“Our jobs as marketers are to understand how the customer wants to buy and help them do so.” – Bryan Eisenberg
What is the chief driver for consumers to purchase your brand and not your competitors’ products? Pricing, brand loyalty, or perhaps the availability of your brand versus the competition?
As the quotation mentioned above by Bryan Eisenberg states, the core function of a brand marketer is to understand the consumer’s needs and then to position your brand in such a way that the customer will choose your brand over your competitor’s brand.
In his article titled “How to Leverage Human Engagement To Build Brand Loyalty,” Joey Kercher notes that “building brand loyalty is immensely valuable for brands and businesses because loyalty is a driving factor behind sales.” Additionally, the Garter Group has conducted studies which show that on average 80% of sales are acquired from only 20% of a company’s customers. Most of these sales come from repeat purchases by the same customers.
Branding and brand loyalty
As part of the quest to leverage brand loyalty to improve your company’s sales figures, let’s take a look at dual concepts of branding and brand loyalty:
Branding
Branding is the methodology used to create a unique name and image for a product that will resonate with the consumer. Furthermore, branding’s goal is to establish a meaningful and distinctive market presence that will both attract and retain loyal customers.
Brand loyalty
Brand loyalty is where consumers become devoted fans of a particular brand, and they continue to buy the same brand over time. Loyal customers purchase the same brands, irrespective of convenience or price.
Creating and maintaining brand loyalty
Given these concepts, it is clearly important to create and then maintain brand loyalty. To emphasize this, 67% of sales are derived from repeat customers and not new customers. The book, “The Loyalty Effect” by Frederick F. Reichheld and Thomas A. Teal has calculated that a “5% increase in loyal customers would mean a 25% to 100% increased profit per loyal customer.” As these figures show, it is vital to grow your brand’s following or the number of consumers who are loyal to your brand.
Before we look at ways to create and maintain brand loyalty, it’s important to take cognizance of the critical role branding plays in the sale of your products. This is why it is much better to engage a professional branding company like Basecreate to advise you on the best way to brand your products.
Here are a few ways to create brand loyalty:
Inspiration
Your brand should inspire people. It should sell more than just the product. People need to feel connected to the brand through emotion and innovation.
Promote core values
Your brand’s mission and your company’s core values should be similar, if not the same. As soon as your target audience identifies with your business’s mission, ethos, and values, they will consider buying your brand.
Consistency
Your brand’s message should be consistent across all channels. As soon as consumers find any discrepancies, they will no longer trust your brand and move onto a competitor’s brand.
Keep these branding tips in mind when creating and maintaining your own company brand. They will go a long way in ensuring that your customers and clients identify with you brand.