Beyond Words: Making Your Brand Association Memorable

In previous articles, I covered why brand matters even in performance channels and how to pick and validate the CEP (category entry point)/needs your product should focus on.

However, knowing what to say is not the same as knowing how to communicate it.

Step 1: Ensure Everyone is On the Same Page

The need you select can be described in various ways and might mean different things to different prospects. For example, customization can be described as “customizable,” “flexible,” “full control,” “whitebox solution,” “configurable,” “tailored to your needs,” “modifiable,” and more.

I test it similarly to how I test main propositions in responsive search ads. Instead of testing different core needs, I test different variants of the chosen proposition and see what performs better.

However, this won’t reveal what people imagine from these claims or what they expect. This brings us back to reviews and client discussions—usually, the best-performing terms are those your clients use to describe you.

Step 2: Show, Don’t Just Tell

Simply claiming that your solution is “scalable” isn’t enough. Everyone can say it. Why should trust you and know it's a real deal?

In other words, how do you say it without saying it?

Instead of just saying "scalable," provide specifics like:

• 99.9978% availability SLA
• Processes 10k API requests per second
• Supports catalogs of 100M+ products globally

Step 3: Stories Over Statistics

While a 99.9978% availability SLA is precise, it’s abstract and hard to visualize and remember.

Try to add a story.

"99.9978% availability SLA. Yes, the chances that our product is unavailable are slimmer than winning the lottery and getting struck by lightning at the same time."

And it can be as simple as using a cheetah to communicate speed. Like this ad from StepZen, an IBM Company .

Tip: David Janou?ek recommended me the blablameter.com. Its a site that indicate how much bullshit hides in your text. Good and funny for validation of your ad copy:)

Weakener: Missing the Category

Sometimes brands focus so much on the need that they forget the buying situation. Smaller brands especially need to link the brand to the right category.

Don’t miss the category in the ad. And don't miss the Points of Parity on your landing page. Even when you choose the one need you want to communicate the most, don’t forget to mention the other important needs your prospects care about, even if these needs are already owned by the category leader.

Amplifier: Let the Client Speak for You

It’s always more credible when clients say the benefit, not you. Even a generic statement like “Brand X is super scalable” is more persuasive coming from a client.

Summary

Save your budget. If people can visualize the message, they will remember it better than just repeating the benefit (and paying more for repeated exposure).

In the next article, we’ll discuss how to validate the effectiveness of these communications and the three steps I follow while running the first brand campaign for B2B SaaS. Stay tuned :)