We recently talked about how to create a brand that people love. When people are connected to what you do, your business or career will thrive. When that connection grows even deeper, people begin to feel a sense of loyalty to your brand. The term “brand loyalty” gets thrown around a lot, but what does it really mean, and why does it matter? Let’s talk about it today!

What is Brand Loyalty?

Put simply, brand loyalty is a strong devotion and allegiance to your brand based on the formation of an emotional connection that is nurtured and protected over time. It comes from showing thoughtful care toward others and striving to exceed the needs of the people who surround you. Importantly, it also deepens with consistency over time. If you return a phone call or email promptly once, that will make someone happy. But if you always get back quickly to communication, that’s a recipe for brand loyalty, because it deepens that emotional connection time after time.

The Business Benefits

Brand loyalty is not just limited to your clients or customers. Colleagues, direct reports, and even your competitors can feel a sense of this loyalty to your brand. When this happens, your career or business gains significant benefits, such as:

• Client Retention: Re-booking a loyal client is always less expensive and time-consuming than acquiring a new one. If you can get the same clients to come back to you over and over again, that’s time and money you can invest elsewhere in your business – or simply profit to take home!
• Client Recommendations: People who are loyal to your brand are much more likely to recommend you to their friends. When this happens, new leads walk through your door significantly more prepared to invest in you. This cuts down sales time and effort, and also creates a better relationship from the very beginning since you’re starting from a place of increased trust.
• Professional Partner Recommendations: The colleagues and professional partners that you work with all have opportunities to refer business to other professionals. Why shouldn’t that professional be you? When you establish a pattern of nurturing and protecting your relationships with others, people are more likely to send you referrals because they want to work with you.
• Competitor Recommendations: Your competitors often receive business opportunities that they cannot accommodate, and if they’re thoughtful they’d probably like to steer that client to another competent professional. Loyalty to your brand can create a synergy that makes competitors happy to refer business to you. What a compliment!

The Most Important Thing You Can Do

To foster brand loyalty, you must absolutely recognize and reward it. Businesses often focus their efforts on new business, leaving prior clients and colleagues in the dust and feeling neglected. Something as simple as a handwritten note, a phone call, or a thoughtful gift can be a great way to let someone know that you think of them and that you care. But you can also go big, with hand delivered gift baskets presented in a playful or extravagant way! No matter how big or small your effort, it’s crucial to find ways to recognize and reward brand loyalty!

Video Transcript: Why Brand Loyalty Matters

Below is a transcript of the video, “Why Brand Loyalty Matters,” published on YouTube on May 5, 2020.

Speaker Don Mamone:

Hey there. Thanks for being here today. I’m Don Mamone. I’m a hospitality veteran. I’m an artist. I’m
also an entrepreneur. Today we’re talking about brand loyalty. We’re going to start by defining brand
loyalty. Next we’re going to discuss what that looks like in your business and we’re going to identify the
benefits of brand loyalty. Lastly, at the end of this video, I’m not only going to share with you the most
important thing you can do relative to brand loyalty. I’m also going to share a story from our business. I
might just share some photos of Emily and me all dressed up just to stress how important brand loyalty
is.

Now, before we jump in and talk about brand loyalty, if you haven’t had an opportunity to watch my
video, how to create a brand people love, I want you to pause this video and watch that one first. The
link’s in the description below and, don’t worry, we’ll wait for you.

One of the biggest benefits to creating a brand people love is brand loyalty. Now, you’ll notice I didn’t
say client loyalty or customer loyalty, I said brand loyalty. And, that’s because anybody in your life
including your friends and family, your clients, professional partners, even your competition, that’s right,
people that do the same thing you do in your marketplace, can be considered brand loyal. I call this
group of people your BRAND FANS.

Now back to that definition, I define brand loyalty as a strong devotion and allegiance to your brand
based on the formation of an emotional connection that’s nurtured and protected over time. That’s a
very thorough definition, but what does it really mean to your business? It means that your brand fans
have formed a deep emotional bond with your brand and they’re committed to your growth and
success. Now, let’s take a look at some of the benefits of brand loyalty. First and arguably the biggest is
client retention because rebooking a loyal client is less costly and easier. Who doesn’t love repeat
business? Now, that doesn’t mean that you don’t need to look for new sales. That means you need to
balance retention with new clients. Speaking of new clients, those same brand loyal clients that you
have are highly likely to recommend you to others…and by others, I mean everyone because they’re
committed to your growth and success. You can also bet that they’d be willing to create a testimonial
that you can use in your marketing efforts.

Next, how about those brand loyal professional partners? They’re also highly likely to recommend you.
Your brand has proven itself to be professional and talented and an exceptional extension of their team.
These same industry allies are also going to come to you for their professional projects and partnership
needs. What about your competition? Can they become brand fans? Absolutely. If they know and love
your brand and they receive a lead that they’re unavailable for or isn’t quite the right fit, they’re going to
recommend you. Some of our favorite projects came from other photographers.

I promised to share with you the number one most important thing you can do relative to brand loyalty
and here it is. You absolutely must recognize and reward loyalty. All too often businesses focus their
sales and marketing efforts on new clients and their networking efforts on new professionals leaving
your brand fans feeling forgotten and taken for granted. You can recognize and reward the loyalty of
your brand fans with something as simple as a phone call, a handwritten note, or a thoughtful gift. For a
slightly more ambitious effort, consider a brand fan loyalty campaign. I don’t know, maybe title it “You
Rock” and deliver a basket full of rock inspired items like a pet rock, pop rocks, skinny pop and a ring
pop. And, be sure to dress up like proper rockstars when you deliver them.

Okay, you get the idea. I’m certain you’re now ready to recognize and reward your most loyal brand
fans. Be sure to click the thumbs up and share