Businesses shouldn’t just solve problems; they should create experiences that transform how customers feel and behave. Having a unique and memorable customer experience is one of the most powerful ways to build a brand. Your brand is the promise you make. Your customer experience is how you deliver on that promise.
Recently, I was speaking with the CEO of a wellness company. She’s been serving patients for more than a decade and cares deeply about their experience. As I listened, I realized something. Her patients were receiving good service. They were being treated with care and attention.
But there wasn’t anything that made me think, “people will tell their friends about this.”
There’s a difference.
Good customer service meets expectations. Remarkable customer experiences exceed them in ways people want to talk about.
So I asked her, “What are you doing to be memorable?”
What are you doing that makes patients recommend you before you even ask? What are you doing that makes someone pull out their phone and text a friend, “You have to check this place out.”
She told me they had partnered with a YouTube influencer who visited the clinic, documented the experience, and shared it with their audience. That’s useful. But it’s paid media. Where’s the earned media?
Earned media occurs when customers voluntarily become your marketing department. You can’t buy that. You have to design for it.
The businesses people never stop talking about don’t simply provide a better product or better service. They create moments people can’t wait to share. That’s how brands spread. Not because they asked customers to post. Because customers wanted to.
The question every business should ask is simple: “What story are we intentionally creating that customers will tell for us?”
Bottom line: Great businesses engineer stories worth telling.
