Combining Two Proven Marketing Strategies for Powerful Results
The internet is so baked into our culture, both business and personal, it’s hard to remember a time when immediate gratification wasn’t the norm. The ability to measure results in real time—How many click throughs did we get? How many new leads did that blog generate?—has made performance marketing the primary focus for many companies.
But what happens to a company’s brand when “revenue generating”
performance marketing activities steal the spotlight? Historically, brand building has been considered an investment that yields long-term results. Performance marketing allows for highly targeted campaigns that are more easily measured and ROI calculated. It’s hard to argue with demonstrable results versus more esoteric “touchy-feely” branding.
Synchronize Your Performance and Brand Marketing
If your brand has taken a back seat in favor of the rapid-fire pace of performance marketing, it may be time to reassess the role of brand marketing in your strategy. Performance marketing and brand marketing are synergistic—you can’t have one without the other. Investing in both can help solidify your market position for the long- and short-term.
To ensure your marketing dollars are fruitful, consider making both brand equity and demand conversion key performance indicators (KPIs). Data collection is key to determining how you allocate resources for branding and performance marketing. It’s essential to have someone with the requisite experience collect, measure, and analyze data. The insights derived from the data will help drive a brand-centric, ROI-based marketing strategy.
Fuel Growth and Build Brand Loyalty
A strong brand is the backbone of any marketing activity. Does your brand
tell prospects and customers “who” your company is? Is it still relevant to them? Both customers and employees should be able to quickly name two or three key attributes that come to mind when they think of your company and its value.
An easily recognizable and respected brand increases the perceived value of your goods and services and supports performance marketing. In good economic times, performance marketing is firing on all fronts. In slower times, the brand connection you’ve built with customers is often what keeps them loyal to your company. When you have a long-established brand—and have worked to keep it relevant—customers see that you’re in it for the long haul and trust you to deliver on your brand promise.
According to a 2020 McKinsey report, “strong brands consistently outperform the market.” Top brands, they found, are based upon a foundation of science, art, and craft. In changing times, companies with strong brands particularly benefit from a “deep understanding of customers and the market based on rigorously tested concepts, a clear purpose brought to life by creativity, and an inspiring brand experience delivered consistently across all touchpoints to drive both brand perception and business performance.[i]”
Brand Marketing and Performance Marketing Marriage
Let’s take a closer look at how these two approaches work well together.
Enhanced Brand Awareness: Brand marketing focuses on building and strengthening the brand's identity and reputation, while performance marketing aims to drive specific actions and conversions. By combining both approaches, businesses can increase brand awareness through targeted advertising campaigns while simultaneously driving measurable results.
Targeted Audience Reach: Brand marketing helps businesses reach a wider audience and build brand affinity, while performance marketing allows for precise targeting based on specific demographics, interests, and behaviors. Combining the two strategies ensures that the brand message reaches the right audience, maximizing the effectiveness of marketing efforts.
Increased Conversion Rates: Performance marketing is designed to drive immediate actions and conversions, such as sales or lead generation. By incorporating brand marketing elements into performance campaigns, businesses can create a stronger brand connection with the audience, leading to increased trust, credibility, and ultimately, higher conversion rates.
Consistent Brand Messaging: Brand marketing focuses on creating a consistent brand message and visual identity across all marketing channels. When combined with performance marketing, businesses can ensure that their performance campaigns align with the overall brand image, resulting in a cohesive and unified customer experience.
Long-Term Brand Building: While performance marketing provides immediate results, brand marketing focuses on long-term brand building and customer loyalty. By combining both strategies, businesses can generate short-term conversions through performance marketing tactics while simultaneously investing in long-term brand equity and customer relationships.
Data-Driven Insights: Performance marketing relies heavily on data analysis and optimization to drive results. By combining brand marketing with performance marketing, businesses can gather valuable data on customer behavior, preferences, and engagement. These insights can then be used to refine brand messaging, target audiences more effectively, and improve overall marketing strategies.
Competitive Advantage: Combining brand marketing with performance marketing provides a competitive advantage in the marketplace. It allows businesses to establish a strong brand presence while driving measurable results and outperforming competitors who may focus solely on one strategy.
Maximized Return on Investment (ROI): By integrating brand marketing and performance marketing, businesses can maximize their ROI. Brand marketing efforts contribute to long-term brand value and customer loyalty, while performance marketing delivers immediate results and measurable outcomes. Together, these strategies work synergistically to generate revenue, increase customer lifetime value, and drive sustainable business growth.
Strengthen Your Brand
Building your business and driving growth requires a strong, relevant brand. If you think it may be time for a brand refresh to support your performance marketing initiatives, we can help. Our team can guide you through the brand development process and help create a strong brand that communicates who you are and why prospects should do business with you. Contact us now to get the conversation started.
