Academic Master

Business and Finance

Brand Loyalty for Successful Marketing in the 21st Century

Abstract

The 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 of the brands use this strategy to their advantage, as both advertising message and business model. The companies that make use of this strategy include Amazon which creates customer loyalty through the offering of the 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 the companies to develop customer loyalty include investment in quality, the satisfaction of customers is key to customer loyalty, the use of the customer’s feedbacks, valuing every customer, use of technology to leverage the customer satisfaction, and involvement of the leaders. Therefore in case, the brand needs to build loyalty, it’s essential to make the customers its priority.

Introduction

Customer and a brand are two essential terminologies that are central to the business management. For the management to understand the relationship between the business and the customer, then they should involve the two terms. The business relationship follows the form of the brand loyalty that grows sufficiently strong and deep. Therefore the 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 a lot of the brands try to create a brand loyalty since the higher the number of the customers loyal to the brand the better financial position for the brand. In this century, the competition has grown too high, and in this instance, it’s very difficult to acquire commitment of the consumer.

Therefore, for the brand marketers to win their customers, they need to do something more than just sending red roses since most of the customers make their decision 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 if they need to make them create an affinity and the 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 so that they can 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 built market share

Many of the brands use this strategy to their advantage, as both advertising message and business model. The companies that make use of this strategy include Amazon which creates customer loyalty through the offering of the low shipment rates which will make the customers keep coming back. The company of Amazon loyalty program has continued to grow by 20% each year, and therefore more than five million customers have signed up to the program (Kim, 2011). The other company is apple store which provides a good and friendly environment in which the customer gets access to fun familiarizing themselves with the products that are being offered by Apple Company, i.e., the gadgets and the computers.

The other company is Facebook which has prevailed in the medial social network. The company contains more than 750 million active users. The company has MySpace decimated and its essentially out of the pictures, the free reign of Facebook continues as the mainstream bulk of the firm, 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 which naturally encourages the 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 is Walmart which makes use of the discount retail to encourage the customers to purchase. The business doesn’t have an explicit loyalty program, but their continuous promise of every day low prices of the product makes the people keep coming. The other company is Volvo that has created a partnership with the Lego to teach the youth and young children the basics of the vehicle safety. The other one is Budweiser’s that created Super Bowl TV ad in 2013 that have employed the message concerning a long-lasting friendship.

The eighth is Mary Kay who 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 makes them have a better and higher customer loyalty. The ninth company is the Crest White-strips which is a debut for the new tooth whitening class. Their Five min Speed Whitening System and the Rembrandt Whitening enables customers to fail to discriminate the dental product. So it’s essential for them to leverage an existing brand from the other brands and that the product performs by itself. The last one is the Hyundai which has an inspiring long-term turnaround, and the rebranding of the products from the cheap to the 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 also reputation of the brand to impact on the loyalty level that a brand enjoys. The buying behavior can be affected by the factors that are essential in shaping the test and the perception of the consumer. 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. The benefits of the brand loyalty are many (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 is having a greater level of the customer loyalty. Since it’s difficult to create customer’s loyalty to the brand investing in it and strategies on the techniques and methods in which they will use to build the loyalty. Some of the strategies that are being used in the 21st Century are as follows.

Invest in Quality

The most important aspect that creates attraction of the customer to the specific brand is the quality of the brand. Despite the situation, the business should aim at keeping the quality of the product as high as possible. Also, quality is related to the pricing, and therefore the customers expect proper of product for the amount that 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 the higher quality enables the customers to count upon the brand. Many of the brands have maintained customer loyalty by just ensuring the products sold to the customers are of better quality. Some of these companies include Whether, Starbucks, Nike, Apple and Walmart that tops the brand due to the great level of investment in the product quality. Thus keep the quality level of the product consistent, and the customers will keep coming back to the company.

Satisfaction of customers is key to customer loyalty

The satisfaction of the customers is the main focus of the business in the 21st Century because technological advancement has led to the increased competition. Instead of quality its important for the business to complement the experience of the customer with some additional things. The main focus is getting better customer satisfaction and increases the customers are dissatisfied then they will move to the other brand. In case you are selling a better thing, it’s important to compliment it with a better service (Chris, 2017). Even if you are selling quality products, the competitors are trying to match your quality so that they can take away the customers an. 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 that the customer is attached to the brand. Many companies are a focus on the customer engagement through consistent keeping in touch with the required audience and communicate to the customers through social media and the other channels.

The use of customer feedback

For the proper involvement of the customer in the company, its essential you consider their feedback. The customer feedbacks are beneficial since they help the organization to develop and improve the experience of the customer continuously. The customer will feel more involved as you involve them more and this will help to create higher loyalty. The provision of the feedback to the customers makes them feel they are included, and therefore it opens the new communication channels between the customers and the brand. The feedbacks also provides the issues that may be eating the customer’s experience and thus helps the business managers to address them effectively. In this process, the company can overall provide the customers with better values and hence improve their experience.

The use of technology to leverage the customer satisfaction

The 21st century is considered to be an era of technological advancement, and thus the companies are using it to improve the customer’s experience. It starts with the customer services to the customer engagement and therefore it can be used to establish a deeper relationship with the customer. Most of the brands are using social media platforms to enhance customer engagement and for the betterment of the customer experience (Willi, 2014). The customers can channel complaints and receive solutions feedbacks via the social media. However, the companies have also used technology to offer a personalized experience. This is through the use of the data to get the personalized experience of the customer. The data will be important in designing a shipping experience, maximization of the customer satisfaction and also building loyalty. The collected data is also important in planning for the marketing campaign, and therefore many brands use these data to pass information to their customers. For instance, the company sends periodical emails, text messages, etc. to the customers that may help build trust and reliability along with a strong bond with the customer. Today there are many software, technological platforms, and applications the assists the managers to collect data and make a valuable insight which can be imparted into the actionable ideas.

Value every customer

When trying to attract the new customers to the company, you should not lose the existing customers. It’s not wise to lose the potential buyer to the competitor; therefore you should ensure that the customer comes back. Create loyal programs in the company, offer financial and nonfinancial incentives to the customers to develop trust and loyalty. The management should know that brand loyalty is the reciprocal relationship and therefore the brand also needs to be loyal to their customers in case 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 the way they are special 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 as the face of the brand since their voice adds reliability and trust that is associated with the brand. The leaders of the company can also engage their customers and the people following the brand via social media (Michael & Fred, 2003). The communication from the company’s leaders can lead to trust and inspiration to 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, and hence it can be used to diffuse any misunderstanding and confusion easily and replace it with loyalty to the brand.

Conclusion

The 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 of the brands use this strategy to their advantage, as both advertising message and business model. Some of the companies that make use of this strategy include Amazon which creates customer loyalty through the offering of the 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 the companies to develop customer loyalty include investment in quality, the satisfaction of customers is key to customer loyalty, the use of the customer’s feedbacks, valuing every customer, use of technology to leverage the 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 in case, the brand needs to build loyalty, it’s essential to make the customers its priority.

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#

SEARCH

Top-right-side-AD-min
WHY US?

Calculate Your Order




Standard price

$310

SAVE ON YOUR FIRST ORDER!

$263.5

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE

Pop-up Message