Like I said in my last video, branding is dead. I made a purchase based on a recommendation from a friend. I didn't care about the product's background story, I didn't care about the founders. I just clicked purchase. And done. No brand development necessary! Let me tell you about a very important service that my friend performed for me: Product curation. She did the hard work of comparing the products and selecting the right one, making the purchase, trying it out, and then recommending it to me. Or, someone somewhere up the line had performed the due diligence to spark the word of mouth. And we can all agree that word of mouth is the most persuasive tool out there to build a business. So my question is, where do the "words" from word of mouth come from? If you're an unknown and you're just getting started. Or if you're a commodity—you're one of many. How do you wedge your product or service into the awareness of your potential customers? That's where branding comes in. So is branding dead? Absolutely not.