Abstract
Brand loyalty can be understood simply as being loyal to a specific brand or purchasing repeatedly from the brand instead of alternating brands. Many brands use this strategy to their advantage in both advertising messages and business models. Companies that use this strategy include Amazon, which creates customer loyalty by offering low shipment rates, which will make the customers keep coming back.
The other companies include Apple, Facebook, Volvo, Nike, Hyundai, Walmart, etc. The best strategies used by companies to develop customer loyalty include investment in quality, the satisfaction of customers is key to customer loyalty, the use of the customer’s feedback, valuing every customer, use of technology to leverage customer satisfaction and involvement of the leaders. Therefore, if the brand needs to build loyalty, it’s essential to prioritize the customers.
Introduction
Customer and brand are two essential terminologies that are central to business management. Management should consider the two terms to understand the relationship between the business and the customer. The business relationship follows the form of brand loyalty that grows sufficiently strong and deep. Therefore, brand loyalty can be understood simply as being loyal to a specific brand or purchasing repeatedly from the brand instead of alternating the brands. It’s one of the important concepts found in marketing, and many brands try to create brand loyalty since the higher the number of customers loyal to the brand, the better the financial position of the brand. In this century, the competition has grown too high, and in this instance, it’s very difficult to acquire the consumer’s commitment.
Therefore, for brand marketers to win customers, they need to do more than send red roses since most customers decide to purchase based on their prevailing emotional standards between the consumer and the business (Aitchison, 2004). To ensure the relationship and emotion last, the management needs to understand the customers and their requirements to make them create an affinity and fall in love with the brand. This should grow to the extent that a person can overlook the other brand’s strong features and thus continue to purchase from one of the loyal brands he/ she is committed to. Many companies have been involved in setting up different strategies to build customer loyalty. Therefore, in this paper, we are going to illustrate the best business strategies that are being used to develop brand loyalty. The paper will also illustrate the new companies that are making strides in building brand loyalty and the way the company has created a market share.
Companies that use brand loyalty to build market share
Many brands use this strategy to their advantage in both advertising messages and business models. The companies that use this strategy include Amazon, which creates customer loyalty by offering low shipment rates, making customers keep coming back. The Amazon loyalty program has continued to grow by 20% each year; therefore, more than five million customers have signed up for the program (Kim, 2011). The other company is Apple Store, which provides a good and friendly environment in which customers have fun and familiarize themselves with the products offered by Apple Company, i.e., gadgets and computers.
The other company is Facebook, which has prevailed in the media. The company contains more than 750 million active users. The company has MySpace decimated, and it’s essentially out of the picture; the free reign of Facebook continues as the mainstream bulk of the firm, and this creates the company a greater number of loyal customers. The other is Zappos, which uses the loyalty-based business approach from the get-go. It creates a culture that naturally encourages repeat buying. Despite the fact that Amazon bought the company in 2009, Zeppo has stayed as an independent entity with its branding. This helped to make the loyal customers stay. The other company, Walmart, uses discount retail to encourage customers to purchase. The business doesn’t have an explicit loyalty program, but their continuous promise of the product’s daily low prices keeps the people coming. The other company, Volvo, has partnered with Lego to teach the youth and young children the basics of vehicle safety. The other one is Budweiser, which created a Super Bowl TV ad in 2013 that employed the message of a long-lasting friendship.
The eighth is Mary Kay, which is the top cosmetic brand at present. The company’s products have remained resilient to the customers despite some of the controversies that are being imposed on them. This gives them better and higher customer loyalty. The ninth company is Crest White Strips, which is the debut of the new tooth whitening class. Their five-minute speed-whitening system and the Rembrandt whitening enable customers to avoid discriminating against dental products. So, it’s essential for them to leverage an existing brand from the other brands so that the product performs by itself. The last one is Hyundai, which has had an inspiring long-term turnaround, and the rebranding of the products from cheap to premium has helped to get loyalty from the customers.
Best strategies to develop brand loyalty
Many companies have set up different strategies and approaches to create customer loyalty. The strategies range from the marketing process to the pricing, products, and reputation of the brand to impact the loyalty level a brand enjoys. The buying behavior can be affected by the factors essential in shaping the test and the consumer’s perception. The best example is the technology. These factors could also affect the loyalty of the customer to the brand and the purchasing attitude regarding a specific brand. There are many benefits to brand loyalty (Pratap, 2017). Despite a direct impact on the market share and the bottom line, the release of the new products is easy for the brand that has a greater level of customer loyalty. Since it’s difficult to create customer loyalty to the brand, investing in it and strategies on the techniques and methods they will use to build loyalty are some of the strategies that are being used in the 21st Century as follows.
Invest in Quality
The most important aspect that attracts customers to a specific brand is the quality of the brand. Despite the situation, the business should aim to keep the product’s quality as high as possible. Also, quality is related to the pricing; therefore, the customers expect proper products for the amount they are paying. A slight drop in the quality of the product can make the customer move out to the other brand immediately. Maintenance of higher quality enables the customers to count on the brand. Many of the brands have maintained customer loyalty by ensuring the products sold to the customers are of better quality. Some of these companies include Starbucks, Nike, Apple, and Walmart, among the top brands due to the great investment in product quality. Thus, the product’s quality will be consistent, and the customers will keep returning to the company.
