What do Nike, TOMS shoes and Starbucks have in common?

They each have built a product, service or brand around an emotional connection. Those connections are: Being better at sports; purchasing shoes because it helps clothe a child in need; and wanting to meet with friends in a relaxing environment, respectively. Each one of these brands has succeeded in creating an emotional connection when you purchase their products.

How can your security company do the same?

How do you create a brand (and then sell it) that makes a potential customer think about nothing else but your company for the next two minutes after visiting your website, reading your postcard, or seeing your message?

In weekly creative meetings with our staff, we typically encourage our team to share inspiring ads, articles or ideas they feel can help improve our edge. 

During one particular creative session, we visited Ad Age’s website to watch a video that inspired us all. It was a video about homeless people that exist in all of our cities and how they have become almost transparent and unnoticeable. For this video, the producers took a handful of family members, including spouses and close friends, disguised them with clothes and makeup to look as if they were actually homeless, and positioned them on a path where every day their loved one or friend would walk by them on their way to work. The results were surprising. Not one of the loved ones was recognized. Some even looked right at their loved one and just kept on walking. Others didn’t even care to look in their direction — they had become “invisible.”

The people being set up had been notified ahead of time that a film crew would be recording them when they came into work, interviewing them for a documentary about loved ones. As each individual finished their walk and reached their job location, they were interviewed with great detail about the closeness of their relationships with their spouse, cousin, brother, etc. After the interview, they were shown the videos of themselves walking to work and passing right by their family member or friend without notice. As you can imagine, the emotional and tearful reaction, once realizing that the person they had just walked by was someone they loved, hit close to home.

After watching this video with our staff, there was not a sound throughout the room — each staff member just sat still. For the next three to five minutes we were connected to that video; we could not stop talking about it. That is where the “aha” moment happened.

How can dealers and integrators make that type of a connection with their potential customers? How can they create Web content, videos, collateral materials and messaging that makes their potential customer think about nothing else but their company or product for the next five minutes after experiencing it?

We believe the answer is to create material that surrounds your potential customer with lifestyle scenarios that make them question whether or not their loved ones are protected, and whether or not the security technology they choose is tied in with their lifestyle. Don’t picture a burglar on your ad material that reads, “Protect Your Home!” Purchasing a security system to protect one’s family is a given.

Create a scenario of a typical household; paint the picture of a busy morning getting the kids ready and rushing out the door, only to be reminded with a prompt that the homeowner forgot to lock the door, close the garage door, or turn down the air conditioning. Let them know that they can get an automatic text alert when their child comes home from school. Give them peace of mind. A home security system with home automation now is much more than security; it connects one’s family with their lifestyle. Your marketing and advertising materials need to reflect that.

Make potential customers feel as if there is no other security company that understands and connects with them. Should you like to learn more or see the video we described, visit MoreOnMoo.com where we will share inspiring videos, ideology on the purple cow and answer any questions you may have.  

 David Morgan and Alex Chavez are co-founders of Security Dealer Marketing, a full-service marketing agency for the security industry, servicing dealers, integrators, manufacturers and other industry professionals. Visit Security Dealer Marketing at www.sdmktg.com.