Why “er” is the most important suffix in marketing

By Nigel Hollis

For a while now I have been using the phrase, “Easy to mind, easy to find, and easy to pay,” to describe a simple recipe for brand growth. But brands grow when marketers make it easier for people to choose them. So, for it to grow, a brand needs to be easier to mind, easier to find, and easier to pay.

A new measure of growth potential

A long time ago, in 1998 or thereabouts, Millward Brown introduced a new metric called Voltage to their measurement of brand equity. Voltage was designed to measure a brand’s future growth potential. Given how the brand was perceived today, was it likely to grow its market share or decline? In the R&D team, we were pretty excited about Voltage. For the first time we had a forward-looking brand equity metric, not just ones that measured the here and now. Clients were always telling us they wanted forward-looking metrics and now we had one.

Better than chance but not perfect

The only problem was that Voltage measured the probability of future growth based on current perceptions, and quite often brands did not live up to their growth potential. Both client and client service staff became disillusioned when a brand with high Voltage failed to grow or one with low Voltage failed to decline. Later an improved version of Voltage was introduced under the name Potential, but concerns remained. On average, both metrics anticipated market share growth better than chance, but neither was close to perfect.

Potential not prediction

The fundamental problem with both Voltage and Potential was that they were exactly what the purported to be, measures of a brand’s potential to grow. There are no guarantees when comes to market share growth, only probabilities. And when things change, probabilities change too.

Three things undermine whether a brand lives up to its equity growth potential or not.

To leverage positive potential equity a brand must do something new. The brand must extend its footprint by reaching out to new users, leveraging new occasions, creating a wider distribution base, improving its perceived value. Brand growth does not happen by magic. To grow market share, a marketer must do something that will change the competitive status quo. They must make it easier for people to choose their brand by spending more or doing something different.
And, of course, the opposite is also true. When a brand is identified as having low growth potential, the marketing team might already be doing their level best to offset the existential threat. And sometimes they succeed, they do something that changes the status quo, apparently proving the measure of growth potential wrong for that brand.

But, perhaps one of the biggest problems with any forward-looking metric is that when it comes to the fight for market share it does not matter what your brand does if another brand does it more or better.

Easier to mind

The probability is that a brand will grow if it spends more on share of voice than it has market share. Provided the campaign is effective, spending more than market share will likely grow the brand’s salience. So, if the marketing budget is set by how much was spent last year, it is probably delusional to expect significant share growth in the coming year. Your brand’s salience will not change, so the brand will not be easier to mind.

Easier to find

The probability is that the brand will grow if its availability increases. So, if the brand is not easier to find it will fail to leverage its full growth potential. There are very few brands that are so compelling that people will seek them out. Better to assume that if your brand is not easily available people are going to choose the available alternative.

Easier to pay

Last, and by no means least, the probability is that people will buy your brand if it readily justifies its price point. Price is both the ultimate barrier and incentive to purchase. To be willing to pay a higher price, people must perceive that the brand offers an advantage that is meaningful to them. It must be seen as different to the alternatives. But even a high-priced brand will sell more if it games it price or discounts. The only problem is that in doing so it may undermine its future profitability. So far better to improve perceptions that help people value the brand more.

The most important suffix in marketing

Attaching “er” to a verb turns it into a noun, meaning someone or something that performs a specific action, like a marketer. Adding “er” to an adverb or adjective makes them comparative. And marketing is a comparative game, unless your marketing activities are bigger or better than the competition’s, nothing changes.

So, to be a successful marketer, you need to do something make your brand easier to mind, easier to find, and easier to choose. As a result, your brand is likely to grow faster. And that is why “er” is the most important suffix in marketing.