Why It's Not Only about the Brand

But budgets—and smart marketers—are shifting from brand-building-speak to measurable, quantifiable activities that drive revenue. Remember when we used to have protracted and intangible discussions about how the mission of campaigns was “brand building?” We would talk in platitudes about how we wanted the buyer to have an experiential relationship with the brand and how we would engender a sense of brand ownership. Then the prospect—or if we were more fortunate, the customer—would chime in. He would wax eloquent about creating brand value and building brand integrity. We got the sense that that was what got him out of bed in the morning and kept him moving through his day.

In these days, ad agency execs and pitch men would say things like, “It’s all about the brand.” They would reference the Nike swoosh ad nauseam, comparing their aspirations for the prospect with the mind share and market share amassed by Nike. Remember when branding was a top corporate priority? When everyone had budget for building brand equity, even if they weren’t completely sure what that meant? It’s fun to reminisce.

Branding budgets get slashed

Today, branding budgets are being cut at a higher rate than many other marketing initiatives. The huge movement away from print, TV and radio spending is a significant contributor to this. Don’t misunderstand me. Building brand equity is important. It’s never stopped being important. But budgets—and smart marketers—are shifting from brand-building-speak to measurable, quantifiable activities that drive revenue. With our fond memories behind us, today it’s about much more than creating a brand experience.

Today it’s about creating bottom line results. And tracking the influence of every marketing activity to the bottom line. For most of our clients, the name of the game is lead generation and customer acquisition. That’s why online marketing and search marketing have exploded for more than ecommerce companies. These vehicles are effective because they generate leads and convert prospects to buyers. Of course, branding is a big part of this, but even the strongest brands have to be marketed. Branding alone doesn’t cut it.

Mind shift for designers

Everything we do—from our proposals and our sales presentations to our executed deliverables—needs to communicate that we understand our clients’ number one concern is the sales funnel. And not only do we understand their pain, we can help them to achieve their goals through strategic execution. This will require a mind shift on our part. We need to change our approach from talking in broad strokes about branding, leaving the client wondering, “How is that going to make me one more dollar of revenue? And it’s going to cost me how much?”

Senior execs who aren’t marketers don’t usually understand the science behind building strong brands. They don’t often understand how or why to determine brand value. Instead, talk in terms of how a brand building campaign will integrate with their direct marketing initiatives, online marketing and other programs.

Help them understand how a stronger brand will fuel sales and shape action by their customers. “Brand experience,” while a lovely thought, doesn’t translate to most senior managers as revenue. I recently sat down with the executive vice president of a professional services company on track to hit $100 million in revenue in 2010. He understands the value of boosting his company’s credibility with target audiences and building brand recognition. But he made it clear that he won’t engage in branding through print advertising.

I told him I understood and if ROI is what he’s after, I can’t promise him he will recoup $1 of his print advertising spend in 2010. But what I can promise him, and what you can promise your clients, is that by effectively engaging in acquisition oriented activities like optimized websites, sales materials and direct marketing, you’ll be carrying the brand into areas that are measurable. Areas that equate to revenue.

If you’re still hung up on branding, take it from John Moore, Starbucks’ former marketing strategist. He has said that Starbucks never set out to be well branded. It just happened. What they did set out to do was build a profitable business that makes employees and customers happy. Do that, and you don’t need to worry about branding, he said. Branding will take care of itself.

Becky Sheetz-Runkle is a marketing strategist and copywriter, and an advocate for measurable marketing. She’s based in the Washington, D.C. metro area and can be reached at bsheetz@q2marketing.com.