We recently dove into the key principles of the Share of Voice (SOV) Rule. As a refresher, “SOV is a marketing and advertising metric that measures a brand’s presence in a specific market or industry in relation to its competitors. It quantifies the percentage of the total advertising or promotional efforts within a particular space that a particular brand owns.” Now, let’s explore the concept of brand affinity and how it can help marketers grow SOV.
What is Brand Affinity?
Broadly speaking, brand affinity refers to the emotional connection between customers and companies. When people share the values of a brand, they tend to buy their products and recommend them to others. This means that the entire buying journey becomes highly influenced by that emotional bond.
Iterable’s Brand AffinityTM feature uses AI to help marketers measure customer brand affinity by scoring users based on their engagement with a brand’s messaging. In addition, leveraging insights within Iterable’s Brand Affinity allows for deeper analysis of engagement by the user.
As we mentioned previously, “This is where the Share of Voice rule becomes relevant. While a customer may initially have a negative Brand AffinityTM score in Iterable, a marketer can dig deeper to uncover insights related to customer behavior to understand your brand’s SOV related to this segment. This enables more targeted segmentation and campaigns, ultimately driving engagement and revenue.” This is achieved through the extensive processing and analysis of data on a large scale, delivering invaluable insights and empowering data-driven decision-making to deliver personalized messages to the right audience.
Brand AffinityTM can be used in a multitude of ways to help marketers better understand their customer. One way of using Iterable’s Brand AffinityTM and insights, for example, is to pull in events like purchase or conversions for customers who have a “negative” brand affinity—meaning they didn’t interact with the messages being sent. By pulling in purchase events a marketer can uncover that this “negative” affinity group may actually make purchases, which would make them high value customers.
Once this insight is uncovered the marketers are able to better personalize and target their messages for these high value customers. Performance marketing campaigns might not actually resonate with this audience seeing they are high value and already have a strong view of the brand so instead, creating “thank you” campaigns for those customers who made a purchase and leveraging other channels like SMS would be a better way to engage with these customers.
One of the key strategies for sustainable growth is to focus on high-value customers in a meaningful way and personalize messaging based on the actions of the user. These individuals not only contribute significantly to your revenue but also have the potential to become loyal brand advocates. Crafting targeted marketing campaigns for this segment is crucial for maximizing their value and ensuring long-term success.
What are “High-Value” Customers?
We talk about focusing on high-value customers, but what does this really mean? High-value customers are individuals or businesses that consistently make substantial purchases, exhibit brand loyalty, and have the potential for long-term engagement. With all the data organizations capture and track, it can be difficult to identify and segment this group—but, Brand AffinityTM can help.
Brand Affinity™ in Action
Dgtl Fundraising, a brand that focuses on building digital strategies for nonprofits, utilizes Brand Affinity™ to detect and categorize potential donors by analyzing engagement signals across various channels. Each donor or potential donor receives an affinity label denoting their general sentiment (loyal, positive, neutral, or negative). This labeling system proves instrumental in segmenting fresh audiences, crafting customized customer journeys, and dynamically personalizing content within templates through the application of conditional logic.
Leveraging Brand AffinityTM allows marketers to easily identify and segment customers and lean into microsegmentation. Unlike broader market segmentation, which categorizes consumers into larger groups, microsegmentation drills down into finer details to create smaller, more homogenous segments. This approach allows businesses to tailor their marketing strategies, products, or services more precisely to the needs and preferences of each microsegment
Tips for Data-Driven Personalization
After pinpointing your high-value customers, you can leverage this insight to craft personalized and impactful communications. This tailored approach not only fosters loyalty but also translates into increased revenue for your business.
Exclusive Loyalty Programs
Rewarding high-value customers for their loyalty is a powerful way to strengthen the relationship. According to the Maigold Consumer Trends Index, 82% of consumers favor brand messaging that rewards them for loyalty—a 5% increase since 2022. To keep your high-value customers engaged, develop exclusive loyalty programs that offer special perks, early access to new products, or VIP events. These programs not only enhance customer retention but also encourage them to increase their spending to unlock additional benefits.
VIP Events and Experiences
Create memorable experiences for your high-value customers by organizing exclusive events or providing access to premium services. Whether it’s a private product launch, an invitation-only webinar with industry experts, or a personalized consultation, these experiences make customers feel valued and deepen their connection with your brand. According to a study by Bain & Company, increasing customer retention rates by 5% can increase profits by 25% to 95%. VIP experiences can contribute to customer loyalty and repeat business, leading to increased spending.
Tailored Content and Thought Leadership
Position your brand as an industry leader by delivering high-quality, relevant content tailored to your high-value customers. This could include exclusive research reports, in-depth articles, customer reviews, product release information, warranty information etc. In addition, thank you campaigns and campaigns rewarding loyalty are great ways to engage with high value customers. By providing valuable insights and engaging content, you not only showcase your brand but also demonstrate a commitment to your high-value customers.
Strategic Cross-Selling and Up-Selling
Identify opportunities to cross-sell or up-sell products or services that complement your high-value customers’ existing purchases. This can be achieved through targeted recommendations based on their buying history or through bundling offers that provide added value. Clearly communicating the benefits of these additional offerings will help encourage higher spending. Iterable’s customer Stanley Black & Decker does this effectively by leveraging Catalog to automate email content based on existing product information.
High Value, High Reward
In a competitive market, the success of your business relies on cultivating and nurturing relationships with high-value customers. The first step in connecting with high-value customers is recognizing them. That’s why AI-powered tools, like Iterable’s Brand Affinity™, come in handy.
By implementing personalized, data-driven marketing campaigns and offering exclusive experiences and rewards, you can not only retain these valuable customers but also turn them into enthusiastic advocates for your brand. Keep evolving your strategies based on customer feedback and market trends to ensure that your campaigns remain relevant and effective in the ever-changing business landscape.
To learn more about how Iterable’s Brand Affinity™ can help you achieve your marketing goals, reach out to your CSM or schedule a demo today.