---
title: "No Quality, No Brand; No Penetration, No Growth"
description: "This article discusses the misconceptions about brand growth, emphasizing that quality is the foundation of a brand, and that rapid growth comes from brand distinctiveness, marketing penetration, and channel penetration, as outlined in the HBG (How Brands Grow) theory. It also addresses the difference between differentiation and distinctiveness, and the importance of sustained quality and innovation for long-term growth."
author: "麦青Mandy"
publisher: "New Distribution"
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published: "2019-05-31"
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# No Quality, No Brand; No Penetration, No Growth

> This article discusses the misconceptions about brand growth, emphasizing that quality is the foundation of a brand, and that rapid growth comes from brand distinctiveness, marketing penetration, and channel penetration, as outlined in the HBG (How Brands Grow) theory. It also addresses the difference between differentiation and distinctiveness, and the importance of sustained quality and innovation for long-term growth.

Click 'Read Original' for details.
Source: Mai Qing Mandy Column (ID: mqzwp2015)

> "I have a brand with several products, already sold tens of millions, want to break 100 million, how to grow rapidly?"
>
> "My brand is quite differentiated, why still not growing?"
>
> "I hired a positioning company to do a full set of positioning, why still no growth!"

These are questions I am often asked, and they are also headaches for many industrialists. Many peers may have taken detours and have the following misconceptions about brand growth:

> 1. Relying solely on [positioning] or [differentiation] can achieve growth in one step.
>
> 2. As long as product quality is good, growth can be achieved.
>
> 3. As long as there are die-hard fans, growth can be achieved.
>
> 4. As long as marketing efficiency is good, growth can be achieved.
>
> 5. As long as channels are spread out, growth can be achieved.
>
> 6. As long as I hire a marketing expert or team, growth can be achieved.

Frankly speaking, these are also problems I have personally experienced. In the end, they boil down to three core questions:

1. How should we understand "brand"? What can truly be called a "brand"?
2. What is the core driving force behind rapid brand growth? Positioning? Differentiation? Efficiency? Channels?
3. Does rapid brand growth equal sustained growth? How to ensure sustainability?

**How should we understand "brand"?**

Several years ago, my former boss (a private entrepreneur worth billions) said a piercing sentence:

"Without sales volume, it can only be considered a product, not a brand. Only when sales volume is large can it be called a brand."

Indeed, at that time, business was soaring, and my former boss was full of confidence, so he made such a judgment. The core cognition here is equating "sales volume" with brand.

To some extent, this makes sense. A mere logo, trademark, or single product without certain sales volume is indeed hard to call a brand.

But the key question is: **How to define "certain" sales volume?**

For example, there is a small restaurant by the roadside, doing booming business. People from all around come to eat there, and word-of-mouth spreads its reputation. Although its revenue is not high, it has long become a regional word-of-mouth brand.

So, it is difficult to define "brand" solely by "sales volume." But sales volume is indeed one of the results that tests a brand.

In traditional textbooks, a brand is considered to occupy a certain position in consumer cognition and have a certain positive influence.

> The manifestation of a brand is the LOGO and trademark;
>
> The carriers of a brand are products, advertising, channel displays, and people;
>
> The results of a brand are awareness, reputation, and sales volume.

Merely having a LOGO, trademark, products, advertising, and channels may bring sales, but not necessarily awareness and reputation—so it cannot be called a good brand; it can only be considered a product collection with okay sales.

And the premise of a good brand is inseparable from "good quality"—**whether it is the quality of the manifestation or the quality of the carriers, both are crucial.**

So many companies hire positioning planning companies to improve, in fact, the quality of the manifestation, which is a prerequisite for brand sales, not directly bringing brand sales.

But quality has many elements: product quality, advertising quality, channel display quality, and people quality. Only by achieving a certain level in all these qualities can a good brand with good sales be produced.

And brands that ignore quality can only rely on heavy marketing and channel investment, and their growth efficiency and sustainability will face challenges.

