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~ By Walter Muzangaza

 

What is brand loyalty?

 

Brand loyalty as we understand it is when a customer not only just looks at a business and says, "I want this product or service", but goes further and says, "I prefer this brand because of one, two, three reasons", in a sea of competitors providing similar or substitutes meeting the same needs as your products or services.

 

There is that famous rivalry of Apple and Android where people ask each other the question, "What kind of person are you? Are you an Android person or are you an Apple person?

 

Some people are die hard, Apple Fans and some people are die hard Android fans. The phones essentially perform the same tasks with similar amount of efficiency. They send text messages, make calls and they both have access to a wide library of apps that allows people to be connected whether or not they are on Android or an Apple product. Objectively it should not matter which phone you are on because if you are on WhatsApp Facebook or Instagram, your messages will reach everyone regardless of their phone's operating system. But when you have built brand loyalty, it's when you have justified in the mind of your customer that this product is superior beyond the level of just money, beyond the level of simply providing the service itself. It now serves to satisfy an even greater set of needs that the customer did not even know could be satisfied with that product or service.

 

With Apple, It's needs like confidence, It's a sense of belonging to an exclusive community, its simplicity of design, It's  privacy and many more. With Android, It's more of universality. It's being able to have access to a wide array of apps and the ease of developing the software that comes with Android, Its the experience of freedom.

 

All these things matter to human beings and they are marketed to them them with so much volume that the customers end up saying, "I don't care about the money, I'm going to buy an Apple product." or "I don't care about being trendy. I'm going to buy the Android product because it resonates better with me my values". etc. 

 

That's what brand loyalty is to look at a brand and say, "I'm going to choose this one over all others", because for every product that exists out there, there are many competitors' substitutes in direct and indirect competition to your products and services that would satisfy the very same need that you are trying to satisfy in your customers. Creating Brand Loyalty will allow your business to thrive even in the presence of such competitor noise.

 

 

 

Customers want the best service and a part of that comes from knowing that the business is not only looking to just make a profit, but they're also providing the best service that exists.

 

Brand  Loyalty is inspired by various things that your business can have or does.

 

1. Nature of the product itself and how it meets customer needs.
   • What is the minimum need requirement that your product should meet to satisfy its promise.
   • Did it solve the problem?
   • What is the additional needs that it also meets?
   • How do these add value to the customers' life?
2. Customer care in teaching your customers about your products and services and how they make their lives better.
   • Loyalty is developed stemming from good human interactions.
   • You must show that you care about improving the lives of your customers by developing good relationships based on trust dignity and reliable service.
   • Smiling and friendly staff.
   • Teach them about your products and services and how their lives will be enhanced by using your business.
   • You can be friendly, professional and always looking to learn from the feedback that you receive.
3. Ease of doing business, are you easy to find and contact on Website and Social Media. Are you in Easily accesible physical location?
   • How easy is it to contact you?
   • How conveniently within reach can you be found close to where your ideal customer frequents?
   • How easy is it to buy your service? 
   • How long is the customer journey?
   • Is information about you and your business easily available?
   • Do you have clear call to actions?
4. The environment - Does your environment match the customer expectations of the kind of product /service you're selling e.g. selling high end goods in low income neighborhoods is not a good idea.
   • Is the customers you are targeting appropriate for the service you are offerring?
   • Are you in the typical environemt where your business ought to be found by the target customer?
   • Beyond your business, what other visible areas of value creation are you actively participating in? 
   • This creates loyalty opportunities and credibility in the community.
5. Rewards programs like cash backs, loyalty points refferal bonuses etc. Customers like to also be rewarded and delighted.
   • While not appropriate for every business, the principle stands that the customer needs to also be rewarded for taking certain actions. What programs and offerings do you have in place to be able to delight the customer various forms.
   • The current popular ones are the rewards programs, cash back, points based, vouchers etc
   • These will help spread you business by word of mouth and that is also free marketing.
6. Story Connection to the mission and the Vision and how that also includes the customer.
   • Humans feel a sense of loyalty to the people and things that they identify with.
   • Telling the story of your business, its motivating origins, its vision, its mission and
   • how this also connects to the customer will inspire a sense of growing loyalty with the customers and other stakeholders.

