Why a Strong Community Equals Strong Brand Longevity

As a corporation (no matter how small or large) the creation of community, and the engagement within that community, is incredibly multi-faceted regarding how important it is to your prolonged success.

When you engage within your community, you’re doing the right thing from a moral perspective. When you create and foster engagement within your employee base, you’re creating happy, satisfied employees; a move that benefits both you and them almost equally, and when you effectively engage within your communities, you help ensure that you will be around, and respect for a very long time.

A strong sense of community and a strong presence within your communities helps ensure brand longevity in a multitude of ways, but really, it boils down to one of the simplest, cliché sayings, “Walk the walk, don’t just talk the talk”.

Companies that truly walk the walk earn the respect of their communities and their employees, and when people respect something or feel a sense of pride in or about something, they share it. When people receive positive word-of-mouth testimonies; especially from those closest to the brand in question, they can’t help but take a look themselves.

And there you have it. Another customer; another employee; another loyal member of your community.

Below, we’ve laid out five ways in which community breeds brand longevity. You’ll find reasons why one causes the other, and you’ll also see a couple of suggestions as to how you can implement these practices; helping to ensure you stay around and respected for years to come.

Emotion is Key:

Humans feel good about supporting things that make them feel good. When you make yourself known as an institution that consistently does good; that builds its community, that is active in important causes and that takes care of its employees, potential customers will feel positive about supporting you and are more likely to be loyal in the long run. It’s a full-circle moment that benefits everyone involved.

Stay Consistent

Every good act is a good act, but to build loyalty and longevity, you must remember to stay consistent in practising what you preach. It feels wonderful to be a customer of a brand that has made one grand gesture, but it feels even better to be a supporter and customer of a brand like Patagonia which has been walking the walk since day one. Begin your legacy and stick to it.

Invest in your Community for Cyclical Rewards

When you initiate and foster community – when you take care of the physical places and actual individuals around you or impacted by your work; that comes back to benefit you. When you decide to offer healthcare to your employees, you house a healthier workforce, who go on to have healthier children and so forth. When you invest money back into your communities, those healthy children that came from your insured employees, are now gifted with after-school programs and extracurricular activities that help make your town one of the most desirable in the region.

Community Breeds Trust and Loyalty

When people feel like they are part of a community, they begin to trust the other members of their community. When you establish trust with an individual or group, you are more likely to open, be candid and share vulnerable things. In turn, the other members of your community do the same thing, which forges a loyal relationship built to last.

Make Real Promises. Share them. Keep them.

When you are transparent with your goals (financial, impact or otherwise), your community members respect you. Something is comforting about organisations being transparent, but just sharing your goals is only the first step. After you share your goals, make a firm promise. An achievable deadline, a donation goal, etc. Deliver on your promises. Even if you can’t reach the goals in full every time, a community that sees your honest effort and who gets to support and follow your journey is much more apt to sign-up for the long haul simply out of respect for your work ethic and honesty in your approach.

So, in summary, building a strong community is almost synonymous with creating brand longevity as when you invest heavily, truthfully, and honestly, in one, you by extension develop the character traits to attract loyal, long-term customers.

Good luck to you on your journey!