We’re not sure if it’s the era in which we live, but we have more respect than ever for the folks whose automobile bumper stickers proclaim, Semper Fi. For those who may not know, it’s a shortened version of the United States Marine Corps motto, Semper Fidelis, which is Latin for “always faithful.”
Obviously, while the stakes here are not nearly as high, the holy grail of marketers has always been brand loyalty, or keeping customers always faithful. We’re not referring to the quasi loyalty that’s engendered by cash-back incentives, coupons, or discount promotions, but rather the always faithful — come hell or high water or whatever the competition may promise — kind of loyalty.
For years, this was relatively easy to accomplish. A company decided what it wanted its brand to stand for, put its goods and services into the marketplace, and people trusted that they were getting what was promised. They got comfortable with the familiar names on their kitchen shelves and in their driveways and they never really thought about switching allegiance.
But then a funny thing — or funny things — happened on the way to the supermarket, and everywhere else. To begin with, the number of choices in almost every brand category began to multiply, in some categories exponentially. What had been a moderate national market became a booming global market.
Then, of course, digital technology came along and made it easy for consumers around the world to compare and contrast products and services and share their findings and opinions with anyone and everyone. In addition, digital technology made it possible for people to discover what the companies behind their favorite brands were up to regarding their corporate policies and practices, the keeping of their brand promises and, for that matter, their promises to their own employees.
But wait — you know there’s more: that little event referred to as the economic downturn. Well, as the recession (or continuing lack of consumer confidence, as pundits now call it) hangs on, the brand-loyalty conundrum becomes even more challenging. In an Accenture survey conducted in 2010, an incredible 79 percent of marketing executives identified improving customer retention and loyalty as the most important business issue to address.
However, while slashing prices, deepening discounts, or reinstating lay-away plans might be an extreme-couponers dream, it is not a sustainable solution, let alone a practical solution to the quest for brand loyalty. It’s not the best price that will earn loyalty these days, or probably ever again. As a result of what’s transpired over the last few years relative to corporate behavior and the nasty turn of economic events, the only thing that will earn trust and loyalty is offering the best total brand experience.
It’s not the buck, but the bang for the buck. Said another way, marketers must optimize everything associated with the brand from start to finish and at every touchpoint in between. Those lazy, hazy days of passive loyalty are over for both consumers and the companies whose brands are in their consideration set.
Those in search of the Holy Grail of marketing — marketers who want Semper Fidelis from their customers come hell or high water — must take a proactive approach. Companies must be ready, willing and able to deal with the expected, and especially the unexpected, twists and turns of events in the marketplace and from their competitors.
They must take all the steps required to deliver a core brand experience that demonstrates a deep understanding of their audience that meets, if not exceeds, customer expectations. Marketers must be ever vigilant, not simply on top of their game, and always looking beyond their last win on the field.
If it sounds challenging, it is. But taking a proactive approach to customer loyalty can be done and is being done with great success by some of the best and brightest brands on the planet. What exactly are they doing? To make the answer as actionable as possible, we’ve summed it up in three guiding principles.
Stay relevant to peoples’ lives in ways that surprise and delight. Smart companies know that in order to win people over, their brands must be different in a way people care about. They also know that they must stay relevant in ways people care about in order to keep winning friends and influencing people. While “new and improved” looks good on paper (and packaging), if it doesn’t positively reflect what consumers actually want or need in some genuinely surprising or delightful way, then it’s old news. To earn loyalty, companies must be revolutionary in their research, development, and delivery of best-in-class goods and services.
To let down your guard is to give those whose loyalty you seek ample reason to look elsewhere. What’s more, whatever it is that is meant to surprise and delight must be in keeping with what the brand already stands for in peoples’ minds. The aim is to find authentic ways to support and advance the core brand promise, not to open it up to questions of spurious intent. Samsung, for example, has created and continues to support a strong brand story based on innovation, both in its cutting-edge technology and in the edgy designs of its products. That it knows and appreciates its audience is clear, owing, in part, to the way it actually involves its audience in the design of its goods and gadgets.