 

So how can you build valuable brand loyalty with your customers?

 

Study your Customer

 

Create your customer demographic profile and understand them better.

 

1. What is your customer look like? 
2. Age Range, Ethnicity, Income level etc
3. Where do they live?
4. What do they do?
5. What do they eat?
6. What do they spend their time and money on? 
7. What are the materials that they consume?
8. Which social media do they consume what topics of conversation are they interested in.

 

See article on building your Customer Demographic Profile. 

 

First, Understand who your customer is. Understand, not just what they want, but also understand what they need. 

 

People dont buy "wants", but they buy solutions that help them satisfy certain needs. Let's take a popular example, Nike shoes. Nike shoes are shoes first and foremost. Like all other shoes on the market they are footwear designed to protect the feet of the wearer when they are moving in various environments. This is how they meet the physiological need for clothing and the higher order of health and protection.

 

In addition to meeting these needs, Nike shoes come with a slogan, that says, "Just do it. "Just Do It", speaks to confidence. It speaks to self expression. It speaks to self-actualization by saying Just do it. Just do it! There's no judgment. Just do it! No fear! Just do it! You've always wanted to do it! Just do it! It's confidence! Beyond selling just shoes for protection of your feet and for clothing. In addition to the shoe, they're also selling you confidence as a higher lever solution to satisfy your self-actualization needs.

 

Confidence is one of the higher-level needs that are expressed in Maslows hierarchy of needs. When you get into the upper levels. You see it also talks to people who are active in life. So by wearing the Nike, Just do it shoes, you become part of a community of actively engaged people who are eager to take action and achieve their goals! By being a part of that community, the customer gets their need to have a sense of belonging met. All these needs met in the possibility of a single product, Nike shoes!

 

Understanding what your customer wants and framing your products and services to meet that is the key to building brand loyalty. If successful they will say, "I prefer this product, not because it's just a shoe, but it is shoe that gives me confidence a sense of belonging while keeping my feet protected and looking fashionable". 

 

Building highly valuable brand loyalty starts by understanding exactly what mental space you take in your customers' mind.

 

 

 

Secondly, Building a highly Valuable Brand requires Trust from all Stakeholders

 

Trust is when a customer knows that the business cares about them and does all it can to add honest value both in their life as an individual and well as in the community in which the business operates.

 

Building Trust depends on Two Pillars, Communication and Action. 

 

1. Do you have a communication strategy that accomodates the information needs of all your relevant stakeholders? 
2. Do you have "standard operating procedures," in normal circumstances as well as those designed for times of Crises?

 

In looking to building trust you will need to answer the following questions as the foundation on which to build your Trust Strategy.

 

1. Do you have as trust building strategy or Trust building plan?
2. How are you going to be building trust with your suppliers and distributors?
3. How you going to be building trust with your customers?
4. How are you going to build trust in the community in which your business operates?
5. How are you building trust with your partners and investors  
6. How are you going to build trust among your employees?

 

Building trust and having a communication strategy that inspires trust depends on meeting the trust requirements of your stakeholders.

 

While creating trust between the business and its customers is a primary consideration in creating brand loyalty, you also need to realise that the business relies on other stakeholders whose loyalty to the business and the brand is also needed. These are your employees, your investors, your suppliers, distributors and the community.

 

You want a motivated workforce. You want employees that say "I am proud to be working for this company." because they will go above and beyond to serve their best in efforts to delight the customer. You want a workforce that is very clear that the business will accomodate and reasonably support them when they need asssistance and accessing development opportunities. The business needs to invest in the upskilling and training of their employees such they may create more opportunities for upward mobility and growth. Happy employees that are loyal will serve as the best marketers and ambasadors of your business brand in the broader communities in which they live. They will spread word of mouth recommendations of the business. Studies have been shown that word of mouth marketing by a friend or family  member will often carry more potential to convert people into customers as it will be unpaid for therefore trusted more.

