Marketing is expensive and inevitably necessary if you are frequently losing your clients. However, new research has identified a psychographic trait that increases brand loyalty.

Millward Brown recently analyzed BrandZ’s 2008 database and discovered that digital consumers (online buyers/information searchers) have stronger relationships with brands than non-digital consumers. In other words, make it easy to find and research your brand online, and you will increase your chances of getting loyal followers.

This loyalty trend proves true in all categories whether airlines or grocery stores. However, the strength of loyalty varies depending on the category. Examples include:

• 93% stronger for Airlines
• 48% stronger for IT Hardware
• 45% stronger for IT Software
• 22% stronger for Body Care
  
• 17% stronger for Cars
• 12% stronger for Fast Food
  
• 9% stronger for Banking
• 7% stronger for Grocery Stores
  
• 5% stronger for Soft Drinks
• 5% stronger for Motor Fuel

So if you want to likely increase your customer loyalty numbers, target Web users. Invest in a good website. Leverage social media.

Because people are growing less trusting of advertising and direct messages from companies, it is important to try to create relationships with your target audience. Relationships build trust. They tear down misconceptions, doubts, and stereotypes. And they do so because they make the unfamiliar familiar.

Of course, not just any relationship will do. You must be authentic. Be transparent. Accentuate your desire to meet their needs with your product or service. If money is your priority, it will likely show and compromise the relationship’s authenticity. But if the customer is your priority, customers will notice and begin giving you the priceless gift of their trust.

People are most loyal to companies they trust. When trust becomes increasingly scarce, it makes earning it all the more valuable.

[via The Experience Economist & The Consumerist]

Take for example the movie Juno, which features a retro hamburger phone. One month after the movie’s release, eBay sales of the hamburger phone rose 759%.

Or consider the Tickle Me Elmo doll. Appearances on “The Rosie O’Donnell Show” and “Today” in the fall of 1996 launched Tickle Me Elmo into toy superstardom.

Finding such success can be elusive. Thousands of videos designed to be viral never spread. And most new products fail. There is one thing in common with these lucky breaks – the product is noteworthy. There is something unique, notable, and remarkable about hamburger phones and Tickle Me Elmo dolls. Although there is no guaranteed formula to achieve such success, there are three principles to keep in mind if you want your product to “get lucky.”

1. Average products rarely, if ever, get lucky. Even with publicity, people just don’t care about average.
2. Not all noteworthy products get exposure. There is no fairness to the limelight.
3. A noteworthy product and a good dose of exposure are your best chance at getting lucky. Even then, phenomenal results are not guaranteed.

[via Trend Hunter Magazine]

Although advertising and public relations are important, it is vital that organizations never put promotion ahead of what is most important – the product. Making a product more marketable through product enhancement or brand development is one of the best investments an organization can make.

Great products sell themselves. They create word of mouth. And essentially, they turn your customers into promoters. If you put marketability first, then promotion will only amplify the success already being generated from having a great product.

But if you do not have a great product – if it is not marketable – then promoting it will likely make things worse in the long run. After all, the quickest way to kill a bad product is with great advertising.

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What’s this blog about?

I enjoy helping organizations become more effective and successful. There is no niche that holds all the answers, but I will be focusing most of my posts on the areas of design, leadership, management, marketing, technology, and culture.