This article is an excerpt from the Shortform book guide to "How Brands Grow" by Byron Sharp. Shortform has the world's best summaries and analyses of books you should be reading.
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What does How Brands Grow by Byron Sharp explain about marketing? What are the main takeaways from the book?
Marketing professor Byron Sharp’s book How Brands Grow says that while many people consider mass marketing to be “dead,” it’s actually more effective than modern marketing used today. To support this claim, Sharp creates three rules that every marketer should follow if they want their business to reach a wider audience.
Continue reading to learn more about Byron Sharp’s three rules of marketing in How Brands Grow.
Byron Sharp’s Rules of Marketing
Everything you know about marketing may be wrong. In How Brands Grow, Byron Sharp argues that many of the marketing principles commonly taught in business schools are unsubstantiated myths. By examining the real-world data that indicates which marketing techniques succeed and which fail, Sharp claims to have discovered a new set of empirical rules that directly contradict the widely-held “common sense” principles of marketing.
According to Sharp, most modern marketers believe you should:
- Work to retain your existing customers instead of seeking new customers.
- Tailor your marketing to the niche target market that’s most likely to buy your product.
- Give your customers a reason to choose you over your competitors by communicating to them how your brand is different and better.
However, Sharp asserts that you should do the opposite—we’ve consolidated his advice into these three rules:
- Focus on constantly attracting new customers instead of establishing a core group of loyal fans.
- Market to as many different demographics as possible—ideally, the whole human race.
- Focus on making your brand memorable instead of unique.
In short, Sharp argues that mass marketing—basic messaging about your brand for a general audience—is still the most effective way to grow, despite many marketing professionals declaring it “dead.”
Rule #1: Market to New Customers, Never to Existing Customers
Modern marketers often profess that it costs less to keep your existing customers than to attract new customers. However, in How Brands Grow, Byron Sharp explains that they believe this because it makes intuitive sense: If someone bought from your brand already, they’re more likely to buy from you again—they’re “your customer.”
Following this logic, your marketing is supposedly more effective on existing customers who are predisposed to spend a lot of money on your brand. For example, marketers may assume that it takes only one advertisement to convince an existing customer to purchase again, but five advertisements to convince a new customer to make a purchase. This makes the new customer five times more expensive to acquire.
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Like what you just read? Read the rest of the world's best book summary and analysis of Byron Sharp's "How Brands Grow" at Shortform .
Here's what you'll find in our full How Brands Grow summary :
- Why everything you know about marketing is wrong
- An unpacking of the unsubstantiated marketing myths that business schools teach
- The psychology behind consumers’ purchasing decisions
