What is Brand Affinity and Why is it Important?

Brand affinity describes consumers who believe a particular brand shares common values with them. This helps build a relationship between the brand and consumer thus retaining loyal customers. This connection often progresses from brand awareness that deepens into brand loyalty, and then finally turning into brand affinity. Customers increasingly expect brands to understand them as humans and deliver individualized experiences in relation to their lifestyles and preferences. Brands that are able to convey a genuine human connection across their messaging will be the ones who retain old customers, gain new ones and eventually turn all of them into advocates.

90% of American’s use customer service as a deciding factor when choosing a new business, so when working to create brand affinity, better customer service will be a byproduct. It is also safe to say that marketing today looks quite different than it has in the past, technological advancements and market changes have created a more connected and knowledgeable consumer – so it is important for a brand to create valuable content. 72% of marketers agree that good content increases engagement (more people coming to your site and encouraging them to stay on it longer). The more time a customer is on your site finding out about your brand, the more time they are spending with you.

You can develop brand affinity in your customers by employing a series of marketing strategies and tactics:

Keep Connected and Think Targeted

You can do this by building your email marketing list and using it to communicate with your customers whether it be product updates, or promotional coupons. It is important to keep up with your contacts.

Customer Service Superstars

Invest in customer service. If you can get your customer service to identify with your brand, you will be able to set yourself apart from your competitors.

Tap into the Power of Social Media

You can interact with customers directly, making it easier to develop and nurture relationships. You can also use the platforms as your own channel to provide unique and shareable content.

From creating trust to building these strong relationships with customers, brand affinity also comes with a variety of benefits:

Develop a Brand Personality

To help build brand affinity with customers, you will need to spend time working on your brand’s personality and what you want that to look like what you would like it’s goals to be? Once you’ve figured out the personality, you can then use it to start creating engaging content that pulls in your target audience.

It Creates Trust

When working to create relationships with customers, there is always going to be some trust.

It Helps Build Relationships

In today’s world, businesses can come off more as automatic and personal and for many consumers this can be off-putting. Consumers would prefer using a brand that has a very human and personal side, without customer relationships with a brand, there is going to be no affinity.
Simply put, providing human-centered customer experiences is the key to connecting with your customers and understanding them as individuals.