This is a short excerpt from a YouTube talk by Jason M. Lemkin about the strategic role of brand investment in generating and sustaining word-of-mouth growth. Lemkin argues that even modest brand recognition within a core buyer segment (e.g., 5–10%) can drive word of mouth, and that founders should invest in a focused, ‘mini’ brand to keep referral momentum going.
As soon as 10%, 5% of your not of the whole world, not of the whole world of marketing automation or integrations, but of your core buyer when they've heard of you. You got to flip it around. You have a mini brand like it's not Coke or Pepsi or Apple, but if you invest in that brand, that brand equals word of mouth. And on that old HubSpot slide, it didn't say brand marketing was number one, but you know, number one was word of mouth. And the meta topic is how do you invest in word of mouth? Right? And it'd be nice if your products are 100% viral and it would be nice everyone blogged about you. But brand is, brand is both a, you know, it's a word that can, can seem, can frustrate founders because it can seem like a money pit. But that's how you keep that going. You keep word of mouth going through your brand.
