Marketing Mental Models (aka MMM) for young marketers. Post # 2:
👉 Today’s topic: Brand building.
(All posts under this series can be found here: https://harish.blog/topics/mmm/)
[Marketing as a craft is extremely logical and conceptually simple. It has become unnecessarily complicated over time because of a cloud of BS wrapped in jargon. This series of posts seeks to lay out the concepts in a way that anyone can understand the basics of marketing and the mental models or concepts I use on a daily basis].
💡 Brand building is 1) occupying a strong place in your customer’s mind when they think of your category. And 2) this is done by delivering on a clearly defined ‘brand promise’ again and again.
Brand building is not just a marketer’s job. It is the entire company’s job, because a strong brand is the best asset, differentiator, moat, long lasting strategic advantage etc all rolled into one. A strong brand = a company that delivers on its promise = trust = business results.
💡 Brand building happens across four ‘moments of truth’. There can be more, but four is plenty. They are:
1. Zero moment of truth (ZMOT): The first time your customer hears about your product (via WOM, paid ads, content, 1×1 selling et al). Brand is built with stellar advertising, referral programs, social media / content etc.
2. First moment of truth (FMOT): When the customer sees your product for the first time. For physical products, for example, it is when she sees your product in the shopping aisle. For digital products, it can be your landing page. Brand is built with stellar packaging, onboarding flow etc.
3. Second moment of truth (SMOT): The first time your customer uses your product. The first time she washes her hair with your shampoo, the first dress she orders from your ecomm store, the first episode on a streaming platform. The magic moment of experiencing the product in full happens here. Brand is built with a winning product / experience.
4. Third moment of truth (TMOT): The first post purchase / advocacy experience. The first disgruntled call to the contact center, the first time she refers your brand to someone else, the first visit to the service center; the first time she loops back to the brand in some way. Brand is built with an amazing customer support team, social media response team, repair experience etc.
Winning the customer’s heart in these moments consistently over time = World class brand building.