**What is the core driving force behind rapid brand growth?**

Obviously, many brands think it is "positioning," so they invite traditional positioning companies to do value positioning, hoping to find blue ocean opportunities in the red ocean market. And they believe that as long as "positioning" is done well, the brand will naturally grow.

If you have seen reports from well-known positioning companies in the market, you will understand that behind each report, there is a set of logic—**clarifying positioning is the first step, followed by advertising marketing and channel expansion to achieve rapid growth.**

So, it is basically the Ye Maozhong approach:

1 positioning breakthrough point + 1 slogan-style TV commercial (buy XXX, go to XXX) + 1 set of big advertising tactics

This set of tactics is criticized by many young advertising professionals, who think it lacks technical content, creativity, strategy, and is too stupid.

Actually, you find, why is it criticized by many "young advertising professionals"? Not by many brand owners?

**Because advertising professionals care more about creativity; brand owners understand business better.** Neither is wrong; they just stand in different positions and focus on different things. If both can be done well, that would be perfect.

But obviously, in reality, those that can grow rapidly often succeed by the Ye Maozhong approach.

This set of tactics also has a corresponding theoretical term in the global marketing community—【HBG Big Penetration】, proposed by Professor Sharp, head of the Marketing School at the University of South Australia, in the book HBG.

Of course, 【HBG Big Penetration】 discusses not only marketing but also sales. The brand growth logic it reveals is actually simple: rapid brand growth = brand distinctiveness + marketing big penetration + channel big penetration.

1. Brand Distinctiveness

Among them, brand distinctiveness ≠ positioning differentiation. What is the difference between the two?

【Differentiation】 emphasizes "meaningful" differences, while 【distinctiveness】 does not emphasize "meaning."

Because 【differentiation】 is based on the classical economic theory assumption—【rational man hypothesis】, which believes customers are rational, and purchasing behavior is a choice of rational thinking. So brands must rack their brains to come up with a "must-buy" reason for customers.

However, in reality, customers are not rational buyers, and there are not many 100% loyal customers who "must buy from you." On the contrary, customers are "fickle"—the real market is full of "switched customers" and "light customers."

So, 【distinctiveness】 does not pay much attention to "purchase reasons," does not insist on "meaningful" differences, but focuses more on how to make customers distinguish and remember the brand.

Instead of spending energy pondering "meaningful" differentiation, it is better to let go of obsession and do "meaningless" distinctiveness well.

2. Marketing Big Penetration

This is actually the recent buzzword "Reach." The formula for marketing big penetration is simple, but not easy to execute.

Marketing big penetration = marketing scale * marketing efficiency

Marketing scale: that is, the number of consumers reached

Marketing efficiency: that is, the efficiency of reaching consumers

How to achieve growth in marketing scale? How to reach more users?

The straightforward and crude answer: **continuous and pervasive marketing exposure.** In the original HBG text, it is this sentence: "Reach all category buyers and doing this as regularly as you can afford."

Please note, "Afford" is the premise of marketing big penetration, that is, having money.

The key points of marketing big penetration are actually 1 premise + 2 keywords.

1 premise: Have money. If your goal is to build a big brand, you must have money and dare to spend it.

2 keywords:

Cast a wide net (breadth): When you have money, try to spread wide to get more user exposure opportunities.

Be continuous (depth): When you have money, do not do piece-by-piece campaigns, but maintain continuous exposure retainer.

How to improve marketing efficiency?

> 1. Distinctiveness: Build "distinctiveness"—select appropriate brand distinctiveness assets (with high awareness potential & high distinctiveness potential), which is the core basic task of marketing.
>
> 2. Linkage: Create "association"—design and create marketing materials that can carry 【distinctiveness assets】, strengthen the association between these distinctiveness assets and the brand name in customer cognition, and avoid "bad ads."
>
> 3. Consistence: Maintain "consistency"—do not change frequently, especially distinctiveness assets should not change often.
>
> 4. Media execution: Control "placement"—control the way, frequency, and effect of placement to avoid "ineffective placement."

