To Build Loyalty, Leave Customers with a Learning, Not a Hashtag
By Matt Robison
It's no secret that the way to build brand loyalty is through authenticity. Consumers connect with realness — with stories that they can relate to. Consumers yearn for connection; and that connection is what fosters long-lasting relationships and loyalty to brands.
Rather than rely on surface-level marketing and flash tactics, brands should provide consumers a learning experience that allows them to discover and engage with a product in a unique way that excites, inspires, and leads to a consumer having his or her own story or reason behind a purchase. Here's how brand marketers can build meaningful and memorable learning experiences that are more valuable than generating impressions and fleeting moments.
What Leading with Learning Looks Like
When developing a campaign strategy, brand marketers would do well by first identifying the essence of their product or service. Think like a product team lead and examine how your offering creates value for your targeted consumer audience.
Show, don't tell. Create an experience that the target audience can use and demo, but in an inspiring setting. It's one thing to communicate features. It's another to let the audience see, hear, touch, feel — and connect with the benefits.
Take Dyson and its Styling Tour. Dyson immersed consumers in an engaging popup experience designed as a circular salon, inspired by their Supersonic dryer's shape, to learn and explore Dyson products. Visitors had two options to engage: they could receive complimentary, personalized styling from expert stylists or experiment at self-styling stations.
The tour offered a comprehensive experience that showcased the company's engineering process and the quality of their products. Whether receiving professional styling or trying their hand at self-styling, visitors gained insights into how Dyson's tools can help achieve their desired looks while appreciating the brand's commitment to innovation and design.
Investing in XR Technologies Can Create Lasting Memories
According to a Nielsen global survey from 2019, consumers listed augmented and virtual reality as the top technologies they're seeking to assist them in their daily lives. In fact, just over half (51 percent) said they were willing to use this technology to assess products.
Technologies like virtual and augmented reality are revolutionizing the way consumers engage with brands and products, offering unique, immersive experiences that are highly memorable. For example, VR can transport users into fully immersive environments to explore and interact with products, services, or brand stories more intimately and captivatingly.
AR, conversely, allows users to seamlessly blend digital content with their physical surroundings, offering a more personalized and contextually relevant experience. For instance, Alienware celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2021 with the launch of its Aurora PC. The company hosted an interactive, two-hour online event on its Twitch channel, leveraging an in-home AR unboxing experience to mimic the opening airdrop reveal video.
Halfway through the video, a banner with a QR code appeared giving viewers the option to relive the airdropping. Viewers could access additional information about the new system while using the AR experience from their mobile devices. There was also an opportunity to enroll in a sweepstakes.
Leading with learning is an opportunity for brands to build more meaningful connections with audiences. It's also an opportunity for both audiences and brands to learn from one another. Smartly done experiences have the potential to forge lasting relationships between consumers and brands. It's not about the moment; it's about the memories created.
The views and opinions expressed are solely those of the contributor and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the ANA or imply endorsement from the ANA.
Matt Robison is the founder and CEO of Robotproof, a leading full-service marketing agency.