How to Create Customer Loyalty with Branding and Marketing

Nowadays, meeting people is as easy as sliding on a wet surface. There are numerous apps and websites to socialize, with some even promising single locals near your area that are looking for someone just like you.

Consequently, as our panorama of opportunity expands, so it does for everybody else. In order to persuade someone to choose our company, it becomes paramount to set ourselves apart while staying true to ourselves. Sharing our uniqueness and truly caring for the other, can captivate and motivate an everlasting relationship.

As we can see, if companies engage with this human approach towards their customers, they can also form a meaningful relationship. Moreover, companies and businesses, just like humans, have their own values, vision, message, tone, etc. They listen to their consumers and look to have an emotional connection with them in order to develop a community.

When we think of a brand as a person we are building a relationship with, we could determine Marketing as why they feel attracted to you, and Branding as the set of reasons why they stay and choose you over anyone else.

Nevertheless, how can we match said reasons with words and actions that foster meaningful experiences? How do we form valuable relationships?

Are Branding and Marketing the same?

In the world of business, branding and marketing are elements that drive results like sales generation, audience growth, and customer loyalty just to name a few. But, do they solve the same issues? are they one and the same? To answer these questions, consider this thought:

“You need to write the word before you can spread the gospel,” – Fabian Geyrhalter.

This helps us to understand that one must come before the other. Branding is the very core of your business. It is the essence, the identity, the very “soul” of what you wish your business to be and represent. Whereas Marketing seeks to promote your identity, to spread your message, and get people to listen.

Branding: Writing the Word

Just like a long-term relationship, it is crucial to come up with a plan, a strategy on how to achieve those projects we dream of carrying out.

We say Branding is strategic as it lays down a set of goals that seek to create meaningful customer experiences. It helps:

• Determine how successful your business will be.
• Shape your brand and who you are.
• Create a strong symbol of what you stand for.
• Communicates your core values as a brand.
• Establishes an emotional connection with your customers.

It pays to be different

Without a doubt, when you are honest with who you are as a brand to your customers, you offer something no one else can be.

Considering the fact that nowadays people are being constantly inundated with so many different options readily available for them, establishing an emotional bond with your customers is of particular importance.

To clarify, Branding is what will help your business stand out amongst a multitude of other options. Your Branding should clearly and concisely convey to an immediate authentic response from your audience.

For example, have you noticed how you send text messages on your iPhone, instead of your smartphone? Or when you watch [SPOILER ALERT] Mufasa fall to his death in Lion King for the 42nd time you ask for a Kleenex and not for a disposable handkerchief? Certainly, their branding efforts have succeeded so much that their brand’s name has replaced the generic term of what they are.

Moreover, Branding lets people know the purpose of your business and what you are prepared to offer them. It is a promise that helps establish a relationship of trust with your customers.

For instance, Apple shows the value of having its merchandise by promising a simpler life. Their easy-to-use approach has made them a staggering $260 billion dollars in revenue from 2019 alone.

By attaining such feats and giving a positive customer experience, they have built such a loyal fan base that would pay up to a 25% premium before switching to other brands.

Marketing: Spreading the Gospel

Once you have established the foundation of your business through branding, then comes the next step that is key for your success.

Marketing is the tactical way you will spread your brand’s message. It is the specific actions that promote your brand or service and help build awareness. It helps:

• Develop and improve your service or product
• Generate brand awareness
• Set your prices
• Establish how, when and where customers experience your product
• Identify where resources should be allocated
• Improve customer relationships

Additionally, Marketing methods include online marketing, social media marketing, content marketing, print ads, and so on.

Let’s take a look at Circus Marketing

Imagine you are the owner of a spectacular circus full of joyful, entertaining acts and is passing through a new town you have never visited before. How can you make sure that people know you’re in town, get to your venue, and pay for tickets? You use the power of marketing to your favor.

Here is a great example of each aspect of Marketing:

• When the circus is coming to town and you paint a sign saying ‘Circus Coming to the Fairground Saturday,’ that’s advertising.
• Put the sign on the back of an elephant and walk it into town, that’s promotion.
• If the elephant walks through the mayor’s flower bed, that’s publicity.
• And if you get the mayor to laugh about it, that’s public relations.
• If the town’s citizens go to the circus, you show them the many entertainment booths, explain how much fun they’ll have spending money at the booths, answer their questions, and ultimately they spend a lot of money at the circus, that’s sales.”

Once every customer has enjoyed the show, you want to make sure they come and see you next time you’re in town. By creating a special moment where the audience was captivated, and fomenting an environment of wonder and delight, you are using the power of branding to further impact your future sales by creating fans that will let your show to go on.

Creating customer loyalty

Humans seek moments that connect us to our true selves. Identically, we form groups where we share our uniqueness. Companies may sell products, but customers join the brands that understand their aspirations.

Therefore, in order to generate a loyal customer, empower your truest fans, show generosity, respect them as people and not a mere one-time sale, and promote interaction between them.

In essence, one must come before the other, but ultimately both have to work together to effectively create a relationship of trust with your customers. This whole article could be summarized perfectly in just a couple of sentences by Marty Neuemeier:

Any effort to get customers is marketing. Any effort to get customers and KEEP them is branding.

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Rankin, O. (2013, March 6). 5 POINTS OF MARKETING – MARKETING A CIRCUS. BCG CONSULTING. https://ormondrankin.wordpress.com/2013/03/06/5-points-of-marketing-marketing-a-circus/#:~:text=Here%20is%20a%20great%20example,it%20into%20town%2C%20that’s%20promotion.

Neumeier, M. (2008). The Brand Flip: Why Customers Now Run Companies and How to Profit from It (1st ed., Vol. 1). New Riders.