Importance of Branding

Candidates aren’t just applying. They’re collecting clues. They scroll through job ads. Skim your About page. Google your Glassdoor reviews. Ask friends. Scroll again. They’re asking: • What’s it really like to work here? • Will I be supported, or left guessing? • Will leadership show up—or disappear after the interview? Here’s the problem: most companies leave too many of those questions unanswered. And when they do answer? The messages don’t always line up. A flashy EVP on the website. A cold auto-reply after applying. An engaging recruiter call. A confusing onboarding. Disjointed experiences break trust fast. Candidates remember every gap. And they’ll walk away before you even know their name. That’s why mapping your employer brand touchpoints matters. Every single interaction is a signal. Every email, tour, policy, and welcome moment adds up. Good or bad, it all speaks. I put together this one-pager to show how touchpoints shape trust. From shallow to deep. General to personal. Quick impressions to meaningful moments (see article in the comment). Because experience design isn’t just for customers. It’s the foundation of how people choose where to work. Want to build trust? Start with the experience. Because a great employer brand isn’t one single moment. It’s the sum of every moment, every message, and every person involved: TA, hiring managers, IT, onboarding buddies, everyone. Which touchpoint do you think gets overlooked the most? #employerbranding #candidateexperience #experiencedesign #designthinking

Brand isn’t pipeline. Demand isn’t awareness. Expand isn’t leads. If you’re measuring every part of marketing the same way, you’re doing it wrong. Different jobs. Different metrics. Here’s how we think about each working: BRAND → Get known. Get trusted. Get remembered. 𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘪𝘯 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘪𝘯 6 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘩𝘴, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘶𝘱 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘺𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯-𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘵. How you know it’s working: → Branded search volume is trending up → Direct traffic is growing → Organic traffic (especially non-branded) is increasing → Social engagement is rising (from the right audience) → People are finding you through word-of-mouth, dark social, podcasts → You’re mentioned in analyst reports, media, LinkedIn threads → Share of voice is going up vs competitors → Awareness surveys show people actually know who you are Brand takes time. But when done right, it shortens sales cycles, improves win rates, and lowers CAC. Don’t expect performance results from brand overnight. But don’t ignore the early signals either. DEMAND → Capture intent. Drive pipeline. Convert it. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘦. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘦𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘴. How you know it’s working: → Qualified pipeline is going up quarter over quarter → You’re converting leads into opps and opps into revenue → Pipeline velocity is healthy (Opps × Deal Size × Win Rate) ÷ Sales Cycle → CAC is efficient, ROI is clear → You’re not just getting emails you’re getting right-fit leads → Funnel conversion rates are strong (Lead → MQL → SQL → Opp → Win) → Target accounts are engaging, not just random leads → Forecasted revenue is predictable from your pipeline Demand is the most scrutinized motion and for good reason. It’s where the dollars get made or lost. EXPAND → Keep customers. Grow accounts. Drive loyalty. 𝘔𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘭 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦. How you know it’s working: → Net Revenue Retention (NRR) is above 100% → Customers are upgrading, expanding, or buying new products → Product adoption is increasing (MAU, feature usage, etc.) → You’re seeing fewer churn flags, more referrals → NPS and CSAT are trending up → Advocacy is growing (more case studies, reviews, references) → You’re publishing proof of customer success — not just chasing new logos Retention is where your margins are made. Expansion is where your growth compounds. Ignore this motion and you’ll pay for it later. Marketing isn’t one motion. It’s Brand. Demand. Expand. Know what each one does. Measure it right. And stop using lead volume as your only scoreboard.

Your trademark rights can vanish quietly—without a lawsuit, without a warning. All it takes is inaction. Too many companies file a trademark, receive a registration certificate… and then let it collect dust. They wait until there’s an obvious infringement before taking action. Here’s the problem: Under U.S. law, you’re required to police and enforce your trademark rights. If you don’t, you risk losing them—or seeing them severely limited. Why? If similar marks keep popping up and you don’t oppose or stop them, your rights get diluted. And when you finally take action, a court can find that you no longer have strong enough rights to win an infringement lawsuit. To keep trademark rights as strong as possible, you must: 1. Monitor USPTO trademark filings—opposing ones that are too close. 2. Watch the marketplace and send demand letters when needed. 💡 One company that gets this? Diageo. The graphic below shows just how committed they are to protecting their iconic brands—and why their trademarks hold such powerful weight in the marketplace. #brandprotection #marketing #trademarks #trademarkenforcement

some say AI will make brand irrelevant. the latest data suggests the exact opposite. while AI Overviews are crushing generic search, they’re actually boosting branded search. the gap between them is widening, fast. first, the bad news for generic, non-branded terms: -> AI Overviews now appeared on 13% of U.S. searches in march (up 2x since january). -> when they show up, click-through rates (CTR) for non-branded keywords fall nearly 20%. -> for some top publishers, traffic is already down ~40%. now, the good news for brands: -> branded searches rarely trigger an AI Overview (only ~5% of the time). -> and when they do, branded CTR increases by almost 19%. the takeaway is simple. the value of ranking for your category is collapsing. the value of being searched for by name is skyrocketing. this changes where we must invest our time and energy. away from the shrinking returns of generic SEO and toward building a brand that people seek out directly. here's a quick check for your own brand: -> are your branded search impressions growing faster than your YoY revenue? -> are your branded search clicks (paid + organic) growing faster than your impressions? our job is to own a word in our customers' minds and convert that mental real estate to baseline revenue. that's the moat in the AI era.

