What Is Brand Affinity and How Do You Increase It?

Brand affinity is the emotional bond that connects customers to a particular brand.

It’s most evident in the sports and music industries, where audiences generate personal attachments to teams, athletes, and musicians. You relate to them, and they give you a sense of belonging.

Businesses in other industries can also achieve brand affinity and successfully keep customers and audiences in their sphere of influence. In fact, businesses need brand affinity in order to thrive.

So, how do you cultivate strong brand affinity? There are many marketing techniques out there, and you don’t have to follow everyone else's. If you’re a B2B company, you probably don’t need to match a fashion label’s marketing strategy. However, you do need to follow the same basic rules to achieve brand affinity.

This article explores practical steps for increasing brand affinity – no matter your industry. We’ll also explain how Brandwatch helps businesses establish and track brand affinity strategies and the results you can expect to enjoy.

Understanding brand affinity

Brand affinity is something businesses try to achieve in order to keep their audiences and customers close. Someone might feel connected to a brand because of shared values, experiences, or personal connections.

And, when customers feel connected, they’re more likely to choose your brand over competitors – sometimes regardless of price or functional benefits.

Almost 50% of customers are willing to join a brand’s loyalty program to express their devotion to the brand. That sort of connection is invaluable, and it goes back to our example of sports teams relying on brand affinity to generate a loyal audience.

But you don’t have to put on a show in a stadium to create a sense of belonging amongst your customers. There are plenty of ways to generate brand affinity as part of an overall marketing strategy, which we’ll get to later in this guide.

At its core, companies achieve affinity by focusing on what makes their brand unique. It could be brand values, personality, promise… perhaps even price point. Whatever your strategy, the goal is creating a meaningful relationship beyond simple transactions.

Why brand affinity matters

There are tangible benefits to building brand affinity as part of a strategic marketing plan. The core benefit is retaining customers across a longer timeframe. Customers who feel a strong emotional connection tend to spend more over time. This reduces churn, as loyal customers stick with brands they trust, leading to higher customer retention and fewer resources spent on reacquisition.

So, your marketing budget can be spent on delivering better experiences for your loyal customers rather than continually chasing new ones.

As your loyal customer levels grow, so will your brand advocates. Half of US customers say they recommend brands they’re loyal to to family and friends. It therefore pays to keep customers happy, as this also gives you a competitive advantage over rival companies in your industry.

What’s more, brand affinity usually results in improved brand equity and reputation. A positive brand image built on affinity elevates perceived quality, supports premium pricing, and fosters resilience during crises.

To go back to our sports example, teams are able to increase ticket prices, sell more merchandise, and endure periods of poor sporting performance when their audience (fans) are emotionally attached.

Strategies for increasing brand affinity

Building brand affinity is an ongoing process that touches every aspect of your brand marketing. There are a lot of ways you can increase brand affinity, and you don’t need to cover all of them. However, a combined approach that meets audiences across a number of touchpoints is key to strategically increasing your affinity.

1. Define and communicate your brand identity

Your brand identity is what audiences come to recognize and most commonly associate with you. For example, Patagonia has a great brand identity focused on environmentalism and quality. In-N-Out Burger's brand identity is all about speed of service and a simple food menu.

You need to clarify your brand values and identify your mission. Whether it’s sustainability, innovation, community, or something else, make sure these values are central to your brand identity.

From here, you can humanize your brand with a distinct personality. Whether you’re playful, sincere, or bold, consistency helps customers feel like they know the brand as a “person.”

2. Know your target audience inside out

Brand affinity is about connecting to audiences and making them feel connected. Brands need software to do this effectively rather than going in blind. A tool like Brandwatch Consumer Research gives companies a deep understanding of audience preferences, behaviors, and pain points.

You can use this data to build buyer personas and segment audiences based on demographics, psychographics, and online behaviors. Personal connections form when customers feel you truly get them, which is why a data-driven approach to audience research is crucial for brand affinity.

3. Deliver exceptional customer experiences

Knowing your audience inside out means you can align customer experiences to meet their expectations and interests. This starts with identifying every touchpoint – website visits, social media engagement, purchase process, and post-purchase support. Ensure each interaction reinforces your brand promise.

You should also train your marketing team and customer service to provide support that’s timely, personalized, and empathetic. Exceptional customer interactions lead to repeat purchases and brand advocates. John Lewis, for example, achieves 85% customer satisfaction, which helps maintain brand affinity.

4. Create eye-catching content

Increasing brand affinity is only possible if you create and publish marketing and advertising material. Otherwise, you’re relying solely on word of mouth, which isn’t enough.

It’s imperative you invest in content marketing to produce high-quality websites, graphics, images, videos, and everything else that goes into a brand launch. The aim, as always, is to present your brand values through your content.

For example, the toilet paper company Who Gives A Crap has a fun, cheerful brand voice that runs through its product design, website, blog, social media, and activations. Customers sign up for its subscription model, which makes buying toilet paper fun and stylish – perfect for posting a pic of your bathroom on Instagram.

Did we mention Instagram? Brands can also leverage user-generated content to boost brand affinity by directly appealing to like-minded customers. Reposting social media images, highlighting positive reviews, and showcasing testimonials fosters a genuine connection and encourages others to participate.

5. Engage actively on social media

Brands need to be on social media to truly connect with audiences these days. After all, we spend on average two-and-a-half hours on social media daily. Posting eye-catching content is one thing, but to truly achieve brand affinity, you need to get your hands dirty.

