Brand loyalty

Brand loyalty is defined as positive feelings towards a brand and dedication to purchase the same product or service repeatedly now and in the future from the same brand, regardless of a competitor's actions or changes in the environment. It can also be demonstrated with other behaviors such as positive word-of-mouth advocacy. Brand loyalty is where an individual buys products from the same manufacturer repeatedly rather than from other suppliers. Businesses whose financial and ethical values, for example ESG responsibilities, rest in large part on their brand loyalty are said to use the loyalty business model.Brand loyalty, in marketing, consists of a consumer's commitment to repurchase or continue to use the brand. It can be demonstrated by repeated buying of a product, service, or other positive behaviors such as word of mouth advocacy. This concept of a brand displays imagery and symbolism for a product or range of products. Brands can have the power to engage consumers and make them feel emotionally attached. Consumer’s beliefs and attitudes make up brand images, and these affect how they will view brands with which they come into contact. Brand experience occurs when consumers shop or search for, and consume products. Holistic experiences such as sense, relation, acting and feeling occur when one comes into contact with brands. The stronger and more relational these senses are to the individual, the more likely repeat purchase behavior will occur. After contact has been made, psychological reasoning will occur, followed by a buy or not-buy decision. This can result in repeat purchase behavior, thus incurring the beginning brand loyalty. Brand loyalty is not limited to repeat purchase behavior, as there is deeper psychological reasoning as to why an individual will continuously re-purchase products from one brand. Brand loyalty can be shortly defined as the 'behavioral willingness' to consistently maintain relations with a particular brand. In a survey of nearly 200 senior marketing managers, 68 percent responded that they found the 'loyalty' metric very useful.Brand loyalty is a good measure for managers to use when trying to predict brand performance outcomes. It also highlights the importance of marketing communication when trying to promote a certain product that's not doing as well as other succeeding products. Marketers are able to look at the patterns of brand loyalty and pick out characteristics that make that product thrive.Brand loyalty in marketing, consists of a consumer’s devotion, bond, and commitment to repurchase and continue to use a brands product or service over time, regardless of changes with competitors pricing or changes in the external environment. Brand loyalty reflects a customer's commitment to remain in a relationship for a long period of time with a brand.Brand loyalty has shown to profit firms by saving them a lot of money. Benefits associated with loyal consumers include:Brand loyalty is more than simple repurchasing. Customers may repurchase a brand due to situational constraints (such as vendor lock-in), a lack of viable alternatives, or out of convenience. Such loyalty is referred to as 'spurious loyalty'.Humans are attracted to certain brands due to each individual psychological make up. Cognitive responses can be matched with brand personalities. Brand personalities are broken down into 5 categories of traits: sincerity, ruggedness, competence, sophistication and excitement. Consumers are usually drawn to brands because the brand will strongly convey one of these traits, and that trait will resonate in the individual consumers mind. These traits are matched to the five psychological factors that the consumers are influenced by. These are the perception, learning, motivation, and beliefs and attitudes. In relation to brand loyalty, the most important factors are beliefs and attitudes. A belief that one might hold can be based on real knowledge, faith or opinion and have the ability to carry an emotional charge. Consumers use these beliefs to form a brand image in their minds, and marketers try to either change or enhance people’s beliefs to draw them to their brand. Marketers can advertise messages such as ‘no added sugar’ and then if this statement resonates in the consumers mind, they will believe that this brands beliefs matches theirs Beliefs that consumers hold against brands can also be false, as word of mouth, false advertising and so forth can create false impressions. Marketers will try to counteract these negative beliefs so the consumer feels like they hold similar beliefs as the brand. Attitudes can be based on brand salience and accessibility. Consumers make constant evaluations on every aspect of their lives and these make up attitudes. Ones attitude is usually difficult to change, so marketers try to fit their brands and products into categorical attitudes. Each time a consumer makes contact with a brand (through advertising and promotion), they reflect on their attitudes to make judgements and decisions about that particular brand. If a person’s attitude coincides with what a brand is trying to convey, the consumer will put the brand into a ‘liking’ category in their mind. The consumer will then be more likely to increase involvement with this brand, and because attitudes are difficult to change, the chances of brand loyalty occurring are increased.When brands are well established and have a decent flow of consumers, problems may arise such as slips in product quality, safety of products and lack of customer care. These problems can be detrimental to a brand that has become too confident as they can be publicly exposed and reputations can be ruined. On the contrary, many brands continue to get away with scandals, and it does not affect their image in any way. For example, the Coca-Cola brand has been involved in scandals including murders in Colombia, crimes in India and various health dangers; all relating back to the company name . The power that this brand holds is the fact that Coca-Cola is the top in its field and has a hold over competitors. The reputation of such a massive organization is hard to dent with the powerful distribution rights and funds to create some of the best ad campaigns.One of the most prominent features of many markets is their overall stability — or marketing inertia. Thus, in their essential characteristics they change very slowly, often over decades — sometimes centuries — rather than over months.