Why Brand Loyalty Runs Deeper Than You Think. And what to do about it.
In a hardware store in suburban Chicago, two contractors stand side by side, examining power tools. Same age. Same income bracket. Same profession. Traditional market research would classify them identically. Yet one reaches for the distinctive red and black of Milwaukee tools while the other gravitates toward the yellow and black of Dewalt.
What separates them? It's their values. And understanding these differences reveals how each brand can speak uniquely to its audience in ways its competitor cannot.
The Case Study That Reveals the Pattern
Recent research comparing Dewalt and Milwaukee tool customers reveals something extraordinary: these brand preferences serve as windows into fundamentally different ways of experiencing the world. The values that drive each customer base diverge sharply from each other - creating distinct territories for each brand to own.
Dewalt customers are driven by:
Relationships (92% compared to just 75% of Milwaukee customers)
Experiences (85%, compared to only 56% for Milwaukee customers)
Employment Security (82% - this value doesn't reach the significance threshold for Milwaukee customers*)
Milwaukee customers prioritize:
Belonging (95% compared to 63% of Dewalt customers)
Health & Well-Being (87% compared to 60% of Dewalt customers)
Loyalty (70% compared to 57% of Dewalt customers)
Here's what makes this truly fascinating: these customer bases, despite outward similarities based on demographics and psychographics, differ dramatically from each other on their core values. These aren't minor variations - they're profound differences in how people experience being human, what they prioritize in life, and how they construct meaning from their daily choices.
This is where your competitive advantage lives. Each brand has attracted a subset of the population that shares specific values. Our values shape everything we do, including which tools we buy, which brands earn our loyalty, and which products become extensions of who we understand ourselves to be. When you understand how your customers differ from your competitors' customers, you unlock the ability to create messaging, products, and experiences that resonate uniquely with your audience.
(A Quick Note Before We Go Deeper)
The Valuegraphics study behind this data is extraordinarily complex - think of it as a high-resolution photograph of human motivation, not a snapshot from a disposable camera. With a full strategic analysis and implementation plan constructed by brand teams from either organization, along with all the competitive intelligence and historical brand work available to consider, the most beneficial values to emphasize might be entirely different from the ones we're exploring here.
What follows is meant as an example of how values build out a brand and inform strategic initiatives across the various sales and marketing functions that any organization needs to consider. This isn't a complete sales and marketing strategy for Milwaukee or Dewalt - it's a fun and lighthearted exploration of a few data points that differentiate these seemingly similar brands from each other. Think of it as a guided tour through the valuegraphics museum, not the blueprint for building the museum itself.
The Human Story Behind the Data
The Dewalt Customer: Building Connection Through Achievement
When a Dewalt customer values "Relationships" at 92% - seventeen percentage points higher than Milwaukee customers - they're defining themselves through the people they work alongside, the crews they build with, the connections forged through shared achievement. Each relationship represents a thread in the tapestry of who they understand themselves to be.
"Experiences" scoring at 85% (versus only 56% for Milwaukee customers) reveals something profound: these are individuals who see every job, every project, every challenge as a story worth telling. The basement renovation becomes an experience that becomes part of their narrative, something to share over coffee, something that defines who they are. They collect moments, not just memories. This is a fundamentally different orientation to work than their Milwaukee counterparts.
"Employment Security" at 82% speaks to something existential. For these customers, job security means identity. It means knowing their place in the world. It means the foundation upon which they build everything else. The steady work creates the steady self. What makes this particularly striking: this value doesn't even reach the significance threshold for Milwaukee customers. Where it's foundational for Dewalt customers, it's simply not a meaningful driver for Milwaukee customers - a clear competitive differentiator.
The marketing implication: Something about Dewalt's brand message and product experience is resonating deeply with people who hold these values - and these are distinctly different values from what attracts Milwaukee customers. The opportunity here is profound: Dewalt can own the territory of relationship builders, experience collectors, and those who see employment security as foundational to their identity. This is their unique space in the market. This means moving beyond product features to tell stories about the relationships built on job sites, the experiences that become career-defining moments, and the solid foundation of a professional life built on reliable performance. When customers invest in Dewalt tools, they're investing in the infrastructure of a meaningful professional life. Every tool becomes a partner in building that life.
The Milwaukee Customer: Finding Identity Through Community
Milwaukee customers index at 95% on "Belonging" - thirty-two percentage points higher than Dewalt customers. This speaks to finding your tribe, your people, the place where you're celebrated for exactly who you are. Belonging becomes the oxygen that sustains them. Where Dewalt customers build individual relationships, Milwaukee customers seek community.
