desired result; a brand story consumers not only believe, but connect with. Far from the marketing debate, a food truck struck me with the solution to reinventing RTBs — not just as reasons to believe, but as levers for differentiation and an opportunity to bring life to the brand promise.
The what and why of RTBs
Brands have long fought the battle for market share using RTB ammunition. Ranging from product demos to magic ingredients, superiority claims to endorsements, RTBs are designed as proof points to support the believability or superiority of a brand’s promised benefit. And the need for believability is compelling; copy-testing experts will tell us that concepts with unique RTBs do generate significantly higher trial, lending credibility to the brand’s promise and driving convincingness.
Yet there’s something decidedly ‘old school’ about classical RTBs. Global celebrity endorsements, side-by-side product demos and expert stamps of approval may all deliver at a rational level, but do they really go far enough to provide a compelling reason to fall in love with a brand? Is the RTB dead, or is there a new way to win not only rational credibility but drive unique meaning and connection using reasons to believe?
Reinventing the RTB
Balkan Burger’s mission is about “redefining the burger experience”. It’s taking food-truck culture by storm and has done a good job of convincing me that its burgers — and its brand experience — are special and unique.
Created by a Serbian brother-sister team, Balkan Burger is a true homegrown gem: invented and run by the Ivanovic family, trading in food trucks and markets, and growing into a Jozi icon. The burgers are yummy; the food experience is engaging; the brand is genuine, simple, lovable. And it’s fuelled by smart RTBs that attract trial in a competitive market.
Balkan Burger describes its food with precision and passion. Showcasing a new ‘burger fold over’ method used to ensure no soggy buns, it focuses on two key aspects: the best ingredients, for the best consumer experience. I’m sold. After all, who wants a soggy burger bun? It’s not complicated science or proprietary technology but a simple, inventive way to improve the product and make better burgers.
Taking it further, alongside a seamless product story, it makes smart use of endorsement: showcasing not lofty claims and institutes but genuine social media recommendations from local foodie culture. The stall proudly displays the accolade of “Best burger in Joburg” conferred by The Star. This is no stretch to celebrity fame and global expertise; it’s local, relevant endorsement by real people who eat at Balkan Burger.
The result is a warm, genuine brand and an offering clearly differentiated from competition by clever use of product stories and endorsements. That’s two classical RTBs, reinvented to support a simple brand promise of a new burger experience.
Lessons for marketers:
The RTB can be part of the modern lovemark but needs a facelift to become not just a reason to engage rationally and believe the brand but a reason to love its story.
- Tell unique stories of product creation that relate clearly to your benefit. “Magical science” may be receding as a compelling reason for consumers to believe, but that doesn’t mean ingredient stories hold no traction. The allure of beautycare lies often in the action of unique ingredients. Food brands face increasing consumer demands for transparency and quality in their ingredients. Ingredients still matter, especially when they support simple stories of quality, uniqueness or effectiveness. Weave the ingredients into beautifully-told stories of your product’s creation, and you might just strike gold!
- Use RTBs to support the consumer’s experience of your most unique and powerful benefits. Amazon uses “one-click buying” as an RTB for its promise of simplicity, creating what is truly a seamless and differentiated user experience that keeps me coming back to its brand to buy again. It’s a functional RTB that supports what is probably one of the most important benefits in an online world — ease of use. Relating your RTB directly to a superior experience of brand use provides compelling differentiation.
- Look for opportunities to create and leverage social endorsement as the new standard of believability and trust. Endorsement will always be most powerful when generated from impartial consumers just like me, not in a TV commercial, but in independent sources accessed via word of mouth or otherwise. Managing and maximising your social endorsements will trump other ‘stamps of approval’ every time.
So I’m a believer. The RTB is not dead.
But, as homegrown brands create seamless stories to support their benefits, so marketers need to challenge themselves to go beyond the obvious, reinventing RTB as reasons to love your brand.
Lynne Gordon (@lynne_gordon) is the managing director at strategic marketing consultancy Added Value. She learned marketing on-the-job and is fascinated by the streets of South Africa, where small entrepreneurs — untrained as marketers — apply the art and science of branding to their businesses.
Her monthly MarkLives column, “Homegrown”, explores everyday businesses and the lessons corporate marketers can learn from the streets of Mzansi. Share your own observations, photos and examples of marketing from SA’s roadside with @lynne_gordon on Twitter.
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