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Brand Evangelism: A Step Beyond Basic Customer Loyalty
These days, it’s not enough to simply keep your current customers loyal to your brand. What you need are the kinds of customers who do the heavy-lifting hard-sell on your behalf.
Brand evangelism happens when people are so happy with a brand or business, they just can’t help but spread the word to others. You don't push them in any specific direction – they do it organically, and enthusiastically.
This has the potential to be one of the most powerful forms of promotion, somewhat combining UGC, word-of-mouth, social proof, and a type of influencer marketing. Unfortunately, it’s not the kind of thing you can just sit back and wait to flood in on its own.
But with the right approach, there’s plenty you can do to cultivate brand evangelism, and tap into a business-booster that goes beyond basic loyalty.
According to those who know (and have done) it best, this is what you need to be doing:
1. Focus on Your Core Audience, Not Just Early Adopters
Prioritising the cutting-edge or simply the 'cool' aspects of your product or service might seem the obvious approach. In reality, focusing too much on early adopters and trendsetters can be a mistake.
It’s all about the numbers, and these customers will likely only make up a tiny percentage of your overall market. Which, in turn, means you're not focusing on the largest proportion of your target audience, and could be missing the mark with them.
The broader the appeal of what you do, the easier it becomes to reach a bigger audience. And with a larger audience comes the higher likelihood of some (or many) of these more mainstream buyers becoming brand advocates, or even evangelists.
2. Use Data and Insights to Understand Your Customers
It's common to think that huge brands like Apple and Amazon simply 'got lucky' on their way to market domination. They didn't. Instead, they studied and scrutinised masses of customer data at the deepest possible level, in order to find out what their audiences really wanted.
From general word-of-mouth to direct customer feedback to customer buying habits, they’re constantly looking at what works and what doesn’t. All of which effectively builds a blueprint of the ideal business model, and how to continuously optimise for success.
Irrespective of how small, large or niche your business is, getting to know your customers intimately is vital. It’s not just the best way to truly get them on your side – it’s the only way.
3. Dive Deep with Qualitative Research
Even so, hard data and statistics aren’t enough on their own. Connections are built on meaningful interactions, and taking the time to talk to people directly.
This doesn’t have to be difficult – simple classics like feedback forms, surveys and even one-to-one conversations can be more than enough. Social media – where consumers never fail to share their thoughts and feelings with the world - provides access to a wealth of qualitative information for all types of brands.
Plus, it’s vital to ensure your customers know they’re listened to, appreciated, and that their feedback is acted upon. Focusing on open, two-way communication alone can be a great way to nurture brand advocacy, and build the kinds of long-term relationships every business needs to succeed