Brand Advocates are the New Brand Loyalists
Maybe it's just me, but the term "brand loyalist" always seems
to conjure up a mental image of a 1962 businessman staring
earnestly into a movie camera, brandishing a tube of toothpaste and
declaring that he simply wouldn't settle for anything else. While
the imaginary scene likely varies among individuals, I do believe
that many people share the impression that the days of such
disciplined brand loyalty belong in the past (and in Mad
Men episodes).
But what if the brand loyalist is not extinct, merely evolved?
In an often-cluttered communication environment, this person might
have just been lost in the din. In many ways, the loyal consumer is
still thriving, but now he belongs to a shiny new breed - brand
advocate.
The focus on the social side of media has shifted the spotlight
onto the brand advocate, and she embodies all things desirable to a
marketer. She's informed, connected and a fan of your brand. When
she finds a good product, she feels compelled to share it with the
world. And perhaps best of all, she's not as blindly loyal as her
forefathers. Naturally, this gives her opinion more weight than
that of a businessman who explains to his neighbor that he uses
Crest because, well, he's always used Crest. The brand advocate's
discerning nature helps to establish her as a trustworthy and
influential voice in your product category dialogue, online and
off.
At first glance, the brand loyalist of yesteryear looks like a
fool compared to the modern brand advocate, but they're not so
different when it comes down to it. After all, the core driver
behind any sort of connection to a brand is good, old-fashioned
trust. The meaning of word-of-mouth may have changed with advances
in social technology, but trust remains the same.
As advertisers navigate through new media to find the most
effective ways to connect with fans and gain their advocacy, they
need to remember that trust is a timeless human quality.
"Followers" are real people (most of the time), so build your fan
base as you would cultivate a relationship. In the same way that
people trust brand advocates, brand advocates trust their brands.
Now more than ever, bringing your brand to life and giving it a
personality worthy of long-lasting trust is crucial. Brands will
only accumulate brand advocates once they first learn to build in
strong relationships with all consumers.