Whether you’re a small business owner, a marketer at a mid-market company, or a performance-obsessed leader at a scale-up, tuning up your brand growth strategy is essential for navigating the opportunities and challenges of the next 12 months.
Thankfully, you can register to download Mailchimp’s How to Grow Your Brand report and use the report as your growth roadmap. The report includes the hard-won insights and advice of some of the brightest minds in the marketing effectiveness field. Think of it as your ultimate guide to growth.
Below, we’ve distilled 10 actionable tactics from the report to help you grow your brand effectively in the coming year.
1. Adopt the 60/40 Rule
One of the most significant insights for 2025 as stated in the report is the importance of balancing brand-building efforts with spending on ‘activation’. Les Binet’s research findings in the report highlight the need for allocating budgets wisely along those lines.
Binet suggests dedicating approximately 60% of your budget to brand-building activities that reach out to the market at large, create emotional connections and long-term loyalty, and prepare them to buy your brand later, when they’re ready.
He advocates that 40% of your budget should then be on performance-driven efforts, or activation, targeting active shoppers to generate immediate conversions. For brands starting out, a 65/35 split may work better, gradually shifting as your brand matures.
Brand-building efforts include creative campaigns that emphasize storytelling and emotional resonance, while performance marketing focuses on short-term results like pay-per-click ads and email campaigns. Both are essential for creating a robust marketing strategy that drives immediate sales and ensures future growth.
2. Leverage Zero-Party Data for Personalization
With increasing data privacy regulations and the decline of third-party cookies, zero-party data – or information that customers willingly share, such as preferences, purchase intentions, and feedback – is becoming a vital resource, according to Jamal Miller, Senior Director of Product Marketing at Intuit Mailchimp. This data enables brands to create hyper-personalized experiences while respecting privacy, Miller says.
To collect zero-party data, implement engaging tactics such as interactive surveys, preference centers, and rewards programs. This data can help you tailor product recommendations and email campaigns to specific customer segments, increasing conversion rates and loyalty, Miller adds.
3. Consider a “Versus” Positioning Strategy
Smaller brands often face significant disadvantages when competing against market giants. However, as Dr. Mark Ritson explains, adopting a “versus” positioning strategy can help you stand out.
Positioning your brand directly against a dominant competitor can help you to highlight your unique strengths and appeal to customers who feel underserved by the incumbent. By taking on an enemy, you can position your brand more clearly and compellingly, Ritson explains.
For example, Ritson says, car rental company Avis famously positioned itself as the underdog against Hertz with the slogan “We Try Harder.” This approach doesn’t require massive budgets but demands creativity and bold messaging to resonate with your target audience.
4. Focus on “Out-of-Market” Customers
In the How to Grow Your Brand report, Ty Heath writes about the 95-5 Rule, which underscores the importance of reaching both active and inactive customers in your category. While 5% of customers are actively shopping in your market at any given time, 95% are not.
“Focusing solely on the 5% can be a pitfall for smaller brands,” Heath warns. To address this, Heath says, invest in consistent, year-round brand awareness campaigns that stay top of mind for the 95% of customers who will eventually enter the market. By doing so, you’ll increase the likelihood that your brand is the first choice when these customers enter the market.
5. Use Pricing Strategically
Pricing remains one of the most powerful levers for driving profitability. Les Binet advises brands to use price cuts sparingly and focus on value-driven growth instead. For capacity-constrained businesses, raising prices—even modestly—can boost revenue significantly without requiring additional resources. Consider implementing tiered pricing strategies or premium product lines to appeal to a broader range of customers while preserving your brand’s value perception.
How to Grow Your Brand
This report offers you a useful roadmap for your brand’s growth and provides guidance on how not only to survive, but thrive in today's competitive landscape.
6. Innovate Within Niche Categories
Dr. Ritson advises smaller brands to start by focusing on underserved niches before scaling. “The best route to mass marketing might be via segment focus,” he explains. Smaller brands can carve out significant growth opportunities by focusing on these niche markets. For instance, Lululemon began as a niche brand targeting female Canadian yoga enthusiasts before scaling globally. Similarly, Chobani redefined the yogurt market by dominating the Greek yogurt subcategory.
7. Harness the Power of AI for Efficiency and Personalization
If 2024 proved anything, it’s that AI is no longer science fiction; it’s a necessity for competitive brands. Peter Weinberg and Jon Lombardo say that AI is a game-changer for smaller brands in particular, enabling such brands to create personalized marketing at scale and optimize campaign performance with speed and accuracy.
In 2025, try using AI-powered tools to analyze customer data, segment your audience based on preferences and purchasing behaviors, or test different ad creative, email subject lines and website layouts to determine what resonates most with your audience and improve ROI.
8. Create Distinctive Brand Assets
“Creativity is the most powerful tool in a marketer’s toolkit,” writes Ty Heath. This year, pay attention to your distinctive brand assets—everything from your memorable logo, unique color palette and signature tone of voice—and make sure they’re consistently applied across all touchpoints and marketing channels. This helps to reinforce your brand’s identity and ensure it stays top of mind for customers.
Also remember to focus on crafting content—whether it’s a video, blog post or social media campaign—that aligns with your brand’s values and resonates emotionally with your audience. That’s because creative campaigns that evoke strong emotions are far more effective at driving long-term growth.
9. Invest in Year-Round Marketing
Consistent marketing efforts throughout the year ensure your brand remains visible and relevant. Avoid the trap of only marketing during peak seasons, Ty Heath advises. Maintaining a consistent presence throughout the year ensures your brand remains visible and avoids the risk of being forgotten during quieter periods. Consistent marketing also makes it easier to scale efforts during critical sales periods like Black Friday or the holiday season.
10. Evaluate and Adapt
Finally, regular evaluation of your marketing strategies is essential for long-term success. Use analytics tools to measure the effectiveness of your campaigns and adjust your tactics as needed. Whether it’s shifting budget allocations, refining audience segments, or experimenting with new channels, staying agile will help your brand stay ahead in 2025.
For more in-depth insights, strategies and tactics on how to set your business on a sustainable growth path in 2025, register to download Mailchimp’s How to Grow Your Brand report here.