How Brands Grow. What Marketers Should Know.

Turns out that 'differentiation' isn't as important as I thought. Instead, it's all about ‘distinctiveness’. "Branding lasts, differentiation doesn't." Makes sense!

* How Brands Grow - What Marketers Don't Know * by Byron Sharp, is one of those books I've seen pop-up many times but have put off reading because I was told it wasn't an easy read. I'd probably agree with that; it's more of an academic study (which you might expect from a professor), but has a lot of really interesting stuff in it.

Here are my key takeaways:

💡 "...buyers seem to know something about the brands they use, and very little about the ones they don't..."

💡 THEREFORE it "isn't essential for marketers to convince buyers that the product is different..."

💡 BUT they do need to be distinctive ("less trying to find unique selling propositions and more trying to find unique identifying characteristics.")

💡 The choice of brand is trivial compared to the decision of whether or not to purchase from the category.

💡 The key marketing task is to make a brand easy to buy this requires building mental and physical availability.

💡 Marketing must get a brand thought of, more often, in more buying situations.

💡 Byron believes marketing has the best chance of being successful when it has as much reach as possible, and advocated examining marketing options in terms of their availability to cost effectively reach as many customers as possible.

💡 "It was mass marketing (not CRM, relationship marketing or loyalty programs) that built the majority of today’s leading brands."

💡 He asserts that the art of advertising is telling the same story, over and over, but in new and entertaining ways.

💡 Familiarity breeds liking. Usage also breeds familiarity and brand knowledge; this in turn breeds liking.

💡 Persuasive arguments are more powerful if they include explicit emotional appeals. For example compare these two appeals:

🛞 Goodyear tyres grip the road and reduce your stopping distance.

🛞 Today your child’s life may depend on your braking ability. Goodyear tyres reduce your stopping distance and keep your loved ones safe.

💡 Yet advertising is often filled with persuasive arguments (often about trivial benefits). Product updates anyone?

💡 Marketing strategies that are based on false assumptions will never deliver high returns, no matter how well executed the strategies.

💡 Byron talks about how ill-fated marketing efforts can continue because of considerable sunk costs, of which "management ego" plays a part. Great term that!

💡 Buyers are polygamously loyal; they have personal repertoires of brands that they purchase repeatedly.

💡 Consumers are resistant to new ideas, they are very happy to reminded of things they already believe.

Buy the book: https://lnkd.in/eSfZGT-6