Silence is the quickest way to lose sales. See why maintaining a high share of voice is vital for brand leadership.
Every year, just before Diwali, families in India decide to paint their houses. They sit together and discuss which colours will look best in each area. When a father goes to the market, he sees large banners of Asian Paints outside all the hardware shops. He sees a full-page Asian Paints advertisement in the morning newspaper. During the evening cricket match on television, the same company runs an ad between overs. He sees this one name everywhere.
He barely notices the posters for smaller local paint makers. Being visible everywhere like this is a perfect example of share of voice. When a brand builds its share of voice, it makes sure people remember its name when they decide to make a purchase.
How Share of Voice Changes Buying Habits
Seeing a company name everywhere can completely change what people decide to buy. If a family wants to buy a new water purifier, they look for a safe machine to keep their children healthy. When family members turn on the television or scroll through their phones, they keep seeing advertisements for Kent and hearing ‘Kent deta hai sabse shudh pani’. Because this one brand appears most often, buyers naturally assume it makes the best product.
This happens because a high share of voice creates instant trust. People naturally assume that a company spending so much money to promote its name must be very successful and safe to use.
We see this same behaviour with daily grocery items. A person walks into a local store to buy washing powder. There are many different plastic packets in the store. But the buyer remembers the Surf Excel advertisement from last night. That brand name is very fresh in the head because it holds the maximum share of voice in the soap market.
The local shopkeeper might try to sell a cheaper, unknown powder to make an extra profit. But the buyer refuses to buy it. A steady share of voice keeps a brand from losing daily customers to cheaper local options. The buyer simply trusts the name they hear most often.
Business owners sometimes make a major mistake when monthly sales fall: they quickly stop spending on ads to save money. But going silent is very risky. If a popular mobile network stops airing its ads during cricket matches, rival networks will quickly buy that TV slot. The rival then suddenly gains a larger share of voice in front of the public.
Also read: Why Brand Optionality Creates Competitive Advantage
Soon, ordinary people start talking about the rival network instead. When a company cuts back on daily advertising, its sales usually fall a few months later. To stay on top, a business must keep showing its name more often than its competitors.
Being visible is no longer just about expensive television commercials. It also means appearing on mobile screens. If a college student wants to buy a new face wash, she opens YouTube or Instagram to check reviews before spending her pocket money.
If four different video creators talk about the same Mamaearth face wash in one week, that brand controls the share of voice on her phone. She will buy that specific tube because the name appears everywhere she looks. By showing up everywhere, a company makes sure no other rival gets a chance to change the buyer’s decision.
Regular buyers never do hours of research for everyday purchases. People just pick the name that feels the most familiar to them at that exact moment. Spending money to stay visible is not just about showing off to the public. It is the easiest way to stay fresh in the buyer’s head. When a brand maintains its share of voice, it naturally controls the daily market sales.
–Written by Rajnish Singh, a copywriter and strategist with a background in fast-paced journalism, who explores the gap between what brands promise and how consumers actually behave.
