#LifestyleBranding

How is it that a business that creates planners and agendas is best known for having fun? Kinda sounds like a oxymoron, but I promise - as a loyal Instagram follower of Ban.do, it is not.

But it's not just their bright Instagram feed that's fun - it's that they're encourgaging their followers to go out and fully experience life. What they've done is create a lifestyle brand and (in my humble opinion) it's the best way to get people absolutely immersed and dedicated to your brand.

It's not an easy feat to manage, but Ban.do has done a great job of showing us how it's done. The main way that they've fostered community is by creating hashtags (they even have an extensive list of them here!). They encourage people to post photos of them exploring LA, killing it at their job, or throwing confetti. Then, by adding on relevant hashtags like #BandoFun or #BandoLovesLA, the best ones are featured on the Ban.do Instagram account. This encourages their followers to continue to enagage with their hashtags. Take, for example, my very own submission to #BandoToDoList!

The most interesting part is that only about half of these hashtags directly has to do with their product. The rest are promoting the lifestyle that their brand experiences for themselves and encourages others to experience as well - In this case, those include bright colors, girl gangs, exploring cities and cute blowup pool floaties.

By creating a community that people want to be a part of instead of just pushing their products down customer's throats, they are building dedication and loyalty - two things that will bring in much more success for your brand in the long run.

Not only that, but when someone see's a cute picture of some friends going out for milkshakes because it was on the #BandoToDoList, they're going to be intrigued and look into it. And who knows! That person could be yet another dedicated follower of yours.

Lifestyle brands are becoming more common these days as marketers realize that customer loyalty is created and maintained through the integration of a product into a consumer's everyday life.

So what does your brand stand for? Find a way to integrate that into your marketing techniques and, overtime, see how much of a difference it makes.

Comment below - I'd love to hear about what you and your brand stand for! And if you've got any examples of other brands who are doing a great job of developing a lifestyle brand, let me know by Tweeting me @MicaylaBrewster.