Building Brand Loyalty
Happy New Year to all of you! I hope you had a time of peace, rest, and able to start January with a bang.
And to start January off strong, I wanted to go into detail about one of my favorite topics: building brand loyalty. Just like every other topic out there, there’s a lot of opinions on how to do this effectively. So I’m here to add my two cents (as one does) and give you my thoughts on how to build (and sustain) brand loyalty.
Build Community with Your Customers
My dad and I love reading The Far Side comics together—we share the same weird humor (sorry mom). There’s one in particular that’s a play on words for “no man is an island.”
That’s the first time I remember learning what community meant.
“Well, kid,” dad explained, “Nobody is self-sufficient. All of us need one another to be better and grow.” Eight-year-old me didn’t entirely understand the implications of that convo, but thirty-year-old me does.
Community is essential to the human experience and to the development of ideas, creative goals, and our overall ecosystem of people. Building a cohesive community for your customers can look like a Facebook group where you can engage, discuss, and solve problems.
It can look like functions, networking, events, or grabbing a drink and throwing out ideas. Your goal as a business owner is to provide a safe, approachable space for your people. Throw the idea of sales out the window while you’re building - your customers don’t need a salesperson, they need a friend.
Focus on Customer Experience
My husband and I recently had the fun surprise of receiving a Christmas gift for our cats from a good friend. Being a childless adult just means you send friends presents for their animals… I’m into it.
Our cat tree from Mau is honestly amazingly unique (see pic) and the cats are obsessed with it. While I was unboxing and building it, I kept telling Jonathan how interactive and engaging the packaging was. It came with a card stock instruction manual, a certified purchase certificate, and a postcard filled with cats. Honestly, 10/10 packaging.
The customer experience is crucial to your business thriving and gaining recognition. Packaging, wording, and how your customer views your business will go a long way. Train yourself to ask, “If I was on the receiving end of this service or product, how would I feel about it?”
Be Consistent
Without sounding cliche, consistency is key. If you’re going to put out a newsletter for your clients, make sure you keep it on a schedule. If you mail coupons, flyers, or any other items, make sure they’re on time and you plan to drop them off at the post office.
Be consistent in your communication, too! Don’t let four business days pass after your client asks an important question. Instead, be prompt, timely, and kind. On the flip side, consistency doesn’t mean you bend over backwards until your back breaks. Having business hours (“I’m in office Monday through Friday from 10am-4pm and can accommodate communication during those times”) is an important boundary.
Underpromise, Overdeliver
This is one of my favorite pieces of advice because it’s so simple. Let’s say I have someone approach me for a blog project. I’ll ask for their timelines and we settle on blogs being posted on Friday so I need to submit it to them by Wednesday at the latest.
We agree to terms and conditions; I write, and then suddenly BAM! They have the blog in their inbox on Monday instead of Wednesday.
Always work with customers and clients to surpass expectations and whenever you get the chance, wow them by getting their product or service finished before they’re expecting it. It does wonders for your business - trust me.
Communicate
It’s the foundation of all relationships (you read that correctly, all). Nobody can read your mind, nobody knows what you need all the time. Learning how to effectively communicate with your clients is critical to your success as a business owner.
This includes communicating about the good AND the bad. If something needs revisions or to be returned? Talk about it! If an item never showed up or came in damaged? Have a discussion and work to make it right. Nothing and nobody can operate without first talking through it.
Character Precedes You
I have a tendency to want to be petty when I’ve been trash talked. I feel like it’s a fairly human response. But in the back of my mind, I always end up hearing my mom saying “Be a better person, even if it’s hard.”
If your immediate reaction to someone refusing to pay you and blocking access to you communicating with them is to trash their business and drag it through the mud, people will remember that.
No matter what happens, choose to conduct yourself with kindness, grace, and maturity (even if you want to cuss someone out).
Listen to your customers and learn from them
Once you’ve worked on building community with your people, start listening to what they have to say. While you may be the expert in your field, your clients are experts in their own right. I remember a client from way back who was a cat groomer and took time out of her day to explain the grooming process to me as well as sharing facts about cats (did you know if you’re allergic to cats, you’re actually allergic to their saliva, not their hair?).
Listen to feedback, too! Some of my favorite conversations involved my clients asking if we could approach a project differently. We could collaborate and create something that they were excited about and I was proud of. It’s a win-win whenever you listen closely and take things to heart.
Focus on your systems and processes
How do your systems work? How do you organize information for a product, service, or project and get it done in the most efficient way possible? Have you adjusted your systems and processes in the last six months?
Once you’re able to fine-tune those systems, you’ll have more time to do what you do best in your business and engage more with your clients.
I hope this introduction into building brand loyalty helps as you navigate through business ownership. While the journey doesn’t come without some frustrations, you’re not alone and have people (like me!) who are ready to answer questions and help you along the way.