 

Investors and partners within the business and in the business's supply chain need to have trust to operate in good faith and benefit from synergy gains that result from open and timely communication and supportive action to the chain members that may be in need of support from time to time. As Simon Sinek said, "Transparency does not mean disclosing every single bit of information about everything to every stakeholder. Transparency is providing the context in which decisions are/were made" Being transparent in your communications with your stakeholders will allow them to understand what is happening and how decisions are being made. If they have issues they will voice them out and give their ideas which may end up giving more value. Transparency makes everyone feel included and more likely to feel they can trust the business. The more trust they have, the more loyal they will be.

 

 

 

The third part of building a highly Valuable Brand Loyalty is Strategy, Plans & Tactics

 

"Building a highly valuable brand does not happpen by accident. It is first envisioned for strategized for, planned for and executed in alignment with that vision."

 

While you do have the goal of building a highly valuable brand. You need a strategy that can be broken down into different plans that cover different parts of the business eg marketing, accounting, design, etc and within those plans various executional tactics.

 

Putting it all together

 

Strategy is all encompassing in rallying for movement in a particular direction across various business functions and various business units.

 

How do you go about building a highly valuable brand loyalty strategy? 

 

First define what is brand loyalty look like when measured?

What does it look like on various business function?

Is it more followers?

more market share?

Improved employee retention etc?

Set some goals that will be able to allow you to track whether or not this loyalty is increasing, e.g., it might be an online chatter in number of followers, in number of customers in number of even repeat customers. 

 

Second is asking guiding questions that help narrow down thinking in particular focus areas.

 

1. The chief guiding question need to be "how do we inspire brand loyalty in the following areas?
   • In our Customers
   • In our Stakeholders inside
   • Employees
   • Various business functions & Units
   • Partners actively involved in daily operations
2. In Stakeholders Outside of the Business
   • Suppliers
   • Distributors
   • Communities Sorrounding
3. Third is asking, How is your business superior to that of competitors
   • What is the psychological space we occuppy in our stakeholders minds?
   • What makes customers choose your business?
   • What makes customers avoid your business?

 

People are loyal to people, businesses and things that make them better off associating with them than not - Robert Greene.

 

Let your brand be a source of elevated dignity, love, respect and memorable experiences but all in a professional way.

 

Elevate the customer dignity of your clients and stakeholders. You greet them with dignity and respect. Keep good service going. McDonald's is famous for insisting that when the employees are serving their customers they should always greet and smile, which is a good thing that makes the customers feel welcomed and respected. When customers experience these things in your business they will quickly associate your business with elevated sense of dignity respect love and a welcoming environment which makes them want it more thus inspiring loyalty. Most customers feel the need to reciprocate when they are treated well, they will often do this by being loyal and encouraging other people to visit your business. 

 

In Summary

 

Brand Loyalty is very important and can result in elevating business perfomance to above average levels. For brand loyalty to be established and begin growing, a foundation needs to be put in place. The foundation is human relationships as seen and experienced from your business by various stakeholders. This is a foundation of familiarity cemented by trust. Loyalty comes from the feelings that the other party understands you communicates information that is important to you and acts in a way to fulfil the promises for which they made. 

 

In looking to create Trust and build Loyalty, you need to be strategic and detailed in your thinking about whom it is you are targeting to build trust with and you need to have a strategy, plans and various tactics that may be used i achieving them. In addition to that the development of loyalty can be broken down into measurable goals that can be tracked to see whether they have been working or not.

 

As people see and experience your brand, they should feel elevated in dignity, love, respect or have an experience that they are looking for in a way that they feel it added significant value beyond what the competitor is able to do. When done right, it should be able to be a tool to generate superior returns in good times and a protection shield in case of business difficulty. Creating brand loyalty should never be left to chance but should be Visioned, Strategised for Planned for and have tactics that allow the business to move from point A to B. Success is never accidental and must always be planned for and achieved according to strategy set.

 

 

Photo credits:

Marcos Paulo Prado (Unsplash):

My networking Apparel (Unsplash)

Kristian Egeland (Unsplash)

Ben Kolde (Unsplash)

Christina Wocinta (Unsplash)