Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

How important is brand loyalty to you?

As a business owner, what do you do to promote loyalty among your customers?  Do you believe it`s more important to find new clients, or to keep repeat business from existing ones?

As a consumer, how much does brand loyalty drive your buying decisions?  Are you willing to pay extra/drive further/wait longer just to do business with a company you trust?

Personally, I think it`s extremely important - at least from my point of view as a consumer.  If I have a positive experience with a certain company, I am very likely to consider them as my first option in the future.  Often I will pass up a better deal or a more convenient option just because of brand preference. 

For example, I owned a Sharp television set that worked like a charm for over a decade.  When it was time for a new one I only gave a very cursory consideration to all other brands; and ended up buying another Sharp mainly because of the label.  My last 3 cars were all Toyotas, most likely the next one will be a Toyota as well.  90% of the clothes I own are produced by the same handful of brands.  If I need to make a purchase online, I will first first look on Amazon.com - and only look at other websites if Amazon doesn`t have what I`m looking for.

On the other hand, a negative experience will usually make me avoid the company by any means - I am rarely swayed by the promises of improvement.  But if I have a negative experience with a company that I already consider a "quality brand," I am much more forgiving towards them than a company that I`m dealing with for the first time.

-------------------------

Oleg Issers | StartupNation.com Web Team

50% of computer programming is trial and error. The other 50% is copy and paste.

Yeah, I`m the idiot who keeps buying Mac laptops just because they are Macs ....

And I can blindly tell you the difference between Coke and Pepsi, every time. (Pepsi, bleh.)

And I will always be a Saturn driver after surviving a pretty bad crash.

I have a SONY tv which has been in the family since I was in middle school. That alone probably guarantees I`ll be buying another SONY.

I just bought a Sharp tv partly because a friend just did & loves it, and mostly because it was the highest rated in Consumer Reports.

I think there`s another important component to the question: Does your business lend itself to repeat customers?

In our business, people buy a banner and they`re pretty much done. Yes, we get word-of-mouth and the "Cool thing" secondary market, but not many repeat customers.

On the other hand, Mobil or Exxon sell to repeat customers. Doesn`t brand-loyalty and the efforts and expense involved *only* apply to repeatable customer types of businesses?

I think brand loyalty is more than just repeat purchase and word of mouth marketing. True brand loyalty is consumers take responsibility for the company`s continued success. I am a fan of ipod and besides owning 2 of them, telling my friends about the product and more importantly, I got to talk about the crazy ideas in the apple discussion. The apple people might use my ideas for ipod brand extension. Who knows?

it also works in reverse.  you could not GIVE me a product made by Panasonic.  Brands are about consumer expectation and I expect bad things from Panasonic based on my encounters with that brand.

-------------------------

James Lindon, Ph.D. Patent Attorney
Lindon & Lindon, LLC
Cleveland, Ohio
Patents, Trademarks, Copyrights, Pharmacy Law, Litigation
[this is not legal advice - provided for discussion only]
Intellectual Property for the Individual and Small Business: Identify, Protect, Enforce, Defend.
"Fools rush in where angels fear to tread."
http://www.LindonLaw.com

Loyalty is directly associated with Respect. So we could just as easily ask what does a company do to gain the respect of their customers.