Most entrepreneurs assume that having loyal customers is as good as it gets. If clients are buying your products or services, what can be better than that?

However, clients’ loyalty, in most cases, comes from their head… They find your product or service to be good, your prices fit, and often – they’re simply used to buy from you.

On the other hand, when you build brand affinity – meaning – your clients like you – they are emotionally connected to you or your business.

When your prospects and clients like you and are emotionally connected to you:

1. They will first buy and only later rationalize their purchasing decisions
   E.g. If you don’t have a special “like” to a specific mobile phone brand, you will do your research and find all the reasons which phone is the best to buy. Someone who likes Apple and its products will go out of their way to purchase the next iPhone as soon as it is launched, without any research – rationalizing this decision later, if at all.
2. It’s harder for other companies to take your clients
   E.g. Imagine your favorite hairdresser. Even if there are plenty of less-expensive hairdressers around, you’ll pay more for “your” hairdresser every time.
3. You create lots of brand advocates
   When people like you and your company… they will go above and beyond to let others know about your company, especially by word-of-mouth and on social media.

Here are 10 ideas how to get your prospects and clients to like you:

1. Get to Know Them

You must start with understanding your targeted audience and what they care most about.. You can collect information from different data sources (surveys, interviews, reviews, your website analytics…). You can also find a lot about their likes and dislikes on social media.

2. Interact with Them

Getting them to like you is about building a relationship. And in order to build a relationship with your prospects and clients – you need to “talk” with them. You can initiate the conversation by posting relatable content where they are (e.g. social media and online forums) as well as interacting on their posts and forum entries. Offer expert opinion with a friendly tone, and you’re on your way to start a great relationship.

3. Listen to Them

In order for them to like you – they need to feel that they’re being listened to and heard. You can passively listen to what your clients say about your company or products on social media. And you can actively survey your subscribers and social media followers and make sure you carefully listen to their input..

4. Stay Connected

Starting a relationship with your prospects and clients is not enough. To keep them liking you and your company you must stay connected. You can use social media marketing, content marketing strategies, email marketing, printed media and also direct phone calls to stay connected with them.

5. Find Your Voice

People only create emotional connections with companies they can identify with. Since no one relates to a building, or nameless corporation, that means you’re going to need to show your (or your business) “personality” (e.g. sincere, exciting, competent, generous, ethical, fun …)

6. Share Your Values

When you find your “personality” – you’ll have to “prove” it. It’s not enough to talk about being environmentally friendly… prove it by driving an electric car. If you’re touting social responsibility – get involved with local charities and causes that resonate with your audience.

7. Offer a Personalized Experience
Do whatever you can to make each of your clients feel that they’re valued. One of the ways we do it – is by allowing our active subscribers to create profiles on our website. We also celebrate their achievements in our communication. You can offer a gift to your clients on their birthdays, or invite them to your office or Zoom room…

8. Improve Your Customer Service
Remember when we talked about building relationships? Well, you won’t have a great relationship with clients if the service you provide them is less than ideal. Realize that customer service is part of your marketing “department” not your “administration”. Even if your service is good – keep improving it consistently.

9. Encourage Engagement
Give your people a place to interact with each other and with you. It’s important they know they are not alone. One way to increase engagement in the comments is to post content that followers want to engage with. 

10. Create a Community

The next step after getting your prospects and clients to engage is to create an (online) space for them to come together. A community. You can promote the idea of community by having opinion polls, contests and other activities that encourage engagement. By showing them you care about their ideas and feelings you are going to get them to like you more.

Now It’s YOUR Turn

For five minutes… come up with as many ideas as you can… what can YOU do to get them to like you (and your company) more?