Vote with your wallet. What exactly does that mean?
Voting with or against a brand, and what the brand stands for, is what voting with your wallet means. It’s one of the most powerful things we can do as consumers and customers, and recipients at the other end of that brand relationship, is to vote at the checkout stand. Right now, it’s a very, very active time, especially in the United States, around what’s happening in government. Back in the fall of 2016 and part of the election process, at that time candidate Trump had been found out to say some pretty salacious, is the word now, salacious things about women, and grabbing women and parts of their bodies. That, of course, created a huge outrage. The response to that, the resistance and the persistence against that, is grab your wallet. That’s actually a hashtag now. The power of social communication and keeping a conversation stirring … I see it like creating cotton candy, where you go around and the sugar slowly forms this pink, fluffy, delicious, cloudy product. Social has the ability to stir information so that news doesn’t die. Voting with your wallet is not a new concept, but it’s a very, very powerful brand relationship tactic. What I want you to understand about this is that you are not hearing anything about the product itself. Not about the quality, the price, the promotion, or the placement, those being the classic marketing P’s of a marketing a product or a service. Voting with your wallet is a very powerful brand relationship tactic. #brandsthatinspire Click To Tweet
It’s about brand values.
What you’re voting with or against is what that brand stands for, what that company is aligning to. What we’re doing with voting with our wallet is we’re saying I’m with you, or I’m not with you, or I believe what you believe, or I do not support what you believe and I’m going to let you know. When enough drops in the bucket form a bucket of communication, that message is directly heard and felt by the brand. It’s really important to be clear about what you stand for.
Your customers are looking for your leadership.
Choosing not to stand for something is a very strong statement. It is a stance. It’s one that your customer are not going to tolerate. Not standing for something is just a sign of weakness. It’s not a strong, courageous act. In these times, we’re looking for your leadership. We’re looking for what do you stand for. The question is, what are you willing to lose business over? We want to do business with brands that stand for something that we can get behind and we can get with.
You do not need to shout.
All businesses, but particularly now, small and local businesses, want to get crystal clear about what they stand for, and then decide how they want to use their voice. You can stand for something very quietly and in a very distinctive and in an eloquent way, yet still have a stand. People will demand it from you. If you don’t stand for something, you’re standing for something. Like I said, that’s probably not a great idea. 
Kerri Konik is a seasoned senior branding executive who has committed her focus and expertise to bringing big agency strategies to business owners and entrepreneurs to achieve next level growth. Kerri is the CEO of her 5th venture, Brandscape Atelier, a women-owned boutique agency specializing in strategic branding for small business. They develop brand strategy, identity, messaging and marketing that ignites emotional connection, increases sales, drives growth and profits, resulting in sustainability and achieving a greater impact in the world.