Before the launch of its MP3 line of electronics, for instance, Samsung asked students from around the world to offer up their ideas. Doing this not only reinforced Samsung’s solid connection to its tech-savvy brand community, but also reinforced its image as being at the forefront of its category. From its beginnings as a small export company in Korea, Samsung has grown to an organization with the number-one market share for 13 of its products. Staying ahead of the technology curve, surprising and delighting seekers of relevantly new and improved technology, has made this possible.
Moving on to bigger gadgets, the Ford Motor Company, once on the verge of bankruptcy, has made headlines of late as the result of its successful reinvention as an innovator in the automotive world, delighting new and old Ford fans alike with its fresh look at the category. Under the leadership of CEO Alan Mulally, the company has focused its efforts on designing and manufacturing cars that are as stylish as they are fuel efficient — just what consumers want. And, with its change of brand mindset, it continues to bring forth inventive features that make driving safer and more pleasurable.
For example, a radar designed to detect traffic coming in either direction as you back your Ford out of a driveway is tangible evidence that, even in reverse, the company is thinking ahead. From the feisty Fiesta to the hard-working Explorer, Ford keeps on coming up with cars and options that are different in ways that matter to people. Given this ability to look forward and act on what it sees, Ford is riding high with improved revenue and profit.
And lest you think that “delight” manifests itself only in big, bold strokes, it’s the small but significant changes McDonald’s has made to its menu that have hungry customers coming back for more. Without losing sight of the fact that its brand is associated with fast food, those at the top of the golden arches made it clear that, with nutrition and obesity issues on the nation’s table, the company had to step out of its comfort food zone and offer healthier choices, including oatmeal, salads, and mom-approved Happy Meals. That McDonald’s is giving coffee retailers a run for their money with its premium café-like drinks also speaks to the fact that Mickey D’s knows that staying relevant in unexpected ways is a key to gaining and maintaining loyalty.
Give them something to talk about, and a way to talk about it. It goes without saying that social media has had a profound impact on brand building (and brand deflating). People used to gather on the front stoop or at the backyard fence to share their opinions about brands with friends and neighbors. Well, the front stoop is now as wide as the world, and the backyard fence is as far-reaching as the next continent and beyond.
Word-of-mouth is one of the most effective tools a marketer has. It’s no secret that consumers simply trust other consumers more than any other source when it comes to making brand choices. That this dynamic should be employed by marketers as a way to build brand loyalty cannot be overstated. Companies that proactively take advantage of social-media sites to tell their brand stories and, better yet, to get their brand advocates to tell their stories for them, are well ahead of the curve.
The trick here is three-fold: You must have a great story to tell, something simple and sticky and memorable; you must have a platform from which to tell it; and you must understand how to get and engage your brand advocates, or what best-selling author Malcolm Gladwell calls “connectors.”
The platform part is the easiest to achieve, and most companies are already well situated in this department, be it in their usage of Facebook, a company review site, a category portal, a brand blog or a Twitter account. As long as you’ve got the means to prompt a dialogue and keep the dialogue going, you’re in a good position. As for the connectors, this requires a bit more time and effort. Connectors, as described by Mr. Gladwell, are those in the community who know large numbers of people and are comfortable making introductions.
Connectors can easily and widely distribute information and insights and are a vital part of both business and society. In terms of digital technology and online shopping, they’re literally and figuratively plugged into specific trends or product categories. Online shoppers tend to do more research on brands than others and really, really enjoy sharing this information and being seen as experts. A US study by Chadwick Martin Bailey and iModerate found that 79 percent of consumers who follow a brand on Twitter are more likely to recommend that brand. It’s hard to put a price on such effective marketing activity.
How do the most proactive of marketers connect with connectors? They, on their own, get and stay plugged into the many blog search tools available, the numerous review sites, and the plethora of online forums. They use these channels to engage their advocates and learn what turns them on, or off, about a particular product or service. Whether it’s via Twitter, Facebook, Google, or any other source, making constructive use of brand advocates (i.e., connectors) is a smart and efficient way to recruit and retain customers (i.e., build loyalty).
