The Key to Brand Growth? Be Distinctive.

Here at MERGE, we work on many challenger brands that are trying to grow against larger competitors.

As an agency that is deeply rooted in the belief that data can drive insight, we help clients focus on some of the key tenets explained in Byron Sharp’s 2010 book, “How Brand’s Grow”. Sharp basically debunked many of the traditionally-held views on marketing and based his book on empirical data. Stuff we love here at MERGE, both data and simplicity. And since nobody has time to read (that’s supported by data too, by the way), we made a short list of key takeaways from Sharp’s book that we use almost every day to guide our thinking.

#1: Want to grow your brand? Focus on growing penetration and the total number of users who use your brand.
If you have a good product, all you need to do is to get it in the hands of those who will find it valuable. I know, I know…what about my current customers? Isn’t it easier to keep them? Well, let’s go to our next fact from Sharp’s book…

#2: Your consumers don’t love your brand as much as you think they do.
Consumers shop around. Keep your focus on getting more into the bucket. Sure, we all love the brands we work on and truly believe they’re the best in their category. But ask yourself, how many brands in your life are you absolutely/positively in love with and would NEVER switch to another brand?

Want to grow your brand? Learn about two more key takeaways in the full article by Toby Smalley, SVP, Account Director, Consumer at MERGE, by clicking here.