3 S’s of Customer Loyalty – How to Drive Emotional Involvement in Your Brand

I’m constantly talking and writing about developing emotional involvement in your brand to drive customer loyalty.  Today, I’m going to provide my three steps to generate emotional involvement in your brand.  I call these three steps the 3 S’s of Customer Loyalty.  By ensuring your brand offers customers the 3 S’s of Customer Loyalty, your customers will become emotionally involved in your brand.  Let’s take a closer look.

The 3 S’s of Customer Loyalty

1. Stability: Customers are driving to emotional involvement in a brand when it sends a consistent message.
2. Sustainability: Customers are driven to emotional involvement in a brand when they expect that brand to be with them for a long time or at least a specific amount of time with a clear end.
3. Security: Customers are driven to emotional involvement in a brand when that brand gives them a feeling of comfort or peace-of-mind.

The 3 S’s of Customer Loyalty link directly back to the primary steps of developing a brand.  So while many people might argue that branding is not important, I argue that branding is an important part of driving profits.  Brandhing helps to create customer loyalty which leads to repeat purchases and perhaps the best form of marketing any company can hope for — word-of-mouth marketing from your best customers and most powerful influencers.

Take a look at your brand.  Is it driving emotional involvement through stability, sustainability and security?  If not, make the necessary changes now, and you’ll reap the rewards later with increased customer loyalty.

5 Core Steps to Building a Business Brand Strategy

Every business has a brand image attached to it, but the work that goes on before that brand image is launched is critical to long term success. The role of the business owner or brand manager is to determine what you want your brand image to be, and then define a strategy to make the brand image a reality.

Following are five core steps to help you get started with a strategic plan to build a brand for your business.  These are certainly not the only steps to brand-building, but they are at the heart of developing any brand strategy.  Read my 5 Rules of Branding post to learn the steps you should take to build your brand after you’ve developed your brand strategy.

1. Research the market.

Before you can begin thinking about your own brand, you need to understand the state of the market in which your business operates. Until you understand the existing market, you can’t fully define where you want your brand to be positioned within that market. Take the time to investigate the market, your competition, threats and opportunities. Then sit down and evaluate where your business fits in the existing market and where you want it to fit going forward. That’s your business’ position in the market. Once you know your position, you can define a brand message that accurately reflects that position.

2. Define your primary brand message.

Ask yourself how you want your business to be perceived by customers. The answer to that question determines the goal of your primary brand message. Next, you need to map out the steps to get to that goal. How do you need to present your business through marketing communications, employee communications, customer service, etc. to gain the reputation that will lead you to reaching your branding goal? Outline the tactics you need to take to build that reputation and the messages that will help you develop that reputation, and your brand image will grow organically in the minds of consumers. [Read more]

11 Phrases that Destroy Brand and Marketing Innovation

I wrote a post for Corporate Eye today that I want to share with my readers on KeySplash Creative Conversations as well.  It’s called 11 Phrases that Destroy Brand Innovation. 

In the post, I share 11 of those phrases that anyone who has ever sat through a corporate marketing meeting is sure to have heard before – probably too many times to count. 

Here are a few of my favorites:

• Nobody wants that.
• We’ve already tried that.
• Who’s going to take the blame if it doesn’t work?

Take a look at my post on Corporate Eye and share your additions to the list of phrases that destroy brand or marketing innovation.  Or leave a comment here on KeySplash Creative Conversations with your brand and marketing innovation killers. 

Come on.  You know you have some to share!

Image: Flickr

Time for a PETA Marketing Strategy Shift

I was reading Branding Strategy Insider today, when I saw a post by Mark RItson about the need for PETA to re-invent its brand strategy.  I found the post to be incredibly timely as I had the opportunity a couple of weeks ago to provide my opinion to PETA about how I thought their marketing strategy has to change for the brand to remain relevant and the organization to make a difference in the future.  Here is what I wrote to PETA:

As a marketing and branding professional, I am not a proponent of shock advertising, which I think PETA has a history of relying on.  I believe there are far more effective methods of communicating messages and shock advertising provides short-lived bursts of awareness but little for long-term ROI.  Additionally, I think the celebrities who endorse PETA aren’t always the best for the PETA brand [e.g., Pamela Anderson].  PETA has a reputation as an all or nothing brand.  In other words, people view PETA as a bit of a cult, “either you agree with us 100% or you’re out.”  I think with a more inclusive approach and message, more people would be supportive of PETA and animal rights would become a less trendy cause (sort of how supporting the environment was in the late 1980s/early 1990s) and more mainstream.  [Read more]

Top Business Priority – Creating Brand Champions

This week, I wrote a guest post for NewsOnWomen.com called “Your Top Priority – Creating Brand Champions” where I discuss the importance of creating brand advocates for your business and tips for getting started. 

Follow the link above to take a look!

Branding Lessons from the 2008 Presidential Election

The 2008 Presidential Election has finally ended, and the results provide a valuable lesson in branding.  In simplest terms, people are changing – quickly.  The social web has certainly played a part in making that change move so fast.  Never before has the exchange of information and ideas been easier or faster.  With the power of the social web and the word-of-mouth marketing it fosters, people have chosen a brand promise of “inclusion” over one of “exclusion”. 

In other words, President-elect Barack Obama ran a campaign based on an inclusive brand promise, while Senator John McCain’s campaign focused primarily on his core supporters, conservative Americans, with many people outside of that demographic feeling excluded.  While Barack Obama spoke of wanting to meet with world leaders regardless of the United States’ current relationship with them in order to start a dialogue and move forward, John McCain repeatedly stated that he would not sit down and converse with these same leaders.  At the end of the day, the majority of Americans supported the brand promise of inclusion and cast their votes for Barack Obama. [Read more]

Lower Income Consumers Can Still Afford Their iPhones

The economy might be tanking, but consumers earning less than the national median household income can still find money to buy iPhones.  Apple must be pleased.

According to a new study by comScore, as the economy sinks lower, iPhone sales move in an inverse direction among consumers as follows:

• 48% increase in purchases since June 2008 among consumers earning between $25,000-$50,000 annually
• 46% increase in purchases since June 2008 among consumers earning between $25,000-$75,000 annually
• 16% increase in purchases since June 2008 among consumers earning under $25,000 annually [Read more]

HP on the Right Digital Marketing Track if CMO Has His Way

I found a snippet of a presentation by HP CMO Mike Mendenhall on AdAge.com today that I have to share.  If you haven’t seen it yet, follow the link above and check it out.  Mendenhall took the words right out of my mouth.  If you ever read my old branding blog, Brandcurve.com, then you know I’m a big proponent of integrating digital media fully into your marketing plan and leveraging consumers to grow your brand through digital media.  Those are exactly the points that Mike eloquently makes in his presentation at the recent ANA conference.

In his speech, Mike redefines brand strategy as something that has to be nurtured among consumers rather than an image or message companies can dish out to them.  He also notes that ad agencies still don’t get it when it comes to integrating digital media completely into marketing strategy.  Take a look at the 3-minute snippet from his speech then leave a comment and share your opinions on branding, marketing and digital media.

Image: Adage.com

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