Almost a year ago I wrote an article detailing how my jeweler pays for his customer’s parking tickets and I compared his approach to the women’s clothing store across the street that rushed my wife out the door to feed the parking meter (effectively forcing her to drop the clothes she was going to try on and leave the store).
The next time I saw him, my jeweler told me, “My favorite part of the whole article is that you called me your jeweler.”
It’s true: he is my jeweler, and I don’t plan on going anywhere else for the shiny things I buy my wife.
I “own” other companies as well: my hair stylist, my coffee shop, my favorite restaurant, my print shop, my bookstore, my favorite marketing website, my favorite basketball team (go KU!), etc. My wife even has a favorite paper towel brand and I think we all have a favorite ketchup (I mean, could you imagine showing up to a barbecue with anything other than Heinz?).
Our favorite brands not only make buying decisions easier, they help make up our personal identities. Doesn’t it just feel wrong to buy groceries in a supermarket you’re not used to?
The ownership we feel for our favorite brands leads to our repeated business and most often to us referring our friends. And this phenomenon doesn’t just happen with brick and mortar businesses.
Small business owners ask me all the time where they can go to learn more about headline and copywriting for their marketing materials, and I always recommend my favorite copywriting website (Copyblogger). So not only have I bought a thing or two from Brian Clark, et al. (and I’ll probably more), I recommend his website to countless other small business owners and marketers, who also might buy his stuff.
Our brand ownership causes us to defend these companies when they are attacked, and forgive them if and when they do something wrong, just like we would for a close friend. That ownership yields goodwill at a level that any business owner should desire and feel honored to have.
If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the feed to have future articles delivered to your feed reader.
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
It's important to acknowledge that we use brand loyalty as a shortcut to make our lives easier – and for brands to look for ways to make our lives easier.
To take your ketchup example, the no-drip lid was a big innovation and something that will keep me buying ketchup that is quick to use. Similarly with your jeweler, you know you won't have to shop around at a bunch of places, comparing prices, to get a decent quality piece at a fair price.
That is the kind of commitment that allows you to charge more-than-commodity prices.