Brand loyalty is drastically different today than it was prior to influencers and social shopping. Vast choice and immediate access to products impact customer loyalty, especially in a sluggish economy. According to a recent McKinsey & Co. survey of gen Zers in the United States and United Kingdom, 62% check out other options, even if they have a go-to favorite.
The modern version of loyalty means leveraging the following of influencers to stoke both short- and long-term brand support, leading marketers to wonder if creators have greater power than brands. In certain cases, they absolutely do. They can draw people to a brand—and just as easily repel them from it.
At 5W Public Relations, we delved into the dynamics fueling brand interest and loyalty in our first Consumer Culture Report. For it, we asked consumers what convinces them to splurge, and they listed word of mouth as the most significant factor, followed by paid social media advertising and influencer posts.
Although they agree it’s crucial to get them to spend, consumers have varying views of word of mouth depending on their age. Younger consumers tend to consider influencer recommendations as their version of word of mouth. Older generations generally understand word of mouth as recommendations from their peers.
Their responses indicate multiple touchpoints are necessary to communicate with a breadth of consumers, and brands have to figure out the right mix of them to be successful. Below, we look at tactics that marketers for emerging brands should keep in mind to connect with consumers and engender their loyalty.
Amplify Offers with the Right Media
According to our fourth annual Consumer Culture Report, 66% of consumers say they’re likely to switch from brands they know to comparably affordable alternatives. While price isn’t the only purchase driver, it plays an enormous role when shoppers are bombarded with options. Here’s how consumers expect brands to help them save:
- Give product discounts (50%).
- Waive shipping fees (38%).
- Offer value-based alternatives (30%).
Even if a brand meets pricing demands, it may lose a customer along the checkout road. We suggest hyper-targeting potential shoppers with offers at every touchpoint. Deploying flash discounts and deals through macro-influencers on the appropriate platforms can garner awareness and urgency, two important steps in the direction of loyalty.
For the American launch of a K-beauty skincare brand, 5W advised on and executed strategic partnerships that put products and devices in the hands of influencers of all sizes. They produced unique and educational content for YouTube and Instagram that skyrocketed brand awareness in a few short months. The campaign aligned with a flash deal, ultimately driving sales well into the six figures, 4X the investment.
Brands should have a strategy in place that repeatedly hits each customer persona via influencers and paid social, but they shouldn’t overlook avenues beyond social such as traditional media to widen their demographic scope. Although social media users are certainly shopping, omnichannel remains critical to touch consumers primarily over 34 years old.
Sell a Lifestyle
Brands with a cult following typically sell a “lifestyle” versus a product. Many modern beauty brands have extended beyond their core beauty products to address an array of beauty needs—and non-beauty needs—to cultivate a lifestyle positioning. In turn, the creators they work with should sync with that positioning to broaden their reach beyond beauty and lift with diverse audience pools.
A tie-in with music can bridge the gap between beauty and lifestyle. For a few of our haircare partners, we struck partnerships with musical artists like Baby Tate and Justine Skye to show off their music and must-haves for their ideal wash day on TikTok. The posts went viral, and the partnerships translated to further media opportunities.
Brands should lean on creators to promote them through highly shareable, relatable content. Pertinent influencers underscoring a brand’s distinct lifestyle approach can make its product pop.
Innovate and Collaborate
In addition to value, consumers are demanding transparency from brands. As a result, brands shouldn’t just tap creators after the fact to tout products, but instead invite them to be part of the process and bring their followers behind the scenes.
Launching a new palette? For emerging brands lacking brand awareness, partnering with strong influencers and allowing them to be “creative director” for a product or line could be effective. With their name on it, they’ll be invested in publicizing the product and their followers will be primed to check it out.
5W worked with a mineral makeup brand to enlist an influencer to develop a collection that brought to life the ethos of both parties. The partnership centered largely on social media, but incorporated traditional PR as well. We secured an exclusive story with a top-tier consumer media partner and hosted a breakfast launch event with editors that led to over 20 press pieces of press on the collection.
Judging by the countless trends that are started on TikTok, there’s no denying the clout of social content. To gain traction on social media, let creators help you out. After all, they’re the experts now.
Dara Busch is co-CEO of 5WPR, a leading consumer PR agency and a top three beauty PR firm in the United States. The firm has released its fourth annual Consumer Culture Report. Research for the report was conducted by Censuswide, an independent market research consultancy, with a nationally representative sample of 2,000 American consumers from November 21 to 24 last year.
5W’s in-house research and analytics practice leveraged an artificial intelligence-based natural language processing tool in order to visualize, aggregate and analyze the most salient media conversations surrounding inflation, consumer spending habits and supply chain impacts. Insights gleaned from this analysis were paired with Censuswide’s consumer survey data to ensure synergies in 5W’s reporting.
