The Toilet Paper Rule of Branding says, ‘Make it fun.’

Like, ‘Our paper tells dad jokes while you wipe.’

Now that’s a product I’d buy.

The Toilet Paper Rule of Branding 

• Why Read:

  • Understand the "Toilet Paper Rule" framework for adapting marketing strategy based on product category interest level, with examples provided.

• Featuring:

  • Neal O'Grady (@NealOGrady), Co-Founder at Demand Curve

• Link: 

  • “The Growth Newsletter #193”

Key Concepts and Tactics:

• Recognizing the Toilet Paper Rule:

  • Point: The inherent interest level of a product category determines how nuanced and sophisticated the branding/marketing strategy can be.

  • "The inherent interest level of a category determines how nuanced and complicated the strategy can be."

  • "Interesting = nuanced, sophisticated and rich brand strategy. Boring = simple and to the point strategy."

• Categorizing Interesting vs. Boring Product Categories:

  • Point: Differentiate between product categories that are inherently interesting (cars, health, beauty, etc.) vs. boring (cleaning supplies, toilet paper, accounting, etc.).

  • Examples of interesting categories: "Cars, Health, Sports, Beauty, Fashion, Investing, Furniture, Travelling, Technology"

  • Examples of boring categories: "Cleaning supplies, Office supplies, Toilet paper, Accounting, Appliances, Insurance, Oat milk, Taxes, Paint, Law"

• Adapting Strategy to Category Interest Level:

  • Point: For interesting categories, sophisticated branding works. For boring categories, keep it simple and fun.

  • "If you sell toilet paper, a legitimate strategy is to slap some puppies or kittens on the package to indicate it's soft. People already know why soft is good. Try to sell people your brand values and people will roll their eyes."

• Examples of companies that made boring products interesting by keeping it simple and fun

  • Oatly (Boring Category, Simple Fun Branding):

    • "Non-dairy milk alternatives is a boring category. So Oatly differentiated with absurd branding, advertisements, and marketing schemes."

  • Liquid Death (Boring Category, Absurd Branding):

    • "Liquid Death opted to be the opposite of all other boring water brands by leaning into absurd death metal vibes and wacky advertisements."

  • Who Gives a Crap and Dude Wipes (Boring Toilet Paper):

    • "Both Who Gives A Crap and Dude Wipes didn't try to win you over with complicated brand values, instead, they went for "let's be a fun toilet paper brand""

• Determining Category Interest Level:

  • Point: Look at number of big YouTubers/influencers in a category to gauge interest level.

  • "A great test to measure a category's inherent interest level is to look up how many big YouTubers exist in the category and its subcategories. There are countless YouTubers who just talk about cars.... Therefore, cars are clearly interesting, so you must have an interesting strategy to compete. None exclusively talk about toilet paper. Therefore, it’s clearly not interesting, so you must keep it simple."

Partnerships as a Growth Channel

Why Read: 

• Insights on building an effective partner and referral program strategy, covering aspects like realistic timelines, high-impact partnerships, compensation structures, and dedicated resources.

Featuring:

• Jason M. Lemkin (@jasonlk), Trusted Advisor at SaaStr

• Link:

• “Yes, Referral Programs Work for SaaS. But You Gotta Put in the Work. And The Time.”

Key Concepts and Tactics:

• Understanding the Effectiveness of Referral Programs in SaaS:

  • Point: Recognize that referral programs work for SaaS, but require significant time and effort.

  • "Well, for sure. But … it almost always takes longer than you think than direct sales"

  • "Salesforce announced a little ways back that its partners were the #1 source of its new bookings"

  • "40% of HubSpot's and Shopify's and Gorgias' customers come from agencies and other partners"

• Planning for Long-Term Partnership Development:

  • Point: Be prepared to invest time and resources in partnerships, as they often take years to produce significant revenue.

  • "Partnerships often take years to produce material revenue. Invest long here. Take your existing sales cycle — and double it."

• Focusing on High-Impact Partnerships:

  • Point: Identify and prioritize partnerships that have the potential to move the needle for your business.

  • "Power laws and long tails are common in partnership programs. A few partners will drive the majority of joint deals, and then all the rest together generally are materials."

  • "Double down on any partners you have early traction with. In the early days, invest heavily in any partners you have even 1 or 2 joint customers with."

• Structuring Partnership Compensation:

  • Point: Be prepared to pay commissions to both partners and your internal team.

  • "Pay twice. For most partner programs, you may have to pay commissions twice. Once to the partner, and again to your own sales / success team."

• Considering Smaller, High-Affinity Partners:

  • Point: Don't overlook the potential of smaller partners with tighter integrations and higher customer overlap.

  • "Smaller partners with high affinity can move the needle. Getting 1% of Slack's or Salesforce's customer base would be great. But what about 25% of a smaller, but fast growing startup where the integration is even tighter?"

• Allocating Dedicated Resources to Partnerships:

  • Point: Invest in dedicated personnel to manage and grow partnerships.

  • "You need dedicated resources. Biz Dev, Channel Manager, whatever. You need dedicated resources to manage your partners, at least once you can afford them. And put them on quotas, generally … but ones they can achieve."

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