22 Sep
Today the competition is increasingly fierce in service industries. Brands have long noticed the importance of creating a competitive advantage through brand strategies. In the B2B landscape, this phenomenon would apply within a more complex nature. However, it has the same significance as it has in the B2C context. For a far more crowded and multidimensional landscape, this requires another parameter called brand loyalty. We’ll dig deeper to answer the question – why is brand loyalty so important in B2B marketing? What is B2B loyalty and how is it accomplished?
B2B markets, especially in the B2B eCommerce have long before started investing in branding. No wonder buzzwords like brand love, brand attachment, brand loyalty, etc, have soared in the last decade. Advertising endeavors and buzzwords are important for sure. But B2B professionals know it’s more important for them to be interested in strategies and long-term plans for maintaining relationships, in addition to these. Therefore firms have taken measures in creating brand loyalty, to influence the purchasing decisions of their partners and stakeholders.
Results of brand loyalty, in the long run, have reciprocal impacts because B2B brands provide value to their shareholders and this cannot be solely explained with the numeric facts. Brand loyalty becomes an essential dynamic in explaining how a brand “feels” becomes as valuable as what they offer as B2B service providers, or what they make stakeholders earn, in the materialistic sense. This can involve professional services, consultation, or the products itself.
Therefore, as much as it sounds totally materialistic, the concept “competitiveness” itself has made its way into the “relationship” domain. These all combined have a powerful impact on the decision-making process of procurement staff.
It’s no wonder recent research highlights the importance of brand loyalty in B2B, which is directly related to regulating channel relationships.
Because Relationships are.
Research suggests that competitiveness today relies on strong brands and effective B2B relationships. Especially for emerging and niche markets, brand loyalty becomes a crucial subject.
Merging the need for automation and B2B loyalty, specialists developed B2B loyalty programs. A B2B loyalty program does not only provide insights on the basis of numeric values but also reinforces the intangible component of B2B loyalty, relationships. Let’s have a look at the former first.
A B2B loyalty program is a strong component of a strong B2B brand foundation. A functioning channel is a prominent drive in assessing brand performance.
How do we read a complex and multilayered structure like a channel, though? Apex Loyalty operates on 5 B2B engagement metrics to provide legible data that brands can utilize to understand today, as well as make future insights. Understanding these metrics and what they stand for will give us clues about what matters in the context of a strong brand presence.
Apex Loyalty utilized Enrollment Rate, Redemption Rate, Active Engagement Rate, Point Accumulation Rate, and Content Consumption Rate, which cater to specific purposes each. All of them are important and altogether form a meaningful whole.
For example, in a digital landscape, how would you know your customers stick around? Redemption Rate and Active Engagement Rate help you see how many people are actually benefiting from what you have to provide in order to make people establish strong bonds with your brand. In other words, it offers a way for you to see if what you’re developing and offering resonate with your target group or not.
The context beneath these numbers is what makes B2B loyalty programs valuable in reinforcing your brand and relationships.
In the end, the B2B environment is basically about finding and making sense of your niche. Once you find it, your job is still not complete. You have to find ways on the basis of real data in order to maintain your presence in your customers, partners, or any stakeholder’s minds.
Apex Loyalty is especially powerful in offering a full package of marketing automation products without sacrificing the connection element.
With a vast variety of customizable features offered, you can tailor and integrate it into your brand, in the way you want your “tone” to sound.
Imagine this tone is perceived in any domain you want your presence felt. It can be the daily content sent to your partners’ mailbox. It can be the reward type to embed within your campaign for a specific group.
With Apex Loyalty, you can shape your brand presence and make yourself heard in harmony with your brand.
You can read our previous post on https://www.apexloyalty.com/5-ways-to-improve-channel-behaviors/