High gross margins are often a direct reflection of the value a customer places on a product. When a product is differentiated - whether through superior quality, branding, customer experience, or proprietary product/tech - it creates a level of perceived value that justifies a premium price. Once a customer has internalised this value, it becomes much easier to implement gradual price increases over time. A well-established product with strong customer loyalty can typically make small price increases with little resistance, as customers see the price as a reflection of its continued quality, exclusivity, or necessity. Contrast this with commodity products - where differentiation is minimal and purchasing decisions are primarily price-driven. In these businesses, attempting to reposition a low-margin, price-sensitive product as "value-add" requires a significant investment in marketing, product or service improvements - all of which may still be met with scepticism from price-conscious buyers. Because of this, it's often easier to grow margins on a high gross margin business, compared to one with weaker margins. Simply put, businesses with high gross margins already have some form of moat. Time + energy is better spent improving an already great businesses than trying to 'fix' a weaker one. It's why we don't do turnarounds at Arbor Permanent Owners.

If you are a founder, you must embrace the "What's in it for them" mentality instead of the "What’s in it for me" mentality—especially if you are a first-time founder. The "What's in it for them" mentality is a mindset that focuses on understanding and prioritizing the needs, desires, and benefits of others—whether they are customers, employees, investors, or partners—rather than concentrating on personal gains. This approach is especially crucial for first-time founders as it helps build strong, lasting relationships and fosters a positive reputation for the business. Providing distinctive value is the entrepreneur's dharma—your fundamental duty. By focusing on what you can offer others, you create a business that thrives on mutual benefit and shared success. During their early days, Airbnb Co-Founder, Brian Chesky and his team lived with hosts to understand their experiences firsthand. This immersive approach helped them grasp the real needs and challenges hosts faced, allowing them to tailor solutions accordingly. Chesky and his team focused on creating unique and affordable lodging options that met guests' desires for personal and memorable experiences. They continuously refined their offerings based on guest feedback to ensure satisfaction. So what does this teach us? ➡️Empathy Leads to Insight: Empathy is crucial for developing solutions that truly meet user needs and exceed their expectations. ➡️Customer-Centric Development: Prioritizing what users need and want leads to the creation of products and services that are more likely to succeed in the market. ➡️Building Trust and Loyalty: When users feel understood and valued, they are more likely to trust and remain loyal to the brand. ➡️Reputation and Brand Strength: A business that prioritizes the needs of its stakeholders builds a positive reputation. This can lead to word-of-mouth promotion and a stronger market presence. ➡️Sustainable Business Practices: By creating value for all stakeholders, businesses can achieve more sustainable growth and success. So, whatever space you are building in, remember to embrace this mentality and if you do it, you will see yourself winning like a true visionary. P.S. Follow me Ashim Jolly for more such content on Startups, VC and Sales!

One of the most critical truths in branding? Your brand isn’t what you say it is- it’s what your customers believe it is. Here’s how this plays out. ➡ Every interaction, no matter how small, builds a perception - Whether it’s a support call - A social media comment - Or an in-store experience ➡ Consistency in your message and actions creates: ☑ Trust ☑ Credibility ☑ Loyalty ➡ Misalignment between your brand promise and delivery leads to: ❌ Disappointment ❌ Distrust ❌ Customer churn ➡ By listening to customer feedback, you gain: 💎 Insights into their needs 💎 Opportunities to improve 💎 A chance to align perception with reality ➡ Prioritizing customer experience ensures: 👍 Positive word of mouth 👍 Strong brand advocacy 👍 Long-term success It’s not enough to craft the perfect message. You must live up to the image your customers hold of you. In their eyes, perception is reality, and that’s the only reality that matters. How are you shaping that reality today? #brand #strategy #perception #reality

Brands that prioritize what's right for the customer before what's right for the company tend to differentiate the #customerexperience considerably and build rabidly loyal customers who become advocates for the brand. Brands that lead with what's right for the company but consider what's right for customers remain competitive but often struggle to differentiate their #CX or lift their customer perception and satisfaction scores vis-a-vis the competition. And brands that only consider what's right for the company and ignore their customers are the ones we write about (today or in the future) in the past tense. There is no path to success that doesn't go through the customer. The more customer-centric we can make our decisions, the better our customer relationships, the lower our churn, and the greater our reputation.

Consistency creates trust. Say what you will do. Do what you said you would. Reliability. Consistency. Whatever you call it, it is a customer experience superpower. When a brand is clear about what its customers can expect, and then it delivers on those expectations with its product, its service, its experience, that is consistency. That builds trust. ✈ Southwest Airlines is a great example. 💺 No seat assignments. You know this when you book with them. 2️⃣ checked bags for free. You know this as well. Guess what? They didn’t used to advertise about 2 free checked bags. Because 10 years ago, that wasn’t special. Now, with all the other airlines charging, Southwest has a new point of differentiation. Because of their consistency. While The Southwest experience is changing, it is changing in a predictable way. It does not feel like a moving target. How do you create consistency in your customer experience? Share your thoughts in the comments below. 👇 And here are 5 steps to follow to build trust through consistency: 🔷Start with the end in mind. What do your customers expect from you? 🔷Identify experience elements that meet those customer expectations. Ask yourself, What can we consistently deliver that will meet our customers’ expectations? 🔷Set customers’ expectations appropriately. Make promises about what you will consistently deliver. 🔷Keep those promises with your experience. Obvious, but make sure you’re keeping your promises the vast majority of the time. 🔷Apologize and rectify when you don’t keep your promises. This reinforces that unkept promises are rare exceptions, not signs of a new pattern. If you are showing up consistently, setting expectations for an experience that customers want, and keeping those expectations in most instances, then the exceptions stay exceptions. And, in fact, they’re service recovery opportunities that reinforce the fact that you usually do keep your promises, and that you take it seriously when you don’t keep your promises. 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝘀 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁. 𝗧𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗲𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻.