Book Review: How Brands Grow

Science has revolutionized every discipline it has touched; now it is marketing turn! “How Brands Grow (HBG)” is based on decades of research that has progressively uncovered scientific laws about buying and marketing performance. This book is the first to present these laws in context, and explore their meaning and marketing applications.

HBG is a manifesto for evidence based marketing, building brands based on what works in scientific practice rather than what should work in marketing theory. In addition to outlining seven evidence led rules for unlocking growth through brand marketing, the book busts a number of pernicious and costly marketing myths that are sometimes still peddled today.

There are some Laws introduced in this book –

·     Double Jeopardy Law – Brands with less market share have so they have far fewer buyers, and these buyers are slightly less loyal (in their buying and attitudes)

·   Retention double Jeopardy – All brands lose some buyers, this loss is proportionate with their market share, i.e. big brands lose more customers (though these lost customers represent a small proportion of their total customer base)

·     Pareto Law, 60/20 – Slightly more than half of a brand’s sales come from the top 20% of the brand customers. The rest of the sales come from the bottom 80% of customers (i.e. the Pareto law is not 80/20).

·    Law of buyer moderation – In subsequent time periods heavy buyers buy less often than in the base period that was used to categorize them as heavy buyers. Also, light buyers buy more often and some non-buyers become buyers. This regression to the mean phenomenon occurs even when there is no real change in buyer behavior.

·    Natural Monopoly law – Brands with more market share attract a greater proportion of light category buyers.

·       User bases seldom vary – Rival brands sell to very similar customer bases.

·    Attitude and brand beliefs reflect behavioral loyalty – Consumers know and say more about brands they use more often and they think and say little about brands they do not use. Therefore, because they have more users, larger brands always score higher in surveys that assess buyers’ attitudes to brands.

·    Usage drives attitude – The attitudes and perceptions that a brand’s customers express are very similar to the attitudes and perceptions expressed by customers of other brands.

·    Law of prototypicality – Image attributes that describe the product category score higher than less prototypical attributes.

·     Duplication of purchase law – A brand’s customer base overlaps with the customer base of other brands, in line with their market share (i.e. a brand shares the most customers with large brands and the least number of customers with small brands). If 30% of a brand’s buyers also bought brand A in a period, then 30% of every rival brand’s customers also bought brand A.

·   NBD – Dirichlet – A mathematical model of how buyers vary in their purchase propensities (i.e. how often they buy from a category and which brands they buy). This model correctly describes and explains many of the above laws. The Dirichlet is one of marketing’s few true scientific theories.

One thing that emerges from the law-like patterns is that everything varies together. As brands get bigger their metrics move in the opposite direction to the metrics of brands that are shrinking. Bigger brands have higher penetration and loyalty metrics. This suggests that marketing metrics, including market share, all reflect one thing: popularity. Therefore, brands vary in their popularity, and everything flows from that. Also, two rival brands with similar levels of popularity will have very similar metrics.

Vertical Search Optimization

Vertical search engines, mobile and search trends seem to be reshaping the search landscape. Whether spoken, typed or tapped, search queries are the medium through which consumers discover information and make decisions. Search is all around us; it is embedded into smartphone devices and is the fulcrum of Artificial Intelligence (AI) powered digital assistants. Moreover, recent research shows that mobile now accounts as much as 57% of total search traffic. Search has become more powerful, dynamic and fragmented. This brings some challenges along with opportunities.

Opportunity – The sheer quantity and variety of online content is necessitating this change. Almost 45% of people watch more than an hour of online video online each week on either Facebook or YouTube, Snapchat users share over 500,000 every minute, and according to Internet Live stats, Google processes over 3.5 Billion queries every day. In order to sift through the information at their fingertips and arrive at the right result as quickly as possible, an increasing number of consumers prefer the specialized nature of a vertical search engine.

Vertical Search Engine focuses on one specific industry or type of content. Common examples would include a travel search engine like Kayak or the image based interface of Pinterest. The term “vertical” applies to both the indexation and serving of content, which is neatly organized by category. Product searches may take place on Amazon or a consumer may go to a site like Indeed to look for a new job.

For marketers with one specific type of product or service to sell, the lure of vertical search can be clear too. They can meet their audience when their search intent is overt and can focus their energies on a platform that they know will deliver results. Google universal search, which indexes and ranks image results alongside video and local listings, is an aggregation of verticals into what appears to be more conventional, horizontal search engine. Recent moves into the jobs market, along with a revamped flights search engine, show Google’s ambitions to develop specific new technologies to gain market share in profitable verticals.

If we analyze recent data, we can see that vertical search is still taking off, outside of Google. Google web search has merged with Google Image and Google Maps, and the likes of YouTube, Pinterest and Amazon are in the ascendancy while still remaining minor players in the grand scheme. The innately commercial nature of Amazon searches will be of interest of retailers, while Pinterest reports that 97% of its searches are non-branded. Both of these platforms are improving their paid search offering at a rapid rate, which is again a sign of their increasing prominence in the search landscape.

The competition for consumer attention spans grows ever fiercer, and SEO is no longer just about getting Google right. Google itself is more complex than ever before and marketers could also conceivably focus their attention on vertical search engines rather than the global search giant. For marketers to consider is the nature of consumer behavior on the relevant vertical search engine for their brand. Consumer demands and expectations will differ based on the search engine, and they will have started query there for specific reasons.

There are some best practices we can apply for any vertical search optimization campaign:-

1.      Research your audience behaviors across different search engines

2.      Maintain a cohesive brand presence across all major social networks

3.   Use structured data and Open graph tags to help search engines locate and understand your content

4.    Access behaviors across your websites and mobile apps, focus on unblocking any challenges users have in accessing content

5.   Master the fundamental elements of site experience that will benefit performance on any search engine, such as page load speed

6.      Adapt your content for every search engine

7.     Use specific integrations with vertical search engines that can allow your website content to be served within their results

SEO is not just about trying to rank on Google anymore. Search behaviors are changing and new content opportunities arrive constantly. We need to evolve our strategies to make the most of this set of circumstances. The industry is reaching a point now where deep learning allows search engines to understand both content and context with accuracy levels we could barely have imagined just a few years ago.

How to set up Smarter Work Goals?

With most organizations kicking off fresh appraisal cycles, employees need to once again set their annual goals. Set smarter work goals that are better aligned to organizational priorities and your own focus areas.

Focus On Results – Your goals should be outcome oriented and impactful on key business metrics. Find ways to make your goals ‘measurable’ – it makes things easier for both you and your manager at the time of a review. Set goals that make you step out of your comfort zone and take on new challenges.

Keep Goals Aligned – While specific goals will depend on your exact line of work, in general you should align your goals to the strategy of the organization you work for. Become familiar with your company’s strategy and that of your manager, going up the organization ladder. Align your goals to their goals for optimal success.

Pay attention to Reskilling – Reskilling should definitely be one of your main goals this year. This will help you stay relevant to your profession and work environment. The concept of reskilling is the backbone of sustaining business momentum. It ensures you can address the requirements of your company and its customers. Stay focused on bridging skill gaps as well as demonstrating a high degree of learnability and inquisitiveness.

Keep the Dialogue going – It is essential to discuss your goals with your manager and your team. This dialogue can help you clearly define your goals and to adjust and change them as the environment changes. Regularly checking with managers and colleagues on how you are progressing with your goals will help maintain momentum.

Concentrate on Relevance – Your work goals will be no good unless they are relevant to the company and the environment you are operating in. Make sure your goals are relevant by taking the pulse of the industry and your company’s performance. It is also important to have good industry mentors who can objectively guide you on future trends.

How Lord Vishnu is associated with Economic Activities?

In the Vedas, Vishnu is the name of a minor god, who is younger brother of Indra and is known for the three steps he took to span the world. But later, in the Puranas we see a shift in Hindu Mythology and he becomes the preserver of the world. What preserve the World? Good governance or dharma? What is good governance? Its adequate wealth generation and adequate wealth distribution.

Vishnu has always been associated with economic activities, just as Krishna as cowherd, is linked to animal husbandry, while his elder brother, Balarama, holds a plough and is linked to agriculture. As Ram, he is considered as fair and just, alluding to proper distribution and wealth. In fact, Vishnu is called down to earth every time the earth is plundered and the earth appeals to him in the form of the earth goddess, Bhu-devi who takes the form of a cow.

In fact, cow is a metaphor for making all kings Gopala or cowherds, those who ensure the earth is being ‘milked’ correctly. What is interesting is that the form of Vishnu connects him with economic activity. And this is best understood when we compare and contrast him with Shiva who became equally powerful god in Puranic times as compared to his less popular Vedic form, Rudra.

Shiva is imagined as a Hermit, linked to desolate mountains, caves and crematoriums. He is smeared with Ash. He wears animal hide. He can be seen wandering alone in the forest, trident and rattle drum in the hand. In contrast, Vishnu is linked to an ocean of milk, to butter, to rivers, to woods, to farmlands and pasturelands. He wears silk fabric, assuming the existence of farmers, spinners, weavers, dyers and washers.

He wears gold ornaments, assuming the existence of miners, smelters, smiths and jewelers. Shiva ash is made effortlessly by burning wood, dung and corpses. Vishnu sandalpaste demands effort. The aromatic stick has to be rubbed on a wet rock for a long period of time. Just comparing and contrasting ash and sandalpaste makes one realize the difference in the philosophy of Shiva and Vishnu, seen through an economic lens. Shiva is about letting go and accepting what is. Vishnu is about making efforts to enjoy the good things in life.