You can have the strongest platform for conversation and the most talkative advocates, but if you don’t give them something to talk about, well, Houston, you’ve got a problem. That’s why we love anything having to do with Zappos. This top-notch company with its top-notch total brand experience has a bevy of advocates with a bevy of great tales to tell relative to everything — from the incredible magnitude of shoe choices to the incredible level of customer service.
One tale whose telling and retelling has boosted the Zappos loyalty quotient involves a visitor to Las Vegas who checked into the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino and realized she’d forgotten to pack a pair of her favorite shoes which she’d purchased on Zappos. She searched the company’s website and found her faves were not available, so she called the Zappos help-desk concierge service, only to be told the company no longer had the shoes.
Given that the company headquarters is just outside Las Vegas, a Zappos team member went to a nearby mall, found the desired shoes, purchased them, and hand-delivered them to the Mandalay Bay, all at no charge. When a company empowers its employees to go above and beyond, even to “break the rules” a bit, the news is sure to be shared.
Now, it’s not required that a brand story be this unique or notable to get passed around, but it does have to adhere to the total brand experience rule of thumb. @DellOutlet, for example, has become one of the biggest success stories among companies using social media to drive loyalty. It’s a Twitter account owned by Dell that tweets out major discounts on Dell computers and other products. All of the deals are Twitter exclusives. This is not rocket science in terms of a sales channel, but the initiative’s personal tone and indisputable one-on-one service — real Dell people tweeting with customers in real time to bring about really positive outcomes — makes it particularly talk-worthy. That this individualized approach is in total alignment with what people already associate with the Dell brand also accounts for its success as a loyalty initiative.
If it’s a formal program, make sure it’s flexible. Loyalty used to be one-dimensional, be it in the shape of a coupon or a freestanding insert. Not anymore. If you want customers to value your company, you need to prove that you value their loyalty. It’s a two-way street. And while this means giving them the best total brand experience in exchange for their business, it can also include giving them something the general public can’t get. Specifically, this often takes the form of a rewards program. But even these, with their inherent points-based structure, have to offer more than tangible goods and services to be effective or relevant.
In light of current market conditions and attitudes toward institutions, consumers put great stock in programs that are easy and convenient, that take into consideration the lives they live and that, above all, are flexible. After all, what good is being rewarded if the prize doesn’t offer a benefit that will make life better in some significant way, let alone being something the recipient can even use? Companies whose reward programs demonstrate that time was taken to understand what’s really important to their customers are those most likely to be appreciated and seen as truly rewarding.
Citibank’s Thank You program is a perfect case in point. Since its inception, those in charge have spent time taking the pulse of those enrolled and have deduced that while luxury items are nice, there is greater demand for practical rewards, like home goods, cash and gift cards, and even the chance to use points to pay down a home mortgage or a student loan.
This said, it’s become apparent in the age of frugality that even those in the lucky position of being able to afford the finer things in life recognize the value of being rewarded for their patronage in currency beyond trips and travels and, well, the finer things in life. American Express Membership Rewards, demonstrating the company’s typical forward-thinking philosophy, now lists everyday things like gas and groceries, or charges at Amazon among the reward options in its long-standing program. And Amazon, itself a brand leader if there ever was one, remains a leader because it thinks way outside “the book.” The free Amazon Mom membership program, which, by the way, provides benefits for anyone caring for a baby or child, offers free two-day Amazon Prime shipping, 30 percent off diapers, and lots of other discounts designed to make life with a baby less stressful and more convenient. From start to finish — and everything in between including reward programs — brand loyalty happens when customers’ genuine wants and needs have been factored into the equation.
So, what’s the bottom line on achieving brand loyalty in the age of transparency, frugality, and the educated consumer? Take a proactive approach to everything that has an impact on the customer’s experience with the brand — which, of course, would be everything. At the end of the day and at the bottom of the company line, a brand’s value is reflected in how valued its customers feel. If you want Semper Fidelis, practice it yourself. 
