I was thinking this week about how brands can become like good friends to consumers. We know them, trust them, and even rely on them in our day to day lives.

That shorthand for trust is part of what makes brands so powerful in the global marketplace. Customers pay a premium for security and quality, seek out the known over the unknown, and stay loyal to brands that “work” for them, both in tangible and intangible ways.

Thinking of brands as friends of sorts made me think of the concept of “friendship branding.” Friendship branding is a moniker I first came across in the book Customers for Keeps by Lois Geller.

Friendship branding is not a new area of branding, per se, but rather a hybrid of existing internal and external brand elements, and a new way of viewing the brand in relation to the customer's expectations and use.

As Lois puts it so well, “Friendship branding is about thinking of your company in a human way. Those are the companies that build loyalty over time. It's about ways that your brand can deliver distinctive consumer satisfaction and build long-term relationships with each and every person that buys from you. It's about building brands that people respect and enjoy.”

Friendship branding is more than just a one-time effort; rather, it takes the 360-degree view of the brand and the user to create a unique experience that makes the brand more than a name, promise, jingle, or logo.

It takes the brand and makes it an experience, one that the consumer wants to repeat again and again.

Friendship branding recognizes the ability of a brand to transcend mass media and be applied to the idea of a relationship between two parties--the customer and the company. Much of the time in marketing, the experience is not always a personal, one-on-one experience.

Friendship branding it makes it personal. It takes the best of both the branding and marketing disciplines to create an experience in lieu of a direct face-to-face relationship. After all, as Lois states, people “connect with companies that are reflections of who and what they would like to be, and whose products, services, and brands enhance their lifestyle and image.”

The basic premise behind friendship branding is very simple: treat your customers the way you would treat your friends, with respect and honesty. People seek out friends, and brands, that do so, and look to continue their relationship with these friends, or brands. People are drawn to things that offer a sense of community, trust, and recognition.

While in the 21st century we are in many ways more connected than ever, we are also more disconnected than ever. The corner store in practice may be a thing of the past, but in theory it doesn't have to be, not if the concept of the brand as a long-term relationship builder is put into play. And friendship branding is one framework for doing so.

Remember, no longer are brands doing consumers a “favor” by wanting to associate with them. In this economy, the customer is always in charge, and we need to make them know that we understand we are not doing them a favor by accepting their custom, but rather that they are doing us one by selecting our brand and offering their custom. And we need to prove that with every interaction.

But how to do it? In her book Lois says there are eight steps to friendship branding:

1. Put a human face on your company
2. Use first impressions to create a lasting friendship
3. Connect with the right customers
4. Listen to your customers
5. Share with your customers
6. Make your customers feel secure
7. Build trust between you and your customers
8. Create friendships that last; go the extra mile and offer superlative service and products.

Now, you may read them and think “isn't that obvious?”

The answer is yes, but frequently the obvious is what gets overlooked.

People will spend thousands, even hundreds of thousands of dollars on fancy CRM software packages, benchmarking studies, and corporate realignments. But in the process, the basics--the true underpinnings of successful businesses and brands--get left by the wayside. And if that happens, customers leave the brand by the wayside, leaving them for brands that offer more in the way of friendship branding.

Brands become like old friends. And as consumers, we always will seek out the product or service that has done right by us in the past.

Brands are shorthand for trust; we trust our friends, don't we? By moving your brand beyond basic branding to friendship branding, you can take a large step towards ensuring that your brand stays germane, sought after, and successful. Building friendship and trust is at the heart of every successful brand.

In this current global climate of uncertainty, now more than ever people seek out the known over the unknown, and seek out the comforting and trusted brands.

Apply the principles of friendship branding to make your brand stand out, stand up, and be counted! Your friends will thank you for it.