3 Touchpoints to building a brand

The hard part about brand building is not what to do, but rather what not to do!!

If you think about it or imagine any brand you love out here, you realize that each day branding becomes less and less about advertising; Why?... Because advertising sucks!

As an alumnus of Section4 Brand Strategy Sprint by Prof. Scot Galloway, I got to understand what it really takes to build brands like Apple, Salesforce, Tesla, and more into powerhouse companies.

Before you consider these examples farfetched or unlikely to shadow, it's important to understand the same principles and frameworks apply even to start-ups.

Here is one; The Clock Model

Pre-Purchase [ 1-4 ]

First, the clock model are all the touchpoints a consumers interacts with a brand in the buying journey.

Pre-purchase introduces your brand to prospective customers.

Advertising is a common way to introduce your brand to an unware audience, but CAC (customer acquisition cost) is all-time and rising.

It's fair to say Google, Facebook are in businesses too - Generate as much revenue as possible.

Start-ups that want to reach their audience cheaply need to consider other methods;

• Generate educative and entertaining social media content
• Invest in SEO
• Host online events like Webinars.

Resources; Product-led SEO ; Content-led SEO ; Social Ad Strategies

Purchase [ 4-8 ]

The first point of customer contact with your brand.

How you get them to see beyond objections likely to hinder them from making a purchase is critical.

• How is your onboarding process?
• Is pricing set right?
• Do you have social proof? (User reviews, UGC)
• Are the pricing/checkout landing pages optimized?

Resources; Pricing for SaaS Start-ups ; Free Trials ; Building Landing Pages

Post-Purchase [ 8-12 ]

Many start-ups get lost in the customer acquisition metrics and forget where the real revenues are.

Customer retention is the magic build bullet to build start-ups sustainably because of the probability of selling to an existing customer 60-70?% than to a new customer.

Post-purchase is where legendary brands are built;

• Obsession with customer service
• Practical loyalty programs that retain customers
• Warrants that signal trust and credibility.

Resources: Build a Community; and Client Success

It's tough, even for brands like Apple to pull-off all three phrases of The Clock Model, but any start-up should purpose to be exceptional at 1 or 2 of these; preferably Purchase and Post-purchase.

Hey Start-up founders, invest in areas of variance among your competitors = build your brand sustainably.

Book of the Day

1. Where do you lie on the ladder of a customer's mind? - If between 1-3, consider creating a category where you feature the top three or reposition your brand.
2. Find the industry's sweet spot and move the brand in that direction. -see above

Podcast Insights

Known as the Father of Branding with over 17+ books on the topic.

What is the future of brand relevance?

• Must factor in disruptive innovation ( Uber, Airbnb, Calendly, notion, Tiktok)
• Brands should make what customers are buying to always remain relevant ( Airpods, Automotive companies moving into EVs)
• Understand and master storytelling ( Brand storytelling )
• Should have a signature of Social Programs ( Allbirds, Warby Parker, Bombas) - Having soul and impact.

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Okerosi Davis