"Health & Well-Being" at 87% versus 60% for Dewalt customers reveals a different orientation entirely: Milwaukee customers see their tools as extensions of their long-term wellbeing. A lighter tool becomes an investment in working pain-free at 55. A better battery system transforms into a promise to their future self, a commitment to not straining their back hauling equipment. They think in decades, not days. While Dewalt customers collect experiences, Milwaukee customers protect their future.
"Loyalty" at 70% versus 57% for Dewalt customers? These are customers who, once they find their brand, their crew, their community, they stay. They defend it. They wear it like a badge. Loyalty expresses how they love. Once you're family, you're family forever. This creates a different kind of customer relationship than what Dewalt can expect.
The marketing implication: Something Milwaukee is doing (whether intentional or serendipitous) is giving people more of what matters to them across these deeply held values - values that differentiate them from Dewalt's audience. Perhaps it's the community they've built, the way their brand communications emphasize belonging, or how their product design genuinely considers long-term physical wellbeing. Whatever the alchemy, Milwaukee has created a brand that attracts and retains people for whom belonging, health, and loyalty sit at the center of their identity. This is Milwaukee's unique territory, distinct from Dewalt's. The strategic opportunity is to double down on these insights: sell tools and membership in something meaningful, design for today's performance and for a body that will thank you in a decade, build customer relationships that feel like family. When their customers choose Milwaukee tools, they're joining a movement. They find home in the red and black.
How to Apply This to Your Brand
This extends far beyond power tools. Every product category contains values-based segments that traditional demographics simply cannot detect. The patterns exist everywhere, and understanding how your customers differ from your competitors' customers is the key to differentiation.
Step 1: Map Your Customers' Core Values
Begin by asking: What are the three to five values that your most engaged customers share? Search for the values they actually demonstrate through their behavior, their language, their loyalty. Listen to what lives beneath the surface.
The most accurate path: Valuegraphic data from the Valuegraphics Research Company provides the scientifically validated, statistically reliable way to determine which values are driving purchase decisions for your customers. Their methodology removes guesswork and gives you the precision needed for confident strategic decisions. The data reveals which values matter to your customers and which values are significant enough to differentiate them from others in the market.
The DIY approach: You can also hack your way toward some insights, though with considerably less accuracy, by following these steps. Think of this as directional guidance rather than definitive data, like using a compass rather than GPS.
How to discover this yourself:
Analyze the language in your five-star reviews (what do they praise beyond features?)
Interview your longest-tenured customers (why did they stay?)
Study your social media communities (what do they talk about when they talk beyond your product?)
Survey beyond satisfaction to discover what matters most in their lives
The answers live in the spaces between what they say and why they stay.
Step 2: Compare to Your Competitors' Customers
This is where the strategic magic happens: How do your customers' values differ from your competitors' customers?
In the Dewalt/Milwaukee example, the two brands serve demographically similar customers whose values diverge significantly from each other. That divergence becomes your competitive advantage. It reveals:
What language will resonate with YOUR customers (because it reflects their worldview, not your competitor's)
What benefits matter most to YOUR audience (because they align with core motivations your competitor's customers don't share)
What communities to build (because they'll attract your people, not everyone)
What partnerships make sense (because they share your customers' values)
The gap between your customers and your competitors' customers contains your entire differentiation strategy. This is what allows Milwaukee to talk about community and belonging while Dewalt talks about relationships and experiences - each speaking to their distinct audience without directly competing on the same value territory.
Yes, it's also useful to understand how your customers differ from the general population (this provides context), though the real strategic power comes from understanding how they differ from your competitors' customers. That's what enables you to stake out unique territory in the market.
Step 3: Audit Your Current Strategy
Take your marketing materials, sales scripts, and product development roadmap. For each piece, ask:
Does this speak to your customers' actual values, or could your competitor say the same thing?
(I'll admit these are somewhat terrible headlines, but I'm writing them this way to make the point crystal clear for this article. Your actual marketing copy should be infinitely more elegant while still anchoring in these value insights.)
Generic (could work for either brand): "Our tools are 20% more powerful"
Values-aligned for Dewalt: "The performance you need to take on the projects that grow your business and your reputation"
Values-aligned for Milwaukee: "Power that keeps you working comfortably, project after project, year after year"
Does this acknowledge how your customers differ from your competitors' customers?
When you speak to everyone, you connect with no one. When you speak the same language as your competitor, you force customers to choose on price alone. Your customers chose you because they see the world differently than your competitor's customers do. Honor that difference. Celebrate it. Make it the cornerstone of everything you create.
Step 4: Build Around Values
For Product Development: When your customers value "Belonging" (and your competitor's customers value "Relationships"), create products that signal membership in a community, not just connection between individuals. When they value "Experiences" (and your competitor's customers value "Loyalty"), design products that create stories worth telling. The product becomes the physical manifestation of what matters to them specifically. Think of it like the difference between building a coffee shop and building a third place - same four walls, entirely different gravitational pull.
