A loyalist or a switcher? What makes you loyal or what is it about the competition that lures you away? I was reading an article by new blogger Adam Marcal about this very topic. Adam, in his Boundaries of Brand Loyalty article, speaks about how he shared a meal with Heinz’ Vice President Bill Simon (US Category Development & Sales Operations) and the conversation shifted to the non-condiment division, namely Smart Ones Healthy Meals. Speaking quite candidly, Adam said that he is driven to purchase the competitor by price. Does this make him a switcher? Is he or any consumer that is driven by price and that brands are interchangeable? Are there some brands that are interchangeable where others are not? What makes a brand interchangeable? Do we sacrifice taste or in other instances quality to save a buck? Or as consumers are we not seeing any difference between products which makes us buy based upon our perceived value?
Brand loyalty, we all strive for it. We want and need our customers to be loyal to us. We work hard to make people to notice us by traditional advertising and building an online community all to elicit brand loyalty. As we build a client base and have new offerings we are confident that our current client base, provided they are the core target, will jump on board and purchase. If not why would anyone ever introduce a new product … on a whim that someone random person who has never been exposed to us nor have their trusted resources will buy?
What Builds Brand Loyalty
Brand loyalty is more than performance. Consumer demands are higher and they expect more from their brand but where does differentiation exceed interchangeability? A product must meet or exceed expectations but that is after the sale. Loyalty begins before the sale as if they never purchase, they cannot be loyal. So, how do you elevate your brand and avoid switching? Does longetivity equal trust and loyalty? We see online or in traditional advertising where the company mentions how long they have been in business. Does that connect emotionally to make them buy because you have been around longer? Probably not. So what outside of personal preference, when we think of brand loyalty and building it, what do we do?
1. Competition Differentiators. What sets you apart from the competition? Starbucks created an entirely new lingo for ordering coffee sizes. This is on a larger/big brand scale but as a smaller business it means narrowly defining your offering and creating your differentiator that clearly sets you apart from your competitor. What really separates you from the rest? As an advertising and social media agency that caters to small business owners, what sets Kherize5 apart from the others? Is it as simple as who we have worked with or is it how we can make you look good and get noticed?
2. Features & Benefits. Features and benefits draw people in to develop a need and want to have. In products the features range from taste for food and drink to convenience to affordability. Think as a consumer … why should this my product and extend to service industry how does what I offer become a part of their life?
3. Interchangeability. What is the driving force to make people switch? Price? Do people think “It is almost as good and I can get by?” The key is to make sure that there is not a reason to switch or even be interchangeable. This is not to smear the competition as we can differentiate and resonate with consumers by focusing on offerings and not the generic things that are different. What makes Diet Pepsi the ONLY diet soda that I will drink? What makes Vlasic pickles and Heniz Ketchup the only pickles and ketchup for me and my son? Is it all that we know or are we making that choice to not go with what is the cheapest on a whim?
There is so much more that we can think of or experience but the underlying factor is what makes you worth listening to and buying from? Yes the emotional connection is big but how do you get there? What are you doing to not be interchangeable? The advertising and social media marketing industry is swamped but yet it is not. The food industry is flooded but yet new restaurants still open. All industries or most are flooded but there are people or companies that stand out – are you one of them or just interchangeable?
So what are you doing to not be interchangeable?
Interested in reading or hearing more about Adam, check out his blog, (he is a meterologist and n0w a new blogger who is defecting to the business world as he embarks on is MBA in the fall).
photo credit: Lani Barbitta