Mass marketing is essential for growth. Every brand is a leaky bucket, losing customers every day.

The key to growth is to acquire customers quicker than you lose them.

Light/non-existent buyers account for the largest percentage of a brand’s current and potential customer base.

Adding these people will make a greater contribution to sales volume, rather than focussing on the heavier, more regular customers (much smaller in number and buying from you anyway).

It’s difficult enough maintaining relationships with family and friends, let alone remembering and maintaining relationships with brands.

Part of this is attributed to competitive memory interference. A busy life, coupled with ongoing advertisements from competitors, means it’s harder for consumers to recall your brand at point-of-purchase.

EXERCISE >>

Sing your favorite song while any other song is playing.
Difficult, isn’t it? That is what advertising does. It scrambles your memory and implants other branded memories.

Most of our decision making is unconscious and emotional. To be noticed and considered, a brand must be salient and relevant.

Think > Feel > Do

Feel > Do > Think

Most people will happily substitute your brand for another. If there is a barrier to purchase, for example a slower website or lack of stock, people will switch brands easily.

Most marketers focus on making their brands “Differentiated”: expressing a different benefit/“reason to buy”; rather than making their brands “Distinctive”: the brand expressing itself in a highly branded and sustainable way.

Marketing differentiation isn’t a barrier to competition. Marketing distinctiveness is unique and non-replicable.

Be distinctive and memorable to strangers so that at a potential purchase moment, they are more likely to think of you over a competitor brand.

A brand’s assets–unique characteristics–allow buyers to identify and remember your brand in a purchase decision. Build and reinforce distinctive brand assets. Building memories and understanding of your brand is essential. It takes time and requires a number of distinctive brand assets, i.e. visuals such as logos; audio assets such as jingles, and many others.

Be present always in the minds of category consumers.

Advertising works largely by refreshing memory structures; occasionally it also builds memory structures and creates a preference or intention to purchase. Brands don’t need to worry about having a persuasive message, even when they have one, the message needs to be embedded within a framework of brand links and cues, salience and long-term distinctiveness.” ¹

If we consider the two extremes–a highly branded ad versus a poorly branded call to action–the highly branded ad will be more effective in raising awareness thus driving long term sales benefits.

Consider Intel with its long-running “Intel Inside” campaign–an example of awareness-based communication. Most consumers wouldn’t know or care about the microprocessor their computer came with; however, the use of the “Intel Inside” brand assets, from the logo and jingle to the chip on the PC, made it incredibly salient.

^1. Sharp, B. (2010). How Brands Grow: What Marketers Don’t Know. Melbourne: Oxford Press.

Stories are how humans have communicated and socialized throughout history.

We are motivated by emotion, and therefore more likely to pay attention to, remember and react to advertisements that trigger an emotional response.

Focus your time and money on growing awareness of your brand to light/non-existent buyers by reaching broad markets.

Subscription based channels (such as social media and email) will always represent your heaviest/most regular buyers – who are smaller in number.

Largely, the most regular buyers of your brand will be the ones liking you on Facebook, following you on Instagram and submitting their email address to your database. These people are unlikely to buy more from you, as much as your loyalty department might try.

According to a Syncapse study in 2014, 45% of people “Like” on Facebook to get a discount from that brand. In essence, nearly half of your fans are already buying from you and simply want discounts from you.

Many brands go to market in bursts, trying to guess when and in what channel their consumer category will be most receptive to receiving their communication. It’s vital, however, that brands reach as many people as possible for as long as possible.

Advertising and marketing have short and long term effects. Advertising and marketing also act to build and reinforce memory structures, and some of these have a very long payoff.

People don’t often say what they think. People don’t often do what they say. People don’t often do what they think.

So much of advertising and communication incorrectly seeks to change people’s opinions when it should simply change people’s behaviors.

“Everyone knows keeping fit is essential to a long, happy and healthy life, however only 20.6% of the total US population regularly exercises.” ²

^2. Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (2014).

Make sure your brand is very well recognized and remembered. And ensure it is also within arms’ reach of everyone in your potential market.

The key to growth is consumers remembering you and being able to buy you – mental and physical distribution.

GOOD PRODUCT, WELL REMEMBERED AND WELL DISTRIBUTED >>

Physical distribution: People will buy alternatives if your product is not available. Therefore, make your product available across a variety of physical and digital portals, i.e. point-of-sale, websites, apps, landing pages etc.

Mental distribution: Make your product mentally available to all potential consumers across a variety of channels through inspiration and facilitation. Inspiration is great communication, content and advertising across channels that raise awareness and inspire consumers. Facilitation makes it as easy as possible for consumers to increase their consideration for your product, making it easier to buy. This type of content should live across owned, digital, and social channels.

Most marketing campaigns have long and short term effects. Measuring on a three month basis overemphasizes short term tactics such as discounting and price promotions, rather than longer term brand building activities.

Chefs taste their food as they are cooking it to make sure it tastes just right. That’s the best approach to marketing metrics–measure from the beginning and continuously to ensure it’s just right before it gets to the diner.