For Content Marketing: Create content that reinforces your customers' values in ways that wouldn't resonate with your competitor's audience. When your customers value "Personal Responsibility," create content about mastery, about taking ownership, about the pride of doing things right. When your competitor's customers value "Community," they can showcase the collective, the crew, the tribe - that's their territory. Let your customers see themselves reflected in every piece you create, distinct from who your competitor is attracting.
For Sales Strategy: Train your sales team to identify values and understand competitive differentiation. A customer who values "Employment Security" needs to hear about reliability, longevity, warranty - they're likely a Dewalt customer. A customer who values "Health & Well-Being" needs to hear about ergonomics, long-term comfort, sustainability - they're likely a Milwaukee customer. The same demographic, different values, different brands, different approaches.
For Customer Experience: Design every touchpoint to reinforce the values that set your customers apart from your competitors'. When your customers value "Health & Well-Being," your checkout process should emphasize long-term benefits and peace of mind. When your competitor's customers value "Loyalty," they can build their loyalty program around family and commitment - their play, not yours. Every interaction either reinforces what makes your customers unique or treats them like everyone else. Choose uniqueness.
Why Values Are Your Moat
Products get copied in months. Features get compared in seconds. Values-based differentiation? That's the only sustainable competitive advantage left standing.
Shared values cannot be faked. Emotional resonance cannot be reverse-engineered. The feeling of "this brand gets me in a way that other brand doesn't" cannot be copied. It can only be earned through authenticity, through deep listening, through genuine alignment.
When Milwaukee customers pay more for tools that align with their values around belonging and long-term well-being, they're choosing the brand that speaks to who they are, period. When Dewalt customers choose tools that support the relationships and experiences they value most, they're buying peace of mind that Milwaukee's messaging wouldn't provide. Each purchase becomes a vote for the brand that understands them specifically.
Three Questions Worth Asking
The old question: "What demographics are we targeting?"
The better question: "What values do our best customers share?"
The question that opens doors: "How do our customers' values differ from our competitors' customers' values, and how can we own that distinct territory?"
That final question (and your honest answer to it) will transform everything that follows. It opens doors you didn't know existed. It reveals customers you couldn't previously see and strategic positioning your competitors cannot occupy.
People buy reflections of who they are. They buy reinforcements of what they value. They buy invitations to be part of something that understands them at a level deeper than words. And they choose between brands based on which one truly speaks to their specific values.
The contractors reaching for Milwaukee or Dewalt aren't just choosing tools. They're choosing to be seen for who they really are - and they're choosing the brand that sees them differently than the other brand does.
Make sure you're looking. Make sure you can see them clearly. Make sure you understand how they're meaningfully different from the people choosing your competitor. Make sure every choice you make as a brand honors that distinct identity and speaks to them in ways your competitor cannot.
Key Takeaways for Sales and Marketing Leaders
Values trump demographics - Two people with identical demographic profiles can hold radically different values, leading to completely different brand preferences. The surface similarities hide profound differences in how they experience being human.
Competitive differentiation lives in values gaps - When your customers' values differ significantly from your competitors' customers, that divergence defines your unique strategic territory. The gap between your audience and theirs becomes your competitive advantage.
Language reveals values - Your customers tell you what they value through their words, reviews, and social conversations. You simply need to listen with different ears, to hear what lives beneath the surface and what distinguishes them from your competitor's audience.
Alignment creates loyalty - When your brand consistently reinforces customer values that your competitor doesn't emphasize, loyalty transforms from transactional to emotional, from calculated to committed, from "good enough" to "this is my brand."
Values-based positioning resists commoditization - Features can be copied in quarters. Authentic values alignment takes years to build and cannot be manufactured or mimicked. When you own distinct value territory, your competitor cannot speak to your audience without abandoning their own.
Every touchpoint either differentiates or commodifies - From product design to customer service, every interaction should reinforce the values that make your customers distinct from your competitor's customers. There is no neutral ground. You either honor their unique values or you become interchangeable.
This works across categories - Whether you sell tools, software, services, or sandwiches, your best customers share values that set them apart from your competitors' customers. The patterns exist everywhere. The question is whether you're willing to look for the competitive differentiation.
The data shows us the truth. Your customers are whole humans with complex values, with intricate inner worlds, with profound reasons for every choice they make - and those reasons distinguish them from the people choosing your competitor.
Your competitors may remain trapped in demographic thinking, targeting age brackets and income levels, missing the entire story. Or they may understand their customers deeply and still fail to recognize how those customers differ from yours.
You have the opportunity to see your customers as they truly are and understand how they're meaningfully different from your competitors' customers. You have the chance to speak to what actually matters to them in ways your competitor cannot. You have the possibility of creating work that honors the trust they place in you when they choose your brand over the other one.
The choice, as always, is yours.
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