Unlocking Brand Attraction: Strategies for Membership-Based Businesses

One thing you can use to both attract and retain customers in your membership-based business is your brand. When a brand resonates with a person, it draws them into a business. 

At the same time, if their connection with your brand is strong enough, they’ll eventually become a member and will stay one, so long as your brand continues to align with who they are and what they need. 

These tips will help you craft a compelling brand identity for your membership-based business that resonates with your ideal customers, draws them in, and keeps them in your community long-term. 

Revisit Your Customer Data

Establishing a brand your customers love starts with understanding who they are. Basic demographic information is a good start, such as their geographic location, age range, education level, and marital status. 

It’s also essential to understand psychographic information about your customers, like their attitudes, personality traits, and interests. Dig into data about how they’ve interacted with your business thus far. 

Learn what you can about what brands they’re currently interacting with as well. What businesses do those brands represent? What are the brands’ visual identities like? What are their personalities? What tones and messaging do they use? 

You can use this information to guide how you define your brand to give it the best chance at resonating with your customers. 

Find the above customer data in the following places: 

• Website analytics tools
• Social media platform
• Focus group notes
• Customer surveys
• Social listening tools
• Customer relationship management (CRM) system

Revisit all of your customer data sources and make notes of the information that will be most helpful in creating a captivating brand. 

Craft a Brand Story 

With your customer data in mind, the next step is crafting a brand story that they’ll buy into. Your brand story is more than how your business came to be. That’s a part of it. But you’ll also want to communicate to customers who you’ve been, who you are, and who you want to be.  

A brand story benefits your business in various ways, including: 

• Builds trust in your brand
• Helps you stand out from the rest
• Highlights your unique value proposition
• Humanizes your brand so it’s more relatable to customers
• Makes it easier for people who align with your mission to find and connect with you

Crafting a compelling brand story starts with putting a face to your brand. In other words, who is the person or people behind it? After that, talk about what you do, how you do it, why you do it, and who you do it for. Then, you can finish up your brand story talking about what you want the future to look like for your brand and the people who support it. 

Your brand story could be the difference between someone being a one-time customer or becoming a loyal brand ambassador. 

Establish Your Visual Identity 

With your brand story ready to go, you can move on to your visual identity. Many customers’ first impressions of your brand will be through things like your logo, brand colors, or the fonts you use. 

So, if your visual identity doesn’t include elements your ideal customers like, the chances of a good first impression go down. 

On the other hand, if you create your visual identity with customer wants in mind, they’ll be delighted at first sight, increasing the chances of them continuing their exploration of your brand. 

Start with your brand colors. Consider color psychology when making your choices. This field studies how colors affect how people feel and behave. The premise is that different colors evoke certain emotions and can trigger people to take certain actions. 

For example, love, passion, and energy are often associated with red. People tend to feel more inspired and creative when they see violet. Blue promotes stress relief and relaxation. And yellow is associated with joy. 

Choose your color scheme based on how you want your ideal customers to feel when they encounter your brand. 

Once you choose your colors, you can move on to creating a logo, choosing typography, and deciding on the images and illustrations you’ll use in your visual identity. 

Your visual branding elements should be consistent across all of your digital and traditional marketing channels to help potential and current members recognize your brand wherever they encounter it. This includes your packaging if you ship out a physical product to your members. 

A unique packaging design may be defined differently for every business. However, packaging that includes visual branding elements, interactive features, personalization, and free gifts may elevate your brand’s appeal while also ensuring a memorable unboxing experience. Consider adding in a free route planner as an extra treat for your customers, guiding them on their journey with your product.

Determine Personality and Voice

People may initially connect with the way your brand looks. However, that connection deepens when they get a taste of your brand’s personality and the voice you use in your messaging.

As far as personality, what human traits do you want to give your brand? Funny and quirky? Straightforward and helpful? Honest and insightful? Think about what kind of personality your customers would resonate with and attribute those traits to your brand. 

When it comes to your brand voice, determine what communication style and tone you want to come across when you communicate with your customers in your marketing materials. It could be formal and assertive or it could be casual and aggressive. Whatever you choose, make sure it aligns with your customers’ preferences. 

Like your visual branding elements, your brand’s personality and voice should be consistent across all of your digital and traditional marketing channels to boost brand awareness and recognition. 

Wrapping Up

When people can make an emotional connection with your brand from the beginning, it starts their membership experience off on the right foot. The more detailed your brand is, the more likely it is your customers will connect with you and become loyal brand advocates.