Support the Author by Buying the Book
How Brands Grow: What Marketers Don't Know
Summary
This book, "How Brands Grow" by Byron Sharp, presents evidence-based insights into marketing and brand growth. Here's a comprehensive summary of the key points:
- Brand Growth Fundamentals:
- Growth comes from increasing popularity and gaining more buyers, especially light customers who buy occasionally.
- Brands compete as near look-alikes, varying mainly in popularity and market share.
- Success depends on building two market-based assets: physical availability and mental availability.
- Evidence-Based Marketing:
- The book emphasizes the importance of using empirical evidence to guide marketing decisions.
- It challenges many common marketing practices and assumptions.
- Double Jeopardy Law:
- Smaller brands are disadvantaged twice: they have fewer buyers who buy less frequently.
- This law provides a quantitative guide for growth targets.
- Customer Acquisition vs. Retention:
- Growth is primarily driven by customer acquisition, not increased loyalty or retention.
- The book challenges the notion that retention is cheaper than acquisition.
- Brand Loyalty and Defection:
- Customer defection rates follow the double jeopardy law - larger brands have slightly lower defection rates.