Customer satisfaction is key to customer loyalty.
Customer satisfaction is the main focus of the business in the 21st century because technological advancement has led to increased competition. Instead of quality, it’s important for the business to complement the experience of the customer with some additional things. The main focus is getting better customer satisfaction; if the customers are dissatisfied, they will move to another brand. If you are selling a better thing, it’s important to complement it with a better service (Chris, 2017). Even if you sell quality products, the competitors are trying to match your quality to remove the customers. Therefore, the business should focus on building a relationship that is long-lasting than just buying and selling. A deeper relationship with the customer implies the customer is attached to the brand. Many companies focus on customer engagement by consistently keeping in touch with the required audience and communicating with the customers through social media and other channels.
The use of customer feedback
For the proper involvement of the customer in the company, it’s essential that you consider their feedback. Customer feedback is beneficial since it helps the organization continuously develop and improve customer experience. The customer will feel more involved as you involve them more, and this will help create higher loyalty. Providing feedback to the customers makes them feel they are included, opening new communication channels between the customers and the brand. The feedback also provides the issues that may affect the customer’s experience and thus helps the business managers address them effectively. In this process, the company can provide the customers with better values and improve their overall experience.
The use of technology to leverage customer satisfaction
The 21st century is considered an era of technological advancement; thus, companies are using it to improve customer experience. It starts with customer services and engagement and can be used to establish a deeper relationship with the customer. Most brands use social media platforms to enhance customer engagement and improve the customer experience (Willi, 2014). The customers can channel complaints and receive solutions and feedback via social media. However, the companies have also used technology to offer a personalized experience. This is done through data to get the customer’s personalized experience. The data will be important in designing a shipping experience, maximizing customer satisfaction, and building loyalty. The collected data is also important in planning for the marketing campaign, and therefore, many brands use this data to pass information on to their customers. For instance, the company sends periodical emails, text messages, etc. to the customers, which may help build trust and reliability along with a strong bond. Today, many software, technological platforms, and applications assist managers in collecting data and making valuable insights that can be imparted into actionable ideas.
Value every customer
You should not lose existing customers when attracting new customers to the company. It’s not wise to lose the potential buyer to the competitor; therefore, you should ensure that the customer returns. Create loyal programs in the company and offer financial and nonfinancial incentives to the customers to develop trust and loyalty. Management should know that brand loyalty is a reciprocal relationship; therefore, the brand must also be loyal to its customers if they want loyalty from them. Therefore, the company needs to appreciate the customers for their good relationship whenever they have an opportunity and show them how special they are to the brand.
Involvement of the leaders
The involvement of the leaders is the most important idea in creating brand loyalty. The leaders can be considered the face of the brand since their voices add reliability and trust to the brand. The leaders of the company can also engage their customers and the people following the brand via social media (Michael & Fred, 2003). Communication from the company’s leaders can lead to trust and inspiration for the customers. This creates a positive reputation in the relationship between the company and the customers. Consistent and regular interaction with the customers and followers creates trust. Hence, it can be used to diffuse any misunderstanding and confusion easily and replace it with loyalty to the brand.
Conclusion
Brand loyalty can be understood simply as being loyal to a specific brand or purchasing repeatedly from the brand instead of alternating the brands. Many brands use this strategy to their advantage in both advertising messages and business models. Some companies that use this strategy include Amazon, which creates customer loyalty by offering low shipment rates, making customers keep coming back. The other companies include Apple, Facebook, Volvo, Nike, Hyundai, Walmart, etc. The best strategies companies use to develop customer loyalty include investment in quality, the satisfaction of customers being key to customer loyalty, the use of the customer’s feedback, valuing every customer, using technology to leverage customer satisfaction, and involvement of the leaders. From the paper, we can conclude that in this century, any customer that is retained by the brand is considered to be equal to or even more than several new customers that the brand has gained. Therefore, if the brand needs to build loyalty, it’s essential to prioritize the customers.
Bibliography
Aitchison, J. (2004). Cutting Edge Advertising: How to Create the World’s Best Print for Brands in the 21st Century. Singapore: Pearson Prentice Hall.
Chris, G. (2017, November 20). Mastering Brand Loyalty: What Subscription Service Companies Do Differently. Retrieved from Modern marketing: https://blog.marketo.com/2015/08/build-your-marketing-strategy-like-a-construction-site.html
Kim, B. (2011, September 19). The 20 Brands With The Most Loyal Customers. Retrieved from Business Insider: http://www.businessinsider.com/brand-loyalty-customers-2011-9?IR=T
Michael, T., & Fred, W. (2003). The Paths to Market Leadership: Customer Intimacy and Other Value Disciplines. New York: Harvard Business Review.
Pratap, A. (2017, September 6). What is brand loyalty? How to build it? Retrieved from Chesh notes: https://www.cheshnotes.com/2017/09/what-is-brand-loyalty-how-to-build-it/
Willi, H. (2014, October 9). Loyalty In The 21st Century. Retrieved from Slideshare: https://www.slideshare.net/willhalliday1/loyalty-in-the-21st-century#
