10 Ways To Get Consumers To Love Your Brand

"The essential difference between emotion and reason is that emotion leads to action while reason leads to conclusions." - Donald Calne

We live in a world of brands. As you flip through the channels on your TV, commute to work, or surf the web, you'll no doubt encounter messages from brands that run the gamut from the largest corporations to your local `mom and pop' shops. Some of these spark an emotional connection so strong that consumers actually love them. And we thought you would love to know what makes consumers feel this way.

In an attempt to celebrate success among local marketers in B.C. and Alberta, we wanted to understand which locally-led brands consumers loved, and why.

So we took inspiration from Ipsos' Brand Value Creator, which measures a brand's Attitudinal Equity--that is, the strength of the relationship between consumers and a brand. Using this measure, we ranked 65 B.C.-based brands and 55 Alberta-based brands from respondent ratings designed to emulate a brand's ability to generate love. This allowed us to identify the Top 10 brands in each province. We also examined eight key dimensions linked to how we interact with and actually love brands, including: contribution to the province, engagement, innovation, presence, relevance, social responsibility, trust and uniqueness.

Of these eight dimensions, we found that three accounted for a large share of a brand's ability to generate love: engagement, trust and relevance. Our results indicate that brands that drive more frequent engagement among consumers create a healthier relationship and build equity. And while it may seem obvious, consumers need to feel they can trust a brand before they can truly fall in love (for more information, read this release on a study that we conducted on behalf of Reader's Digest showing the importance of trust in Canadian consumer decision-making). We also learned that without relevance, brands are unable to succeed at building relationships with their core audience. If you do these three things really well, chances are you're going to get solid scores for brand love.

So based on our research, here are ten things that we discovered about why consumers love brands.

1. It may come as a relief that you don't have to excel at everything to be loved. In fact, a number of the companies in both Top 10 lists scored below average in some categories. The secret to success lies in focusing on a core set of attributes and mastering them.
2. An impressive scale and reach has been proven to drive brand love. Indeed, E-commerce is rapidly growing in importance, but traditional brick and mortar stores have the powerful edge of bringing you closer to the consumer.
3. If you don't have reach, effective marketing can increase visibility. We have seen a few brands with a small physical presence market their way to having a large one--be it through mainstream advertising, social or public relations.
4. Investing in the community is a plus, but it's not the ticket to success. Many of the scores for local contributions were decent at best. So while it's great to invest in the community, be sure to focus on the things that engender a relationship with consumers.
5. Tell the truth! We can't stress this enough. Great relationships among people thrive on trust, and brands are no different. When people really, truly trust a brand, they will listen to what you have to say and share it with others.
6. Love at first sight might happen with people, but it's rare in the brand world. The most loved brands make the most of their heritage, and continually invest in bettering themselves. Remember, you can't build a great brand overnight; it takes time to truly resonate with consumers.
7. Innovation is not everything. Interestingly, our analysis showed that this has the least impact on Attitudinal Equity. While it can be powerful, it should be coupled with other things.
8. Customer experience is what paves the way for an emotional connection. A brand needs to succeed at every touchpoint; if you fail to deliver, your equity can erode quickly.
9. Social responsibility can help, however as with community investment, our driver analysis suggests that this isn't as important as we may think.
10. Research, learn and repeat. At Ipsos, we have the wonderful benefit of working with many of the most loved companies, and all champion the need to have an intimate understanding of consumers.

We know that falling in love isn't easy. The brands that tug at the heartstrings are the ones that go beyond a transaction to make consistent, emotional connections. From the values they instill to the experiences they create, they keep consumers at the heart of their initiatives. And the rewards can be powerful!

Want to know which brands scored in the Top Ten and why? Listen to our recorded presentations from the Alberta's Most Loved Brands event and BC's Most Loved Brands event.