This though recurs when we see how they associate with milk. Shiva is linked to raw unboiled unprocessed milk. Vishnu loves butter and ghee, creation of which demands efforts. Shiva does not seek milk, Vishnu demands to be served, and even enjoys stealing butter and distributing it to all. Shiva is the bull, who cannot be domesticated and but still is vital to economy as bulls make the cows pregnant. Castrated bulls, or bullocks, can be beasts of burden but they cannot make cows pregnant. Vishnu is linked to cows, which is vital for rural economy.

Shiva sits still on the top of mountain, withdrawing from the world, outgrowing hunger. And if there is no hunger, there is no demand, or supply, or market.  The goddess tells Shiva that while outgrowing one’s own hunger is good, surely taking care of other people hunger, feeding others is also good. Thus a counter point is added to Shiva’s hermit ways. Shiva’s hermit ways challenges the hunger of man, but so does the idea of generosity that the Goddess speaks of and Vishnu embodies.

Yes, hunger sustains the market. But whose hunger? One hunger or other people’s hunger. What hunger sustains the world? The shareholder’s or the consumer’s or the employee’s. Capitalism is obsessed with shareholder wealth. Communism with employee’s wealth. Capitalism celebrates consumerism. Communism mocks it. Yet a prefect ecosystem is one where everyone’s hunger is satisfied and more importantly satiated. A satiated Vishnu feeds the world, thus creating Vaikuntha.

Lessons from Cambridge Analytica Incident

If FB users can learn one important lesson from the Cambridge Analytica Incident, where the data of nearly 50 Million Facebook users was allegedly used to manipulate the USA Elections, it is this, there’s no such thing as a free lunch when it comes to sharing personal data like images, posts and preferences on social networking sites.

Though these sites and apps are purportedly free because they do not charge users, it is a no brainer that they get their Return on Investment (ROI) from the mountains of personal data that can be mined with the help of algorithms to enhance user experience and sell relevant advertisements.

Gullible users willingly share their personal data with these sites without understanding the consequences. However, even knowledgeable users face a conundrum when signing up for such sites and apps. For instance, whenever a user downloads an app, it tells you all it is capable of. You have to click on the agree button if you want to avail of the services.

The Facebook app, among other things, tells you that it can directly call numbers, read phone status and identity, read your text messages, take pictures and videos, record audio, record your approximate location, precise location, modify your contacts, real call logs, read your contacts, add or modify calendar events and send emails to guests without owners knowledge, read calendar events plus confidential information, read, modify or even delete the contents of your memory card and add or remove accounts.

Smartphone and mobile apps can make one a smart and efficient employee with all the information they collect as a trade-off, similar to how websites and e-commerce sites provide better services with the help of cookies, small pieces of code that track your online behavior and predict your next move with great accuracy.

Besides, ad networks may gather the information apps collect, including your location data, and may combine it with the kind of information you provide when you register for a service or buy something online to send you targeted ads that may be relevant to someone with your preferences and in your location.

Privacy by design effectively means that privacy principles such as preventing harm, transparency, choice, etc., are built into the architecture of the product itself. Thus, businesses need to include privacy and its related principles at the time of building of the product itself and not as an afterthought. Further, given that privacy by design presumes that the user is central to the entire system, meaningful consent and the real ability to withdraw this consent is another fundamental premise.

In many cases such as Aadhaar where the case in sub judice, quasi-government bodies will consistently pressure you to sign up, failing which you will have to run to the courts to queue up for justice. So you may end up signing up for these services, either because you feel helpless to fight the state or just do not have enough time to fight the system. India desperately needs a separate Privacy Act. The Right to Privacy, as enshrined in the Constitution, does not suffice when it comes to information security.

India also lacks a comprehensive policy on data protection or online security – the Indian Information Technology Act (2008) or amended rules in 2011 are not adequate. The Electronic Frontier Foundation advocates that “tech companies can and should do more to protect users, including giving users far more control over what data is collected and how that data is used.

Globally, the European Union (EU) is the most stringent when it comes to data protection. After four years of preparation and debate, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was finally approved by the EU Parliament on 14 April 2016. The enforcement date is 25 May 2018, and companies that do not comply with this law may face heavy fines. GDPR replaces the Data Protection Directive (95/46/EC) and “was designed to harmonize data privacy laws across Europe, to protect and empower all EU citizens’ data privacy and to reshape the way organizations across the region approach data privacy”, according to GDPR Portal.

The positive fallout of the Facebook data compromise is that the Indian government, too, is firming up its long-term strategy to secure data of citizens, especially those using social media. As Algorithms increasingly enhance user experience and the bottom line of firms, users must not let their guard down since these very algorithms can enable unparalleled invasions of privacy.