Why it’s becoming so important to create a memorable brand experience that results in brand loyalty

The concept of branding and brand marketing remains the same as it always has been: liking someone, encouraging them to buy your stuff, and then persuading them to keep buying more of your product. The most predominant factors in achieving brand loyalty have always revolved around simple things like price, location, customer service, and quality. However, the platform on which individual brands seek to achieve results has changed dramatically in recent years.

The explosion of online shopping, giving the consumer access to a global marketplace, coupled with rapidly advancing technology…allows the shopper to “experience” a product virtually. This means that the above factors of price, etc. it may not be long enough to command strong brand loyalty. Now it’s all about connectivity, familiarity and making life easier for the customer.

Companies today compete in a much more complex market and must be much smarter in their marketing strategies. It is no longer just about brand identity, awareness and loyalty. Companies need to build ‘brand affinity’ through ‘brand experience’.

The brand experience is based not only on visual indications, but on encompassing all sensations and feelings; generating behavioral responses evoked by brand-related stimuli. A brand needs to create an authentic and memorable ‘experience’. You need to promote an emotional response in your audience, through strong design, a concise brand identity, and direct, focused communications.

Year effective The brand experience will create valuable interactions between the brand and/or the products and services and the user.

HAS significant experience will increase an individual’s brand affinity.

HAS successful The brand experience will deliver on a brand promise by demonstrating the benefits of a product or service to a particular individual.

To create a meaningful connection between brand and consumer, business owners and brand marketers need to think outside the box. It’s not just about advertising anymore. TV, print, media and online strategies are still relevant as part of the whole marketing plan, but people also want to ‘experience’ a brand on site. They want personalized and immersive brand experiences.

Successful consumer engagement begins with innovation. A well-designed sensory experience targeted at the right audience in the right environment will appeal to a whole new group of consumers. It will also build relationships, create devotees, and ultimately drive sales. The quality of the experience itself will determine the amount of brand engagement or affinity it produces.

Events, experiential activations, in-store promotions, trade shows, virtual and augmented reality, creative pop-ups, installations and the like that offer the opportunity for meaningful brand-consumer interactions should be top of the agenda marketing of a company. The more creative, interactive and immersive the user experience, the more a brand will be related to and remembered.

Now, more than ever, marketers must seek new, creative, and sophisticated approaches. A brand needs to focus on engagement to differentiate itself and stand out from the rest. Importantly, you must also keep your promise. Audiences are much more discerning these days, and are quick to let everyone know that if they feel a brand isn’t standing out, they’ll soon be taking their custom elsewhere (…and most likely their friends and family’s too via word of mouth).

Declining customer engagement is a huge battlefield for brands in a modern world full of sensory distractions. In today’s new and diverse world of consumer demands and expectations, driven by changing demographics and cultural change in the marketplace, brands struggle to create meaningful differentiation and engagement with their audience. Brands that are able to identify customer expectations Y address them via true and authentic emotional values, will be the successful companies of the future.