How Brands Keep Customers Loyal in a Polarised World

Today, brands need their consumers to be more devoted than ever.

As customer acquisition has gotten more expensive, brands are relying more than ever on their most devoted shoppers to drive sales. To foster that allegiance, the latest generation of start-ups has emphasised community building from the start, with companies like skincare seller Topicals and activewear brand Bandit Running bringing customers on brand trips or soliciting their feedback on product designs. These brands put their values, whether that be self-acceptance or promoting a healthier lifestyle, on full display, increasing consumer trust and brand awareness in the process.

But the concept of building a “community” has become part of countless brands’ playbooks, making it less of a cutting edge strategy and more of a marketing buzzword. That’s amplified as labels deploy similar community-building tactics like creating online group chats and issuing discount codes for top customers to share. The community approach is also muddied by the current political climate, which has seen brands backtrack on previous stances or refrain from expressing opinions at all, cautious not to alienate anyone with the values they promote.

“Maybe we were special 10 years ago by having such a strong community, whereas nowadays it has become a thing,” said Charles Duchene, public relations and marketing manager at Belgian womenswear brand Essentiel Antwerp. “The challenge is in broadening your community … in a healthy and adaptable way.”

For brands to retain and grow their community today, they must be specific in how they communicate with fans. The best ones are finding ways to connect with shoppers in-person through local events and doubling down on their values without being overtly political. This approach helps brands maintain a distinct and unique presence among their top customers, said Luke deWilde, head of marketing and partnerships at social shopping app Claim.

“I don’t think that most brands can be for everyone,” deWilde said. “It’s a matter of picking the battleground that you want to participate in and being really focused on that.”

Keeping It Local

Many brands tout the power of “community,” but seldom actually bring people together offline. More, however, are hosting events catered to their setting in order to better connect with local audiences.

Detroit-based watchmaker Shinola, for instance, uses its three retail locations in the city to stage special events for hometown customers. During holidays, the company lets local vendors sell their wares in its stores, such as hosting a local florist on Valentine’s Day last year. These events generate foot traffic and create excitement among Shinola’s existing customers by tapping into local businesses they’re already familiar with and care about. The tactic contributed to Shinola’s average order value among existing clients growing more than 10 percent in the past year, said Philip Pirkovic, director of brand and partnerships at Shinola.

“When the brand embodies the community it’s so much easier for us to champion that and foster that, and makes its way through the marketing we do, to the activations we do, the partnerships we do,” Pirkovic said.

In-person events are also a great way for brands to give customers a compelling reason to shop: During a recent gathering last Mother’s Day, St. John invited top clients of its Palm Beach and Madison Avenue boutiques to bring their daughters or granddaughters to an afternoon of in-store shopping, where they were served light bites and champagne. St.John’s customers expect a high-touch and personalised service; 60 percent of St. John’s in-store business is based on one-on-one appointments, said Mandy West, St. John’s chief commercial officer.

Brands should also bring community members together for events where shopping isn’t the main focus. Activewear brand Gymshark, which has built a strong following among avid gym goers, hosts various workout events throughout the year. While merch is available to buy, the primary objective is for fellow fans to encourage one another to accomplish their fitness goals. At its lift event in New York last summer, where more than 7,000 people showed up to work out together, attendees were as enthusiastic about cheering on a woman doing squats with 200 pound weights as they were with the woman who followed that up by squatting with 40 pounds, said Noel Mack, Gymshark’s chief brand officer.

“If you can’t live in someone’s mind in an offline way … you’re just not going to stick around for very long,” deWilde said. “How do you make your brand a third place? How are they participating in your ecosystem?”

An Emotional Appeal

In a divisive political climate, some brands that are known for their radicalism are using this moment to be even more outspoken, like menswear label Willy Chavarria. Brands with a history of engaging in politics can’t afford to pull back now and risk appearing as if they don’t stand on their values.

But for the labels that are not associated with this sort of messaging, maintaining and expanding their community could mean focusing more on making sure consumers feel good about choosing to engage with them beyond getting them to buy something, said Caroline Wright Turnipseed, founder of marketing agency CWT Consulting Group. That can include creating local mentorship programmes or inviting fans from underprivileged backgrounds to typically exclusive events.

“It’s the emotional piece that is safer and the right way for brands to go about it because it’s not going to limit who you could bring in as a loyal consumer,” Turnipseed said. “It really comes down to your core values as a company, and that’s what it should match up to.”

A brand might reinforce what its community stands for by doubling down on its aesthetic values. Womenswear label Essentiel Antwerp, known for its floral motifs and colour gradients, does an annual mentorship with students at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts — the famous alma mater of Belgian design legends like Dries Van Noten, Ann Demeulemeester and Walter Van Beirendonck — where the brand’s co-founder and creative director, Inge Onsea, selects one student with a similarly bold visual language to design and launch a collection with the brand.

“We want to grow this community and we want to speak to different people,” Duchene said. “Creativity and arts and fashion is obviously at the core of that.”

Other brands are further embedding themselves within their core community. For the New York-based label Who Decides War, that looks like inviting 25 kids from the inner city of New York, where many of its top customers live, to its fashion show last autumn. The brand, which aims to create a more inclusive image of classic Americana with its patchwork denim and military-inspired jackets, is also open to feedback on potential blindspots. In February, after Who Decides War hosted a pop-up for its collaboration with leather outerwear brand Pelle Pelle at a Lower East Side boutique called E3rd, the brand received comments online asking asking the company to do similar events closer to the inner city neighborhoods where both Who Decides War and Pelle Pelle’s target shoppers live, said Téla D’Amour, who co-founded Who Decides War with her husband and business partner Everard Best.

“You do have to listen to those grassroots calls to action. That’s what also continues to build community. You can’t let those requests fall on deaf ears,” D’Amour said. “We got here because of the same people that are now asking us to pull up to their neighborhoods. So you can’t neglect that.”