This article was originally published in Forbes. 

No matter how much money brands have at their disposal, it’s a mistake to buy their customers.

Time and again, it's been proven that brand-building efforts that create true connections with consumers drive long-term loyalty, ultimately increasing each customer’s lifetime value. Research from Harvard Business Review shows that brands leading in loyalty grow revenues roughly 2.5 times faster than their peers and deliver two to five times the shareholder returns over the next ten years.

This truth has been clear for decades, and while most marketers believe in the power of loyalty, finding organizations truly dedicated to prioritizing it as a key growth metric is harder to find. Building this type of relationship with customers requires time and dedication; it can take months or even years to see results in increased sales and business growth. Today, achieving this requires an audience-first approach, deeply entwined with building and fostering community.

In a survey of nearly 2,000 U.S. consumers ages 15-29, conducted by the team at GALE, community stood out as a key characteristic that brands must cultivate to win the attention of young consumers: those who reported feeling a sense of community with others who like their favorite brand were nearly twice as likely to view that brand as culturally relevant and say they were loyal to it. They were also three times more likely to believe the brand adds value to their life beyond its core product or service.

The team at beauty brand Eos, which is seeing growth across its priority categories, takes community seriously. Listening to what its target audience cares about, how they speak, and where they want to be heard, Eos has shifted its marketing campaigns to directly reflect the conversations they see in their comments section. Recently, in response to women on TikTok complaining that the men in their lives were stealing their Eos Vanilla Cashmere body lotion, the brand released the “Lotion Lock” campaign, featuring a new security lock on its product. The lock was never actually produced, yet #eoslotionlock earned 2.3 million views, overwhelmingly positive sentiment, and the lotion featured is number one on Amazon’s “Best Sellers in Body Lotion” list.

Speaking at the Brand Innovators’ Future of Creativity event, Carley Caldas, Eos Vice President of Brand Marketing and Media, emphasized the importance of fostering a two-way conversation, where brands not only listen to their customers but also make it obvious that they are being