Let’s explore the importance of brand marketing, why it’s so important and how to do it.
In my last blog, I discussed the difference between branding and marketing exploring the uniqueness of each, and the role they both play in connecting your business with the people who matter.
Leading on from this, now I'm diving a layer deeper. When we think of marketing, as in the specific tactical activities we undertake to grow our business and achieve our financial goals, there are generally two types of campaigns involved. These are, long-term brand-building marketing campaigns and short-term performance campaigns.
With that said, let’s explore the difference between brand and performance campaigns, and why the former are so fundamental for a successful marketing strategy.
We’ll talk about:
WHAT IS BRAND MARKETING AND HOW IS IT DIFFERENT TO PERFORMANCE MARKETING?
Where performance marketing campaigns focus on selling a specific product or service over a shorter period of time to drive immediate sales, brand-building marketing campaigns are about promoting the overall business presence to raise awareness for future sales.
While we can use similar channels (e.g. socials, emails, print ads, etc.) for both campaign types, the messaging and focus of the ads will be quite different.
Take a look at the Aldi ads below. The one on the left is an example of brand marketing as it focuses on Aldi’s brand values around locally sourced produce. The ad on the right is an example of performance marketing as it seeks to sell a specific product, beer.
When it comes to growing the bottom line we can often jump straight to performance marketing, putting all of our energy into promoting our products and services, and only our products and services.
In my humble opinion though, performance campaigns are totally lost and ineffective if they’re not supported by a strong, stable brand-building campaign. Your brand is your foundation. It’s what sets you apart from the rest, and if you’re not making an active effort to communicate this, then your performance campaigns will struggle to convert.
WHY IS BRAND MARKETING SO IMPORTANT?
BRAND MARKETING SUPPORTS THE EMOTIONAL CONNECTION NEEDED TO CREATE LOYAL BUYERS
Brand-building efforts support the development of emotional connection. Why? Because they give context to our products and services. They don’t just tell audiences that you offer X & Y, but they tell them WHY. They share your purpose, your values, and the foundations that shape your business and make it epic compared to the rest. It’s through this type of story telling that people start to give shit. They resonate with you because they resonate with your purpose and the things you care about. Without brand-building, developing any kind of emotional connection with our audiences can be like pulling teeth. And we know, when we love a brand, we’ll drive across town and pay double for it.
Only engaging in performance campaigns will mean you’re more likely to cop transactional bargain-hunters looking for the cheapest solution to their problem. Because these people don’t know (and therefore understand) why you’re different, they won’t be open to paying the bit more for what you have to offer.
BRAND MARKETING KEEPS YOU FRONT OF MIND FOR WHEN AUDIENCES ARE READY TO BUY
At any given time, generally only 5% of your audience are actively “in market” ready to buy. As performance campaigns focus primarily on those ready to buy, they really only speak to that 5% share of people.
Brand marketing however, is about speaking to the other 95%, ensuring that when they are ready to buy we’re the first and only ones that come to mind.
STRONG BRAND MARKETING LEADS TO CHEAPER PERFORMANCE RESULTS
When you put effort into raising the general profile and purpose of your brand, when it comes time to then invest in performance campaigns these efforts often perform better because you’ve already laid the groundwork in terms of establishing who you are and why you rock.
HOW TO START BUILDING YOUR BRAND MARKETING
When you look at your overall marketing efforts, as a baseline it’s suggested you should spend at least 60% of your resources (time and budget) on brand marketing.
With every marketing strategy, it’s key that you choose tactics and channels based on your target audiences - where they hang out digitally and actually, and where they go when looking for businesses like yours.
With that in mind, here are some tactical activities you might like to try for your brand marketing:
Develop a brand strategy to actually know and understand what your brand even is. Then translate this into a visual brand that vibes your vibe 1000%. Actively USE this brand. In. Everything. That. You. Do.
Develop a kick-ass website that totally, utterly, and completely sings who you are, the problemo you solve, and how/why you solve it so freaking epically.
Find the balance between writing for search and writing for the real-life people who will come to your site. The real-life people are the ones to appeal to first. When we get too hung up on writing for search engines we can end up sounding repetitive, lacking personality, and failing to make a decent impact. There are lots of other ways you can support your SEO without resorting to keyword stuffing.
Send regular email newsletters (monthly or quarterly perhaps) that focus on sharing snippets of brand stories and your unique way of doing business (think - how do you make your products or deliver your services).
Create social media content designed to show your brand personality (rather than the nuts and bolts of what you do or sell). Think funny memes, relatable reels, or PTC videos sharing your personal/professional perspective on something.
Write monthly blogs designed to share your knowledge, expertise and experience. Do a bit of keyword research to select blog topics that will support SEO. Then infuse the blogs with your own view, experiences and language to make it something people will A) want to read and B) something that peels back the curtain on your brand.
Get out in the real world where your audiences are. Chew the fat, show them why you’re cool, and create unforgettable moments and memories.
Sound like a plan, Stan? Or feeling a bit like sheeesh, I thought branding was just about the logo? Either way, if you’ve been nodding to all of this and want some help pulling together your own brand strategy and marketing plan, let’s connect. Check out my Brand and Marketing strategies below ….
With good vibes,
