Yesterday, I wrote a post about how effective I think Build-A-Bear’s customer communications are. Today, I want to explore why I think they’re so effective.

Businesses and brands have 1 goal – sell more product. There are many elements to their particular business that helps or distracts them from accomplishing that goal. Branding, reputation, customer service, leadership, staffing, and communications are all critical. Perhaps the most critical, however, is the consumer. Something (and someone) that the brand has absolutely no control over. All they can do is establish principles and beliefs that are core to the brand and work as hard as they can to effectively communicate to consumers across all elements of their business.

The foundation of brands and their story is the emotional pull that attracts consumers. And the emotion is really the thing that not only drives sales, but sustains relationships over the long-term. And sustaining relationships over the long-term results in loyalty and advocacy. Loyalty and advocacy drive personal sales and also result in word-of-mouth referrals, which can lead to more sales. So, I believe a strong secret to success is creating and tapping into this emotion.

This is what I believe Build-A-Bear is incredibly effective at. I think the things that enable them to be so effective at creating and tapping into this emotion are:

1. They understand their identity, principles and beliefs. They know who they are, what they stand for, and what they believe. This is the foundation to their business. It’s why people come to work for them and ultimately, why people continue to buy stuff from them.

2. Everyone and every channel work in concert with one another. Without seeing behind the curtain and the inner-workings of their organization, you get a strong sense that marketing, communications and retail are all on the same page. Direct mail to the website to the online community to the store. It’s like it’s one big communication – or story – regardless of where you’re interacting with the brand.

3. They actually have a communications plan, most specifically a CRM (customer relationship management – which is a bad term) plan. Having buy-in, within the organization, on the importance of a fully integrated, cross-channel communications plan is the first step. Many organizations cripple themselves with the seemingly overwhelming complexity of such buy-in and as a result, never get to actually creating the plan. And this –creating the plan – is the second step. Then, with a plan, each department within the organization can work to add and optimize. Having a plan is easy in theory, but difficult in anything beyond. Build-A-Bear has made a commitment to communicate in a measured, relevant way with their customers.

4. The bear is the connection. The beautiful thing about the bear is that it is the emotional tie. It is the best friend. It is the lifelong companion. It automatically comes with emotional connections.

In this hyper-connected, multi-screened world that we live in, integrated and consistent communications are more and more critical to brands. One big story.

But even then, I don’t think it’s enough. Just as Build-A-Bear does, I think creating and tapping into emotions – through every touchpoint – are the thing that’s builds and sustains relationships over the long-term.

Who else do you feel is effective at creating and tapping into emotions with their communications?

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: these guys at Build-A-Bear have it figured out. For a business that is centered around creating best friends for boys and girls of all ages, it’s encouraging (and not surprising) to see how important relationships are to them. But I think they provide a great model in how they use the emotional pull of relationships to drive foot traffic and sales.

Earlier in the summer, we received this in the mail:

A fun, little, fold-out booklet that allows you to create a simple scrapbook and play a few games while you’re at it.

My daughter has kept it under lock and key ever since she pulled it out of our mailbox. She just thinks it’s so neat to look at everything in her “own” little booklet. It’s about her and her bear and all of the possibilities that they have together.

While all of that is great, here’s the thing that really made me happy:

And not because I want a free pool for Build-A-Bearville.

But because of what it stands for.

Yes, it’s essentially a coupon, but for this particular communication, they’re driving me to their online community, not into the store. Which I really appreciate and think is great. This is a different kind of transaction. They’re driving me deeper into the brand experience, pulling on both mine and my daughter’s emotions. They know that the more invested we get in the online community, the more we build out and personalize our experience, the more likely we are to eventually come into the store. And tell others about this community. And our experience.

That’s not all…

Last week, I received this email:

It was of no surprise because last year, I received the same. But in contrast to the swimming pool coupon that drove me deeper into the online community experience, this one is intended to get me into the store. Once I’m in the store, they know I’m probably going to spend more than $5.oo and even more, they’ll have another opportunity to enhance my entire Build-A-Bear experience.

All of this through 2 personalized communications with me. When you think about it, these communications are nothing mind-blowing, particularly from a communicator’s/marketer’s standpoint. But effective doesn’t have to be mind-blowing. It just has to drive action. And that action can be had through emotions.