Why Are We Loyal To Some Brands Over Others?

Lately I’ve been thinking about the reasons why we, as consumers, stay loyal to a particular product or brand.  What drives us to pay that slight premium and purchase our favoured product over an own label or competitor equivalent?

The most obvious reason for this loyalty is that the brand in question has built up a trust with the consumer either through its promotional messages or through a previous positive experience.  Recently, when decorating a bedroom, I limited my choice of colours to one particular paint manufacturer.  This was not because I knew they’d have a colour which I liked, rather because I had used their paints before and knew that I liked their finish.  I was prepared to pay slightly more for a product I believed was superior.

However, how do we as marketers build this trust in the first place?  Whilst it may contain a voucher/points based reward scheme, your loyalty strategy should be much more than that.  To be successful it requires time, commitment and most of all consistency.  Your brand needs to have an identity which people can relate to and which remains consistent no matter how or where consumers interact with it.  Each member of staff needs to be a brand ambassador and present a uniform style when communicating.  Consumer expectations must be met and, if possible, exceeded.  Above all else though, the brand messages have to resonate with your chosen customer segments so that they become your brand advocates.

All of the above will, if done correctly, strengthen your brand in the eyes of your consumer and decrease the chances of them switching to one of your competitors.  What is more, should disaster strike and a catastrophe occur, a solid crisis management strategy which is linked to your brand strategy will help insulate you from the effects and potentially inspire greater loyalty in the future.

Our June event “Successfully Branding Your Business” focuses on how to build a brand and looks at not just the tangible aspects (such as logos, colours and straplines) but also the emotional side.   It explores brand reflections, discusses brand storytelling and will explain why branding is as much about psychology as it is about technology.  To find out more about this event, and to book, please visit the CIM website.

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