Small Business Branding: Are You A Loyalist or Switcher?
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 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?
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