3. Channel Big Penetration

Channel penetration is also a way to "reach users." The formula is also simple, but not easy to execute.

Channel big penetration = channel scale * channel efficiency

Channel scale: that is, the number of channels reaching consumers

Channel efficiency: that is, the professional term in the HBG book 【channel convenience】

Why do many brands not invest in advertising, but only rely on channel big penetration, and still grow rapidly?

Because channel penetration itself is a kind of "reach." Opening up some channels can immediately increase sales.

Especially nowadays, channels are becoming "marketing-oriented," and channels themselves are also doing marketing.

And often, in the early stage of brand growth, the efficiency of channel reach is higher than that of marketing reach. Because marketing is placed in the "middle process," while channels directly promote "terminal purchase."

How to improve channel efficiency?

1. Build a good team with clear division of labor—generally, internal sales teams are divided into two types: Sell-in team; Sell-through service team.

2. Do the basic channel efficiency elements well—the methods are still "old," not novel, such as P&G's commonly used DSPM sales rules, which are to improve channel efficiency. Just as new channels change, operational details need to be adjusted at any time.

3. Do channel marketing well—because relying solely on channel big penetration cannot sustain brand growth; it must be combined with marketing penetration, because:

Customers need marketing—many customers already have a "shopping list" before entering the store, and it is difficult to reverse customer preference at the "last mile." Too hard selling may "backfire" and damage brand favorability.

Channel partners need marketing—channel partners also need marketing to increase confidence in the brand, especially for brands that must rely on offline salespeople; they must give salespeople certain confidence to stimulate terminal selling. Just stocking goods without effective terminal sales = 0.

No matter what method of improving efficiency, it ultimately relies on people to execute. So, people are key. To improve brand efficiency, start with managing the team well.

**Does rapid brand growth equal sustained growth?**

A couple of days ago, I read a financial article about Douyin in "Business World," which criticized Douyin for relying solely on spending money to do big penetration and acquire traffic, which is not sustainable, because the content Douyin provides has no unique value, no profound connotation, etc.

I have reservations about the neutrality of this article, because at the end, it seemingly "casually" suggests: Well, Kuaishou is better than Douyin...

Actually, removing the advertising component, this article also calls out a core issue: relying solely on big penetration, although it can grow rapidly, can it sustain growth?

This returns to the answer to the first core question—no quality, no brand.

**Quality is the fundamental driving force for sustained brand growth—especially, sustained, high-quality product innovation.**

Of course, relying solely on product innovation is absolutely not enough; product innovation can only play an exponential role on the basis of big penetration.

So, now let's return to the three entrepreneurs' small questions at the beginning:

**1. "I have a brand with several products, already sold tens of millions, want to break 100 million, how to grow rapidly?"**

Refer to the above 【HBG big penetration】 brand growth formula: brand distinctiveness + marketing big penetration + channel big penetration.

Check your own brand one by one to see which factor can be strengthened. If you are very satisfied with yourself and think you have done well, then there are two possibilities:

1. You are satisfied with your strategy, but execution is a mess;
2. Competitors are more hardworking, faster, and more willing to invest.

**2. "My brand is quite differentiated, why still not growing?"**

Refer to the above, instead of spending energy pondering "meaningful" differentiation, it is better to let go of obsession and do "meaningless" distinctiveness well. Of course, doing distinctiveness alone is not enough; you still need to do 【big penetration】 to grow rapidly.

**3. "I hired a positioning company to do a full set of positioning, why still no growth!"**

Refer to the above, positioning planning is the foundation of brand growth, but not the only factor. A good positioning plan actually helps a brand build distinctiveness assets and formulate a future growth strategy, so that in the subsequent execution, 60% can be executed as planned (the remaining 40% should change according to the environment), to promote real growth.

Mai Qing Mandy, nearly 10 years of brand practical operation experience, former P&G marketing department, now founder of HBG Brand Growth Research Institute and Beauty Museum, guest lecturer at universities, focusing on brand growth and cultural IP marketing. Author of "Non-Traditional Marketing" and "Vividism".


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