There are a lot of brand loyalists out there. You know who I’m talking about, the ones who will only fly a certain airline even through their flight may have 2 extra stops and cost more, the ones who will only eat fast food at McDonald’s and the ones who even have Burberry plaid underwear.
Me? I’ll take the airline that gets me from Point-A to Point-B the quickest, I think all fast food sucks and is bound to kill us at some point, and as far as underwear is concerned…. I’ll go for comfort in whatever brand delivers.
There’s a lot that goes into making a brand “sticky.”. Whether it’s loyalty reward points, exceptional customer service, or a commitment to quality that resonates in the finished product – loyalty comes at a cost and it’s often times expensive. Some businesses invest heavily in making their brand “sticky” and amassing legions of followers who quickly become their “fan base.” This type of marketing is becoming more and more popular now that social media has taken center stage in just about everyone’s life.
Brand loyalists are key for any size business. You don’t have to be Pepsi or United Airlines to develop a fan base, but you have to be willing to commit to take care of your “fans” and reward them for their support.
When I talk about this subject, I always use Apple as an example of a company who has an extremely loyal – and fanatical – fan base. Here’s a company who introduced the iPad in a WiFi only version first having all their fans flocking to stores to buy one. Three months later they introduce one with WiFi and 3G and the majority of their fans purchased one again. Then when the iPad 2 came out, the loyal fans once again lined up to be the first on their block to have one.
While their OS never made it into main-stream businesses, they have an extremely devoted user base who will not come within 50 feet of a PC running Windows and mutters the word “Android” like it’s the f-bomb.
It took a lot of time, effort and money on Apple’s part to build the fan base they have and with each new product and customer experience, the base grows.
When it comes to sticky, Apple is honey and molasses and good old fashioned mucilage.
What are you doing to build a fan base for your business or brand?