Loyalty is the life-force of the economy
This month Infoworld reminded me of an experiment held by “Proctor and Gamble that provided 100 people with a box of Tide detergent and a video camera and asked them to film how they and their family clean their clothes. P&G believes this kind of advertising builds a personal relationship with the consumer and creates brand loyalty.”
Advertisers, especially today as the consumer gains more control over marketing, are trying to do anything to build loyalty in the consumer world. They are incorporating more authentic messaging, and allowing the consumer to create the marketing materials, as in the case of new social network socialDragon, where users can upload and tag videos of stuff, white water rafting for example, and advertisers can search this “real” content for parts to use in their advertising campaigns.
User generated content, while still being obviously in its infancy and therefore not matured, is rapidly increasing in value; whether this is an accurate representation of the value of socially created content is yet to be seen - I see a bright future for social media however, that’s for sure. And I also have to say I am quite pleased to hear all the emphasis placed on the consumer, authenticity and loyalty.
The reason band loyalty is important, the most widely coveted attribute by marketers and people everywhere, really, is because the purest form of brand loyalty, and the thing the most loyal people do, is make personal recommendations to others, to spread messages, stories and advertising, through word of mouth. Loyalty is what drives people to make recommendations. It can be easily argued that recommendations are what drive the success of virtually anything within the economy.
Loyalty is the life-force of the economy.
If the driving force of loyalty could be summed up in one word, I’d say that word would have to be satisfaction. Satisfaction really means that you got exactly, or more than, what you expected from something. When expectations are not met then you are obviously not satisfied, and when you not satisfied, well, why would you be loyal to that thing?
Always remember the importance of managing expectations, in life and in business.
It’s not about trying to give people what they want, it’s about making sure they know what they are going to get.
May 16th, 2007 09:00
“If the driving force of loyalty could be summed up in one word, I’d say that word would have to be satisfaction. Satisfaction really means that you got exactly, or more than, what you expected from something.”
I would say that this is generally true, except when it comes to certain types of products, such as say, laundry detergent. So take Tide, I think it is safe to say that Tide is the leading brand for laundry detergent. It’s a household name, we all know what the logo looks like, and probably have used and/or bought it at one time or another. So what keeps someone loyal to the Tide brand? I would argue that most other detergents would be equally satisfying to the majority of consumers. As far as detergent goes, I think the only people that might have an unsatisfactory experience with any particular brand are those who have sensitive skin, and may have some sort of allergic reaction to specific brands of laundry soap. But anyone else would get a very similar experiece from using any assortment of brand cleaners: clean clothes. And as I am sure that most of us know, Tide tends to be more costly than comparitive cleaners. So why would one continue to choose Tide over other less expensive brands? (Assuming they don’t have allergic reactions to laundry detergent) I think that in this case loyalty comes from novelty and not satisfaction. Because if satisfaction can be attained from all brands, then it is simply a mindset that would lead a person to maintain loyalty to a more expensive brand. -kenny
May 17th, 2007 11:17
Consistent satisfaction is the only driving force of loyalty. Novelty comes from sites like Digg, shows like Jackass and songs like “I’m too sexy.” There is nothing wrong with novelty - it just causes fleeting moments of enjoyment, not an increase in brand equity. Brand equity is built through consistently satisfying and surpassing expectations.
May 17th, 2007 11:23
My bad…. Novelty was not the word I meant… Brain Fart on that one.. What I meant was legacy…