How To Maintain Brand Relevance When Customers Less Loyal

Digital media has offered brands of all kinds the ability to reach large markets, and to do so more easily than ever before. However, it has also provided consumers with an unprecedented amount of options—which means that they have become notoriously fickle. These days, many entrepreneurs believe that brand loyalty is practically a thing of the past. Because consumers have so many options, they’re apt to desert your products or services the moment something new catches their eye. However, it’s still possible to hang on to your audience and even create a die-hard fan base for your brand. You just need to be strategic in your approach.

The key to holding on to your customers is brand relevance. Simply put: can you adapt to the changing needs of customers in your market without losing what makes your brand iconic in the first place? If you can, you’ll be much more likely to create repeat customers instead of struggling to get by on one-time sales. There are several factors to consider when trying to maintain your brand loyalty. We’ve outlined the most important ones below, and provide examples.

1. Prioritize Experience

Creating a useful product or offering a valuable service isn’t the only thing your customers want. Research from Epsilon shows that 80% of consumers are more likely to give a company their business if that company can provide them with a personalized experience. That simply means creating a holistic relationship between different aspects of your branding. For example, you can start by ensuring that your website, advertisements, and packaging all share a similar aesthetic.

2. Take a Customer Centric Approach

Your marketing strategy shouldn’t be based on arbitrary whims or desires. It should be concretely linked to the buying patterns and preferences of your best customers. Spend some money on marketing analytics so you can create a profile for your ideal customer, then use that to inform the rest of your decisions.

3. Embrace Your Differences

Brand relevance requires you to be aware of current trends in your market, but it doesn’t mean you should be a slave to them. Instead, you can use your understanding of current trends to buck them in creative and strategic ways. Conduct a good old-fashioned SWOT analysis and find out what your unique advantages are as a business. Then use them to make sure you’re always playing to your strengths. This can help you become a “Disruptive Brand”—one that alters the status quo instead of merely following it.

4. Don’t be Afraid to Try New Things

If you want to become a Disruptive Brand, you’ll need to take some calculated risks. There are two excellent ways to do this: firstly, you can encourage a workplace culture of creativity instead of conformity. Doing so will ensure that the employees who know your company best and care about their work always bring you fresh and actionable ideas. Secondly, you can borrow money to finance new creative endeavors such as marketing campaigns, packaging, and new product lines.

5. Keep Your Decisions Linked to Your Goals

Remember not to throw the baby out with the bathwater as you’re implementing the other suggestions on this list. The key to being a relevant brand is being authentic, so stay true to your values and goals. Maintaining your integrity as a business will go a long way with your customers.

The world not slowing down, but you can’t still command some staying power for your brand. Simply follow the suggestions above and you’ll likely find that holding on to a core following is well within the realm of possibility—in fact, you can probably use these tips to grow your following of die-hard buyers over time.

Have questions on implementing these steps? Well, we can help. Call for a 15 minute strategy session with Don Keller, a 40 year marketing strategist that's help companies double growth in a year.  Click below for fast connection. We'll call you within 3 business hours.