Loyalty. A simple word, but a complicated concept.
We hear it all the time within the context of friendships and filial relationships. But with marketing? Loyalty is very much a less common phrase.
That doesn’t make sense, however. If sports fans can exhibit intense brand loyalty to a specific sports team, then why can’t customers exhibit intense brand loyalty to a company that produces a product or service that has positively impacted their lives?
The truth is that brand loyalty is very much a thing in the modern era, and if your company isn’t taking advantage of that phenomenon then you’ll quickly fall behind the curve.
In this article, we’ll explain how brand loyalty happens, and how you can start building that same kind of loyalty within your customer base.
Why Does Brand Loyalty Happen?
To understand the phenomenon of brand loyalty, think about what inspires loyalty just in general.
For me, I’m loyal to that which produces a positive impact in my life, and that which I have a close connection to. I have a close connection to my family, and thus I am loyal to them. My friends positively impact my life with their conversation, advice, and fellowship. Thus, I am loyal to them.
The same concept applies to brands. Brands that positively impact their customers’ lives are the kinds of brands that see intense loyalty from their customer base.
How Does Your Company Positively Impact Customer Lives?
The first step to building a brand marketing strategy that inspires loyalty is answering the following question.
How does my company positively impact customer lives?
Think about this from an in-depth perspective. If you sell fitness technology, for instance, you don’t just impact a customer’s life by making their gym experience more convenient. Instead, you are enabling a customer to live a healthier lifestyle that will in turn positively impact their self-confidence, the relationships they have with others, and their self-discipline.
Get to the “why” behind what you do. That is what you should use as your new focal point to all of your brand marketing strategies.
Whether it’s content marketing, social media, paid advertising, or any other form of a multi-channel marketing strategy, you should leverage the answer to the above question.
What Kills Brand Loyalty
Now that you know what builds brand loyalty, it’s also important to be cognizant of the kinds of things that kill brand loyalty. First and foremost is a deterioration of your product or service.
If your product or service gets worse over time, customers will feel cheated. Hold yourself to the same high standard of excellence throughout.
Furthermore, if you’re in the news for any negative reason (for instance, a harassment lawsuit against one of your employees), then loyalty will evaporate. Customers don’t want to associate themselves with that kind of company.
Wrapping Up
Congratulations! You’ve now officially learned the dos and don’ts of building brand loyalty with business marketing strategies. It’s time for you to implement them at your company.
For more small business advice, make sure to check out the rest of the articles on our website!