Start conversations, host live Q&A sessions, and respond promptly to comments and mentions. Active social media engagement humanizes your brand and builds stronger emotional connections. It’s often the best way for small brands to make an immediate local impact and attract regular customers.

You can take it up a notch and run targeted marketing campaigns while monitoring brand associations across social media. You’ll need a tool like Brandwatch Social Media Management to do this, as you can track topic clouds, brand sentiment, and key brand associations across platforms.

From here, it’s easy to tailor campaigns to specific audience segments, emphasizing your values and messages that resonate most.

6. Build a community around your brand

Creating a genuine community around your brand helps insulate the business during tough times and gives you the confidence to grow alongside your customers. Again, sports teams thrive on such loyal communities, who often provide a base level of income for the business.

No matter your industry, it’s important to foster a level of personal connection with your brand in order to nurture a community. You could launch a loyalty program that rewards customers for purchases and for sharing content, writing reviews, or attending events – activities that deepen brand affinity marketing.

You could create forums or social groups where customers can share experiences, tips, and feedback. Musicians, for example, might have a forum on their website or a loyalty membership that enables fans access to limited-edition content.

When done well, a strong brand community turns customers into brand advocates, which attracts more people to the party.

7. Align actions with brand reputation

Your marketing is only as good as your actions, so you need to ensure you match what you say. Brands that champion their green aspirations but continually fail to improve their sustainability can be accused of greenwashing.

Customers notice when brands stay true to their word and when they’re falsely presenting themselves.

So, make sure you’re socially responsible in your actions and support causes that truly align with your brand. If you don’t have any causes, then don’t fake it. You’ll be caught out, which will almost certainly lead to a social media crisis.

You have to nurture your brand reputation. Rush it and you’ll be found out. Be consistent in your approach, branding, and messaging, and ensure it matches your actions.

Then, talk about the impact you’ve created. Explain why your products help the environment or why you donate profits to charity. Write press releases when your employees raise money for a good cause, or create a series of videos about your working practices.

Aligning actions with your brand reputation and talking about it will generate increased affinity from audiences. It might also help you stay resilient when a crisis hits.

How to measure brand affinity

Brand affinity used to be a difficult thing to gauge – but not anymore! The rise of social media usage, coupled with data-driven sales processes and audience research, means you can capture a lot of customer data these days.

Before you can build brand affinity, you need to know how you’ll measure it. Brandwatch offers a powerful suite of metrics to keep on top of everything.

Metrics to look out for include:

Net promoter score (NPS)

NPS gauges customer loyalty by asking: “How likely are you to recommend us to a friend?” Scores range from -100 to +100, calculated as promoters minus detractors. A higher NPS indicates a stronger emotional connection and brand preference.

>> Learn more about social NPS in our guide

Social listening and brand mentions

Track the volume and sentiment of social media posts and online reviews mentioning your brand. Monitoring brand mentions on X, LinkedIn, and other social media sites helps you gauge customer satisfaction and brand associations in real-time.

>> Learn more about Listen and how brands achieve successful social listening

Surveys on emotional connection

Primary research is important for understanding audiences. Send out surveys that measure how customers feel about your brand values, personality, and social impact. Questions like “Which of our core values resonate most with you?” or “What makes you feel connected to our brand?” can uncover the depth of affinity.

>> Learn more about market research methods

Repeat purchase rate and customer retention

This is a really important metric to keep in hand. Analyze repeat purchases and subscription renewals from your sales data and pull it into Brandwatch to view it on a shared dashboard. A higher repeat purchase rate often signals genuine customer loyalty and affinity.

>> Discover these nine useful customer retention strategies

Brand advocacy metrics

Count referred customers and user-generated content. Customers who create UGC or participate in referral programs are clear indicators of strong brand affinity.

>> Watch our webinar on UGC tips

Customer lifetime value (CLV)

Calculate the average revenue per customer based on their relationship with your brand. Brands with exceptional customer relationships and consistency in experiences typically achieve higher CLV.

>> Learn how to master customer loyalty and achieve high CLV

Using Brandwatch tools to boost affinity

With so many metrics at your fingertips, knowing exactly what is most relevant to your business might be hard. Achieving brand affinity gives you a platform to flourish, but you must get there first.

Brandwatch’s suite of solutions can help you develop, measure, and grow brand affinity. Start by using Brandwatch Consumer Research to gain deep insights from over 100 million online sources to understand brand mentions, sentiment, and customer satisfaction.

Use advanced segmentation to see how different audience groups feel connected to your brand’s core values.

Once you know your customers, it’s time to create products, a brand style, and marketing material that appeals to them. You can use Brandwatch Social Media Management to monitor social media engagement and brand associations before, during, and after product launches and publicity campaigns.

Then, use the data gathered to create brand affinity reports and calculate your success levels. Perhaps you nailed your campaign and now have a loyal customer base ready to take you to the next level. Perhaps you’ve spotted areas to improve. Whatever the outcome, Brandwatch is here to help.

Time to build brand affinity today

Building brand affinity isn’t a one-off campaign – it’s a holistic approach that weaves your brand identity, values, and community engagement into every customer interaction. Do it right and customers will feel genuinely connected while your business flourishes.

Customers become repeat purchasers, brand advocates, and loyal users who elevate your brand’s performance and help you achieve a lasting competitive advantage.

Ready to deepen your customer relationships and develop brand affinity that lasts? Request a demo with Brandwatch to see how you can harness advanced consumer intelligence for stronger, more meaningful connections.