How Marketers Can Build and Maintain Brand Loyalty

In the past two years, the world has faced a cascading series of economic crises—from the COVID-19 pandemic, to ongoing supply chain woes, to creeping inflation, to the Great Resignation. Many (if not all) of these predicaments are due to global shifts beyond the control of any one company or brand. However, as a result of these myriad of challenges, brands are facing an unprecedented test when it comes to maintaining customers’ patience, focus and allegiance.

As supply dwindles, prices rise, and challenger brands emerge from the digital world to threaten the supremacy of legacy brands, brand loyalty is very much under threat. In 2021, more than 80% of consumers bought a different brand than their usual choice, driven largely by lower prices and/or dwindling supply. Of those, more customers said they’d prefer stick with their new brand than return to their old go-to’s.

In this cutthroat environment, marketers will need to embrace new tools and strategies to distinguish themselves from the competition—and, of course, to maximize their success once they’ve got someone’s attention. Three factors in particular are key to thriving: showcasing your brand’s values, creating a seamless omnichannel experience, and capitalizing on your data across all channels.

Find Your Brand Heartbeat

In a world of seemingly endless online options that are one Amazon click away from stealing your customers, brands will need to change how they advertise and present themselves to the world. One key for advertisers will be to go beyond products and services to highlight their brand’s heartbeat—i.e. the traits, culture, goals, mission, vision and community that brand embodies.

Generationally speaking, this is a matter of particular import. Studies have found that half of millennials and nearly 60% of Gen Z say they don’t trust companies, while around 40% of millennials and almost half of Gen Z believe most brands come across as inauthentic.

In an era where audiences have more choices than ever—and many millennial and Gen Z consumers aspire to support companies whose corporate values and “style” reflect their own—showcasing your ethos can drive brand loyalty in an era where stickiness is increasingly hard to come by. Ads trumpeting values and purpose help lend brands some much-needed authenticity, and that is a currency that’s always in short supply but high demand.

Create a Seamless Experience

Once your brand has honed its voice and launched campaigns showcasing its “heartbeat,” it has to show it can deliver an experience that meets customers’ sky-high expectations wherever and whenever they want to engage. 

Modern consumers expect a seamless, unified brand experience across all channels. As such, savvy marketers have increasingly come to rely upon omnichannel strategies. Again, this is particularly essential for brands that want to reach younger audiences, with 88% of Zoomers saying they prefer an omnichannel brand experience.

From the moment a consumer sees your ad on Instagram, to when they visit your website to learn more about the product, to their subsequent trip to your brick-and-mortar location for in-store or curbside pickup, to the follow-up emails you’ll send them showcasing other products or service they might enjoy, today’s customers want (and even demand!) a seamless and personalized experience. An omnichannel approach can ensure that brands not only convert more of their leads into customers, but that they keep them coming back for more.

However, if a company is going to truly capitalize on omnichannel marketing, it also needs a comprehensive and effective data strategy.

Why Data is Critical to an Omnichannel Strategy

Dynamic data collection and data analytics solutions are foundational to any modern marketing campaign, but perhaps nowhere more so than omnichannel campaigns. Proper data processes can give marketers a host of key insights, such as where and when specific audiences are likely to spend their time, how your brand can best engage them, what products and services may make for repeat customers, and much, much more. 

With the right lessons from the right data, marketers can confidently make the messaging, budgeting, and timing decisions they’ll need to create and convert as many opportunities as possible—or to make mid-campaign adjustments as necessary. And in a world where brand loyalty is tenuous at best, the ability to stay nimble and adapt to customer expectations is critical to success.

What to Expect in 2022

Change is constant. Consumers’ preferences are always evolving, and the pandemic has accelerated that evolution and brought about major shifts to many elements within the digital marketing world. Whether it’s eroding brand loyalty, DeFi advertising, or the future of cookies, marketers have no shortage of questions for the year ahead. 

Our 2022 Trends Report walks through four of the key trends marketers need to know to keep up with consumers and stay ahead of the curve.