One Step Closer: Bringing brand stories to life
How do you know what your customers really want? Just ask them.
It seems that all we did in 2022, was talk about sustainability. How important it is to us, how we need to embrace policies to support it, and what great plans we have for the following 12 months. We talked a lot about how it was something that we would eventually get around to – that it was certainly next on our agenda.
At Wasted Media and Our Positive Future, we heard all the talk , but not a lot of the action. Of course, we could see that businesses genuinely wanted to do more, but didn’t know where or how to start. As we started working with companies on a daily basis over the past year, we discovered something more.
People are afraid to get it wrong.
‘Will this turn my customers off’; ‘Will I be accused of green washing?’ ‘How do I know if the market is ready for me to make these changes?’
Our response was quite simple. If you are genuine in your intentions, this will shine through in your actions. This is new territory for everyone, so yes, you might get it wrong, but you will only know that when you try. However, there is a more basic way of finding out what your customers want to see.
One Step Closer
In early 2022, we started working with Joanna Mulkeen and her team at One Step Closer, a company dedicated to finding out exactly what customers want in terms of sustainability initiatives – and then provide them with a platform that holds their hand throughout the full journey. They work with brands and companies that are committed to doing better and making a real difference within the organisation.
One Step Closer provides companies with a live engagement platform where their customers, followers and the general public can vote on what sustainability campaign they would like to see from that organisation.
The brand simply presents options of sustainability campaigns on a live interactive voting platform that allows the audience to view each campaign and vote on the one they want to see actioned. The platform itself is set up for a great user experience with strong and clever visuals, helping the user to navigate through the voting steps.
But the real beauty of this platform is what happens next. The audience is updated throughout the process so they can see the progress of the campaign they voted for. This ensures that each individual is fully engaged with the brand.
When the results come in, the audience feels truly part of that journey, giving them a real sense of empowerment and a positive feeling towards the brand.
Engage, Excite, Empower.
Brands today are keen to tell us about the great things they have done, or plan to do, when it comes to sustainability. But it means very little to the consumer. There is an element of ‘so what’ and ‘everyone is doing that now’.
If brands took the time to engage with their audience at the outset and ask them what they want to see from that brand, consumers will feel actively and personally part of that brand’s sustainability journey – and that’s a game changer.
In today’s digital landscape, people are asked to ‘Like,’ ‘follow’, ‘Share’ at every opportunity. But they never get a chance to see the impact of that action. They never get to hear the end of the story.
One Step Closer gives an opportunity to brands to really engage their audience in a tangible way, by making them part of the story. This is a company who understands about true audience engagement.
One Step Closer works with brands across the country, in every sector. Definitely one to check out this year.
