Considering the scale of insights available to businesses, there are very few bad brands anymore. The competition these days is often between good and very good brands. Sitting up there in either category takes a lot of work. That won’t be achieved by a flurry of wishful thinking.
Now, if your brand is going to be categorised as ‘good’ or ‘very good’, customers must develop a strong attachment to your product or services. Believe me, it takes a high level of intentionality to achieve that status. Strong planning is also involved.
Precisely, what is brand attachment? It is a strong emotional connection a customer has with a brand. It is like what you see between old pop and mom, who have simply learned to stay true to the aged vow to stick together in good and bad times.
Where that level of attachment is attained, between customers and brands, Harvard Business Review says the brand must have learned to appeal to the customers’ dozens of emotional motivators. These motivators vary. You must dig deeper to find out what motivators are unique to your target market.
According to Katie Merwin, a marketing expert, emotionally attached customers “stay loyal during competitive shifts, forgive occasional missteps, refer your brand to friends or colleagues, choose you over a cheaper or faster option.”
Emotionally attached customers won’t get pulled easily into the funnel of competitors. They are not sold cheaply on the big bang competitors’ adverts. They have a strong level of confidence in their clients. They have a bond comparable to what obtains between spouses who share a strong background.
Merwin’s ‘big picture’ of an emotionally attached customer sounds like every brand manager’s dream. Besides profit, it is the goal of every promotional and relationship-building expenditure.
Unfortunately, most customers cannot accurately tell what aspects of their experience are strong motivators. The elements that underlie their attachment are stuck in the subconscious. Applying sophisticated big data analytical and survey techniques can pave the way for understanding what the real drivers of customer attachments are. From such a deep vantage point, brands can zero in on observed motivators to improve connection and derive greater financial value from customers.
Meanwhile, market research reveals six sources of attachment that brands can leverage:
- Quality Interaction – Given the wide digital and offline platforms available for brands to stimulate conversation with customers, making contacts and ensuring interaction that appeals to the interests, aspirations and personalities of the core customer group will help build and strengthen attachment with the brand. This is it. Whether you are engaging via the social media channels or experience centres, let the conversation be woven around the customers’ passions and interests, i.e. do they want to know about how to improve incomes, expand investment portfolio, overcome dating hurdles, etc. The more you strike a conversation that resonates with them, the more attachment grows.
- Deep Relationship – Consumers are not mere data on the marketing dashboard. They are people who want to be appreciated, understood and recognised. The more you turn personal data into personalised experiential activities, packaging and pricing, the more the attachment grows. This part calls for profitably tailoring offerings to the taste of your target market.
- Extent of Shared Value – Never try to engage a market with which you share no value. It will backfire. Good advice. You either bend to shape into their values or let them be. Values can be as minute as the prioritisation of the environment, equality, etc. The more values you share, the more connected and attached you become.
- Increased Self-Image – Who doesn’t want to be attached to a well-known and highly coveted brand? This is why you should work on building your brand image by crafting a persona that resonates widely with your audience and creating memorable experiences at touchpoints.
- Relevant Association – Attachment grows where customers see that you are associated with people with whom they share an emotive link. Isn’t it the reason why brands splash billions on signing sports stars and artistes as brand ambassadors?
- Relatable Stories – Weaving stories that customers can relate to around your brand can do a lot of magic. A lot is being said about storytelling. But storytelling must be strategically conceived and communicated, else it can be bland. Successful brand storytelling approaches share one thing in common, which is that they don’t just talk about products. They share journeys, challenges, and transformations that invite customers to become part of the story.
